Corporate report

Tailored Review of the Social Security Advisory Committee (December 2020)

Published 24 February 2021

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Foreword

The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) is a broad church of experts dedicated to improving how the social security system works. It has a high profile with parliament and its stakeholder network. What makes SSAC unique is that it has the capacity to act as a trusted and critical adviser to the Department. With the main show in town continuing to be Universal Credit (UC) implementation, the SSAC have adapted well to ensure they use their independence to offer impartial advice to ministers and also stimulate the thought process of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) policy officials. The members of SSAC show determination in the way they conduct their work with a core belief that the UK social security system can be continuously improved for the citizen (both claimants and taxpayers) and those who play a role in delivering social security benefits.

The UK benefit system continues to be highly complex and the strategic impact of devolution and EU exit make this unlikely to change soon. Faced with a lull in draft regulations and continued transition of the social security system, SSAC has shown it has the ability to adapt its offering to support the latest challenges faced by the DWP and the government.

Through this tailored review it was enlightening to be able to observe how SSAC consider regulations with civil servant officials. There was clear evidence of how SSAC challenge each other as a team as well as the presenting officials. The experience showed how SSAC are a well organised body. They are exceptionally well supported by a competent and professional secretariat.

SSAC wears the badge of being independent to DWP in a responsible and professional way. Both the DWP and SSAC have plenty of opportunity to work better together to help shape the continuous modernisation and transformation of the UK social security system. This opportunity starts with SSAC taking a fresh look at their own internal effectiveness, a key enabler of the health of any organisation. The recommendations which follow are the right opportunities for SSAC and DWP to take as a catalyst for an even better collaborative approach to working across DWP and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on the social security system.

I would like to thank everyone who gave their time to the interviews and subsequent discussions. Most notably, I would like to express my gratitude to the DWP officials closest to the review. This review and the resulting report would not have been achievable without the dedication and support of my review team to which I offer my greatest appreciation.

Vijay Sharma
Lead Reviewer

1. Introduction

Aims of the Tailored Review

Tailored reviews are periodic and provide assurance and challenge about the continuing need, efficiency and good governance of public bodies. All tailored reviews are carried out in line with the Cabinet Office ‘Tailored Reviews: Guidance on Reviews of Public Bodies. ^{[footnote 1]}

As an advisory non-departmental public body (NDPB), SSAC is subject to a tailored review at least once in the lifetime of a parliament. SSAC was subject to a ‘Triennial Review’ in 2015 and this review has considered the implementation of recommendations made last time. ^{[footnote 2]}

Overview of the Social Security Advisory Committee

SSAC is an advisory NDPB sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP or termed as the Department), that provides advice to the secretary of state for work and pensions and the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland on social security and related matters. The committee also has a non-statutory role offering advice to HM Treasury (HMT) ministers and HMRC on tax credits, national insurance, child benefit and guardian’s allowance. SSAC was established by the Social Security Act of 1980.

SSAC’s functions are set out in the Social Security Administration Act 1992. ^{[footnote 3]} These are:

1. To perform a mandatory scrutiny of the majority of proposed regulations relating to benefits administered by DWP, principally for the benefit of the secretary of state but also for parliament; and

2. To provide advice and assistance to the secretary of state, whether in response to a specific request or on the committee’s own initiative.

SSAC provides advice and assistance in a number of forms, including undertaking studies as part of their independent work programme, informally scrutinising draft regulations which are exempt from statutory scrutiny and commenting on draft guidance and communications produced by both DWP and HMRC.

SSAC consisted of 12 members at the review including the chair; and is supported by a secretariat of four full time equivalents (FTE). The budget allocation for 2019/20 was £350,000 and its funding is allocated by the Department.

Context

SSAC came under the leadership of a different chair, Professor Sir Ian Diamond, in August 2018 following the previous chair deciding to stand down after seven years. Professor Diamond was then appointed as the government’s National Statistician (a full-time post) in August 2019 and stepped down as SSAC Chair at that time. At the time of the review SSAC was in a period of change and was reviewing its ways of working. This review therefore considers the effectiveness of SSAC’s governance in the light of this period of change. After the review concluded, Dr Stephen Brien was appointed as the new Chair in September 2020.

The social security system in the UK is undergoing change as the implementation of UC continues and tax credit debt transfers from HMRC to DWP. As SSAC scrutinises social security legislation, it has closely examined issues relating to the implementation of UC. The political debate surrounding UC has resulted in SSAC’s work becoming increasingly high profile. The review team has taken this context into account in assessing the committee’s effectiveness.

The Social Security (Scotland) Act 2016 ^{[footnote 4]} devolved aspects of the social security system to the Scottish parliament. This changed the context within which SSAC worked because the committee does not have a remit to advise on those benefits under the direction of the Scottish government. The Scottish Commission on Social Security has been established to provide independent scrutiny of the social security system in Scotland. This review has considered SSAC’s role in advising the Department as matters such as the challenge of devolution and preparation for EU exit were under way at the time.

Process

The review was led by Vijay Sharma, supported by a small dedicated review team and conducted between May and December 2019. Evidence was collected from materials supplied by the SSAC secretariat and the DWP’s Arm’s-Length Bodies (ALB) partnership team; and one to one interviews conducted with SSAC members, the secretariat, DWP officials and external stakeholders. A group of relevant third-sector organisations were also consulted. In 2019, a DWP minister, Baroness Buscombe, approved the review terms of reference under a preceding secretary of state. In the Autumn of 2020, the secretary of state was involved in discussions over the review recommendations prior to report publication. However, ministers were not formally consulted or interviewed as part of the tailored review. The review team have consulted with SSAC throughout the process.

2. Recommendations

The review makes the following recommendations:

Form and function

1. The statutory functions of SSAC are still required by government and at arm’s-length from ministers. SSAC should retain its classification as an advisory NDPB.

2. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between SSAC and HMRC should be reviewed and updated.

3. Both SSAC and the Department should maintain regular dialogue over emerging devolution matters, providing clarity about which social security system changes SSAC can legitimately scrutinise.

Arrangements between SSAC and the Department

4. SSAC secretariat and the DWP partnership team should have quarterly formal discussions to provide the Department with assurance of SSAC’s effectiveness and performance; and to encourage the opportunity for service improvements between SSAC, DWP officials and ministers.

5. DWP partners should attend SSAC meetings more regularly as observers, in order to ensure the partnership team has a full understanding of SSAC’s work at any given time.

Governance

Internal effectiveness:

6. SSAC should carry out an internal effectiveness review which can be openly shared and discussed with the committee and the Department.

7. The committee would be more effective if the SSAC secretariat linked agenda items to strategic outcomes to further focus discussion at meetings.

8. The partnership team and secretariat should review the time required for the role of the chair and ensure that future candidates are clear on the commitment needed. This would include considering the amount of time required to assimilate the secretariat’s comprehensive induction programme, receiving key briefings and the development of committee members.

Secretariat structure

9. The lead secretary of SSAC and an appropriate DWP senior leader should meet quarterly to discuss the leadership and performance of the secretariat function.

Member Skills

10. SSAC should look to gain membership with expertise in digital transformation in government and increase the proportion of members with experience of working within government to put policy into practice.

Effectiveness and Efficiency

Independent Work Programme (IWP):

11. SSAC should ensure their IWP is aligned with DWP’s strategic objectives first, then engagement with their products will be more useful. DWP should ensure it engages with the products of SSAC’s IWP early, so that useful advice is not overlooked.

12. SSAC should continue to explore how their IWP can have maximum impact, for example by clarifying how they expect DWP to use the reports.

Effectiveness of SSAC’s recommendations

13. The Department and the committee should meet before DWP formally responds to any advice provided by SSAC.

3. Form and Functions

Are the functions of SSAC still needed?

Both DWP and external stakeholders contacted agreed that SSAC’s technical expertise over regulations was a function needed to contribute to the effective design of the UK social security system. Social security legislation is complex and many people are dependent on the support set by regulations. It is necessary to have an independent, expert group to scrutinise those regulations and provide advice on the impact and interaction.

Mandatory scrutiny of regulations

SSAC’s main function is the mandatory scrutiny of regulations. The committee scrutinises all regulations made under certain social security acts (laid out in legislation ^{[footnote 5]}) and advises the secretary of state on them. It performs a similar role for the Department of Communities in Northern Ireland.

As part of its scrutiny, SSAC assesses whether regulations will carry out the policy intent behind them. It reviews the evidence that the Department has produced on how different groups would be affected and considers whether there are any unintended negative consequences. Consideration is also made over how the regulations interact with existing legislation. This scrutiny can occur in a formal SSAC meeting with Department officials present to respond to the committee’s questions. In cases where the regulations include minor amendments of a technical and non-controversial nature, scrutiny can occur through postal consideration.

When SSAC scrutinises regulations, it can either agree that the draft legislation can be submitted without the need for formal reference of the regulations; or take the regulations on statutory referral, or ‘formal reference’ to the committee.

Where SSAC takes regulations on formal reference, its scrutiny results in a report to the secretary of state. This method results in arrangements for the report to be laid in parliament alongside the government’s response to the recommendations and the regulations. In such cases, SSAC will often consult with other organisations to ensure their final advice is well informed and evidence based.

SSAC does not offer advice on primary legislation or comment on established policy. The review saw evidence that SSAC members understand and respect this limitation and restrict their advice to the impacts and interactions of the new regulations alone.

General advisory role

SSAC’s other function is to provide advice and assistance to the secretary of state, whether in response to a specific request or on the committee’s own initiative. This advice is given in a number of different ways. Advice is often provided to the Department as part of SSAC’s scrutiny role. Even if a set of regulations is not taken on formal reference by the committee, it still can offer advice on the regulations. This often takes the form of a letter written by the committee to a minister or officials.

The Department occasionally seeks specific assistance from SSAC. This often occurs through consulting with the committee on a regulatory issue before it has reached the draft stage of policy making. This allows SSAC to point out potential issues to policy makers before the regulations come to the committee for formal scrutiny. Officials in DWP reported that this voluntary scrutiny and advisory function was useful, allowing the Department to draw on the expertise of the committee and prevent delays through legislation being taken on formal reference.

SSAC also provides advice through its independent work programme (IWP), which undertakes research in SSAC’s field of expertise and publishes reports containing recommendations to the Department. The stakeholders from outside organisations, consulted as part of this review, expressed support for the IWP, stating that SSAC is able to use its unique insight and access to the Department to give useful advice that external groups would find difficult to produce. The effectiveness of the IWP is covered in chapter 6.

HMRC advisory role

SSAC has a non-statutory role in offering advice to HMT and HMRC on tax credits, national insurance, child benefit and guardian’s allowance. This role is set out in SSAC’s MoU with HMRC and HMT. ^{[footnote 6]} HMRC bring regulations to SSAC for scrutiny on a voluntary basis. This additional function allows the committee to have sight of the wider social security landscape. The relationship between SSAC and HMRC is described further below.

Does each function of SSAC contribute to the core business of the organisation, to DWP and to the government as a whole?

SSAC’s main functions support DWP’s goal to ‘Transform our services and work with the devolved administrations to deliver an effective welfare system for citizens when they need it while reducing costs and achieving value for money for taxpayers’. ^{[footnote 7]} By providing advice to the Department and parliament on social security matters, SSAC is able to support the effective design and delivery of the welfare system.

Is SSAC’s current form the most appropriate for its functions?

There are 3 ‘tests’ which must be considered when establishing an arm’s length body and SSAC passes the second test:

• is this a function which needs to be, and be seen to be, delivered with absolute political impartiality (such as certain regulatory or funding functions)?

Yes. SSAC’s political impartiality is required for its scrutiny of regulations to be trusted and useful to the Department and to parliament.

Public body classification

This review found that SSAC’s current classification as an advisory NDPB is enabling it to deliver its functions effectively. Cabinet Office ^{[footnote 8]} defines three categories of ALB: executive agencies, NDPBs and non-ministerial departments. As a small advisory committee without executive functions, SSAC is correctly classified as an NDPB.

Advisory NDPBs share many characteristics with expert committees; and the review considered which form SSAC best suited. According to Cabinet Office guidance, SSAC fits clearly into the category of an advisory NDPB. SSAC fits the following characteristics of an advisory NDPB: high volume of work; significant reputational risk if the advice were not seen to be developed impartially; size greater than five members; secretariat of more than two FTEs; form and function set out in legislation; organisational body active for at least 3 years.

SSAC is unique in its functions with no significant overlap with any other body. There is therefore no argument for a merger of SSAC with any other ALB.

Recommendation 1

The statutory functions of SSAC are still required by government and at arm’s-length from ministers. SSAC should retain its classification as an advisory NDPB.

Recommendation 2

The MoU between SSAC and HMRC should be reviewed and updated.

Department for Communities Northern Ireland (DfC)

SSAC’s relationship with the DfC mirrors their relationship with DWP as regulations must be scrutinised in the same way. Many regulations introduced by DfC mirror those made in relation to Great Britain. If regulations were previously scrutinised by SSAC, they do not need to be submitted a second time.

The review found that SSAC has a positive relationship with DfC, supported by the SSAC member for Northern Ireland. This member ensures communication takes place between SSAC and DfC and that Northern Ireland interests are represented on the committee.

Devolution

Social security matters are devolved to varying degrees to Scotland and Northern Ireland. As many issues affect the whole of the UK however, SSAC is committed to the engagement of stakeholders outside DWP in devolved areas in the course of its work. Every year the committee visits one of the constituent parts of the UK to get greater insight about the differences, opportunities and challenges that exist.

Social security matters are devolved to Northern Ireland, but usually operate on an assumption of parity and mirrors much of the UK social security legislation. If a set of regulations is scrutinised by SSAC for the UK and then taken on without changes by Northern Ireland, SSAC generally approves the regulations without further scrutiny. The exception is if there are prevailing conditions that result in an impact that is unique to Northern Ireland. If regulations are introduced by Northern Ireland that have not been previously seen by SSAC, they go through the same scrutiny process as UK regulations. In 2018/19, DfC presented three cases to SSAC. ^{[footnote 9]}

The review notes that at times DfC officials are responsible for presenting regulations to SSAC which were created under this principle of parity, but for which most of the policy work occurred in DWP. At these times, DfC can draw upon DWP expertise to help support their presentation to SSAC. The review supports this system of collaboration, which allows SSAC to have access to the information necessary to effectively scrutinise regulations.

The Scotland Act 2016 ^{[footnote 10]} gave the Scottish parliament new powers relating to the benefits system. The transfer of ministerial functions under the 2016 Act does not extend to the secretary of state’s functions relating to SSAC. Scottish government ministers will not be able to refer draft regulations to SSAC for consideration or refer questions relating to relevant social security enactments or industrial injuries benefits. The Scottish government have made provision in their Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 ^{[footnote 11]} to set up the Scottish Commission on Social Security. This is the Scottish equivalent of SSAC and will be able to scrutinise legislation made by the Scottish parliament in relation to their devolved welfare powers.

SSAC have begun defining their relationship with their Scottish equivalent. There has been engagement between SSAC and the commission to provide support on practical matters and share examples of good practice. SSAC has been clear on the separation of work and have navigated any potential conflict of interest issues that devolution could cause. As the remit of the Scottish commission expands, the role of SSAC in Scotland will diminish.

Orders

Changes to the social security system which are related to devolved administrations are sometimes introduced via orders made under Acts which are not ‘relevant enactments’ for the purposes of SSAC’s functions. ^{[footnote 12]} There is no requirement for such orders to undergo SSAC scrutiny and SSAC has no function in relation to them.

The results of using orders to amend legislation has differing effects depending on the devolved nation involved. We note this specifically happens with regulations that come about to deal with interactions with Scottish legislation, which are dealt with via a section 104 order under the Scotland Act 1998. These orders are handled through the Scotland office. Although SSAC does not have the remit to comment on Scottish legislation, these regulations make changes to the UK social security system.

The review notes that this system results in an asymmetry in the scrutiny of social security legislation, however this should change when the Scottish commission for social security is operational. In 2016, the government took the decision not to change SSAC’s functions and to leave it to the Scottish government to make a policy choice about the scrutiny they would wish to apply to Scottish social security legislation.

Recommendation 3

Both SSAC and the Department should maintain regular dialogue over emerging devolution matters, providing clarity about which social security system changes SSAC can legitimately scrutinise.

The UK’s Exit from the European Union

Preparations for EU-exit had a direct impact on SSAC which were noted at the time of the review. As parliamentary time had been taken up with preparations, fewer regulations had gone to SSAC for scrutiny in recent years. This reduced SSAC’s main workload, allowing it to spend increased time on its independent work programme; and to consider ways in which it could provide more timely and proactive advice on the operational challenges that remained within universal credit. SSAC has scrutinised some EU-exit related regulations for HMRC and has frequent dialogue with DWP officials where required. With the UK now having left the EU there is no value in publishing any specific recommendations in this area.

4. Arrangements between SSAC and the Department

Is the current relationship between DWP and SSAC effective and proportionate?

Roles and Responsibilities

The relationship between SSAC and the Department, including roles and responsibilities, is set out in a published framework document. ^{[footnote 13]} The secretary of state for work and pensions is responsible for the appointment of the chair and members of SSAC. The Department’s permanent secretary is the principle accounting officer for SSAC. The permanent secretary is accountable for SSAC’s expenditure, performance and risk management. The SSAC chair has delegated accounting responsibilities and is subject to the delegations set by the Department, as detailed in the framework document. SSAC is required to comply with the principles set out in HMT managing public money’. ^{[footnote 14]} The DWP arm’s length body partnership team is responsible for oversight on behalf of ministers and the permanent secretary, with a dedicated DWP partner overseeing SSAC.

Engagement between SSAC and the Department

SSAC has interactions with many teams across the Department, as it works with officials to gather information and scrutinise regulations. SSAC also liaises directly with department finance and human resources teams as needed. SSAC’s main relationships are with DWP colleagues across policy group, the universal credit programme, DWP operations and the ALB partnership team.

ALB Partnership Team

The ALB partnership team work with SSAC secretariat to support the committee and to gain assurance about its overall effectiveness and efficiency. The Department conducts an annual assurance assessment (AAA) for each of its ALBs. In 2018, the AAA concluded that SSAC effectively carried out its functions and was overall a low risk to the Department.

Meetings between the SSAC secretariat and the partnership team occur as needed, supported by frequent communication. The Department utilises the guidelines set in the Cabinet Office ‘Partnerships with arm’s-length bodies: code of good practice ^{[footnote 15]} when reviewing the partnership arrangements between the two organisations.

SSAC secretariat and the partnership team have a constructive relationship, which is continuously developed. Interviews suggested that communications between the teams have improved in the past two to three years; and both teams are confident that the relationship is strong and built on a ‘no surprises’ approach.

Though the relationship is positive, this review has concluded the partnership team and ministers could have stronger assurance of SSAC’s effective performance. SSAC poses a higher reputational risk to the Department than the current assurance arrangements suggest. The significant parliamentary and media attention SSAC received in Autumn 2018 for their universal credit managed migration report demonstrated the high impact this committee can have. We acknowledge the principle of proportionality in the Cabinet Office code ^{[footnote 16]} and encourage the Department to respect SSAC’s independence in operational matters. However, stronger oversight arrangements would be in line with the principle of assurance in the code.

One method to strengthen the assurance arrangements could be for the partnership team to introduce quarterly accountability reviews (QARs) in line with its standard approach to other ALBs. The QAR model is flexible and can be adjusted to be proportional and fit the needs of an ALB. However, this is a suggestion and exact assurance arrangements should be discussed between SSAC and the Department.

Regular assurance meetings would also be in line with the current framework agreement between SSAC and DWP, which states:

The committee’s functions will involve regular and routine contact with the Department’s policy officials. In addition, regular keep-in-touch meetings will take place between:

• the secretary of state and the SSAC chair (at least annually)
• DWP’s sponsor minister and the SSAC chair (3 to 4 meetings a year)
• DWP’s partnership team and SSAC secretary (at least quarterly)

Regular assurance meetings would further strengthen the Department’s assurance that SSAC remains effective and allow the DWP to better support SSAC to carry out its work. The review also found that DWP Partners would benefit from greater exposure to SSAC’s work.

DWP partners have a standing invitation to attend SSAC meetings, but the review noted they rarely accept. Increasing exposure to SSAC’s work through regular meeting attendance as observers would be a simple and effective way to ensure the partner team are aware of SSAC’s current work with other teams across the Department. This would support SSAC to be able to provide higher quality advice and challenge.

Recommendation 4

SSAC secretariat and the DWP partnership team should have quarterly formal discussions to provide the Department with assurance of SSAC’s effectiveness and performance; and to encourage the opportunity for service improvements between SSAC, DWP officials and ministers.

Recommendation 5

DWP partners should attend SSAC meetings more regularly as observers, in order to ensure the partnership team has a full understanding of SSAC’s work at any given time.

How does SSAC work with other government departments and ALBs?

HMRC

SSAC has a positive, collaborative relationship with HMRC as guided by their MoU. HMRC utilise SSAC’s technical expertise by bringing forward regulations for scrutiny. SSAC members reflected in interviews that the committee relationship with HMRC is not as close as with DWP, due to the voluntary nature of relationship with HMRC.

Although the relationship was assessed as effective, we found the MoU which governs it was last updated in 2009. As a matter of good practice, we suggested that it should be reviewed and updated. This recommendation was accepted by SSAC.

It would also be beneficial for SSAC and HMRC to reassess their relationship and what they require of each other. Both departments are in very different places than they were 10 years ago, working closer together on universal credit and the transfer of relevant tax credit debt to DWP. It was therefore time for the MoU to be reviewed.

5. Governance

The composition, structure and functions of SSAC are set out in the Social Security Act 1992. As an advisory NDPB, SSAC follows the principles of the government code of good practice on corporate governance ^{[footnote 17]} and those set out in HMT Managing Public Money. ^{[footnote 18]}

SSAC has been in a period of transition as they adjust to new leadership. In August 2018, Professor Sir Ian Diamond was appointed as Chair of SSAC, following the 7-year tenure of Paul Gray. He subsequently stepped down from the committee on 6 August 2019 following his full-time appointment as the National Statistician. Liz Sayce was the Acting Chair until the Department appointed Dr Stephen Brien, who took up post 13 September 2020.

Evidence for this review was collected in Professor Sir Ian Diamond’s last few months in post and recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the committee’s governance are therefore based upon the review team’s findings at that time. We hope however that the recommendations will be helpful to the new chair of SSAC, as they are intended to encourage the continued effectiveness of the committee.

Effectiveness

SSAC’s procedures are clearly laid out in a rules of procedure document, which members are expected to be familiar with. These rules are reviewed regularly and provide clear guidelines for how meetings can be called and how decisions can be taken.

SSAC’s strategic planning is led by the chair and vice chair, with secretariat support. The whole committee contributes to strategic decisions at regular planning days. The review saw evidence of SSAC considering how to prioritise work and how they position themselves as an organisation through their communications strategy. The review team was impressed by this mature approach to strategic thinking for a small financial sized advisory committee.

Internal Effectiveness

With the conclusion of a recent recruitment exercise to appoint a new permanent committee chair, it will be important to ensure that the committee considers how it can be most effective under new leadership.

As such, we recommend that the leadership and management of SSAC is reviewed over the next 12 months. The committee should devote more time to implementing a more effective transition from the previous leadership, ensuring that adequate time is devoted to the induction process. This would start with an internal effectiveness report that the committee can openly share and discuss which each other and any key facilitators.

SSAC are actively reviewing their own practices as part of changing their ways of working under the new chair. They should commit further time to this activity through an internal effectiveness review.

Recommendation 6

SSAC should carry out an internal effectiveness review which can be openly shared and discussed with the committee and the Department.

Policy Teams

SSAC has a constructive, open relationship with relevant policy teams. The SSAC secretariat help officials to present regulations for SSAC scrutiny through the provision of clear guidance on what officials should prepare and what timelines to be aware of. Department officials view SSAC scrutiny as a routine part of the legislative process in the relevant areas and have a good level of awareness of SSAC.

Department officials viewed SSAC as a ‘critical friend’ and had positive impressions of the scrutiny process. This can be seen through the Department’s willingness to engage with SSAC early in the legislative process for some topics, utilising the advice before regulations are formally drafted.

This positive relationship is a success for an organisation whose main role is to challenge the Department and appears to be built on the good personal relationships built between the committee, secretariat and DWP officials. Further engagement is however always possible to ensure SSAC is as useful as possible to the Department. Recommendations 5 and 6 provide suggestions of how to accomplish this.

Ministerial engagement

The SSAC chair meets the parliamentary under-secretary of state for work and pensions (Lords) bi-annually and with the permanent secretary and secretary of state annually. The SSAC chair also has regular meetings with the Department’s senior leaders, including six monthly meetings with the director general of policy, who is also the committee’s senior sponsor.

Membership

According to legislation, the committee comprises of 10 to 13 members in addition to the chair. There were 12 members at the time of the review in addition to the committee chair. The secretary of state is responsible for the appointment of the chair and all members of the committee, as well as determining their terms and conditions.

By statute, SSAC’s membership includes:

• one member to represent the interests of employers
• one member to represent the interests of workers
• one member to represent the interests of Northern Ireland
• one member with experience of work among the needs of, the chronically sick and disabled

By custom and practice, the membership also includes:

• one member to represent the interests of Scotland
• one member to represent the interests of Wales
• one member to represent the interests of ethnic minority groups

These requirements mean that SSAC members always represent a diverse range of backgrounds and experience. The review found that this number of members appears appropriate to allow SSAC to have the range of expertise needed to effectively perform its functions. In addition to these requirements, the skills required by the committee are also regularly considered as part of the recruitment process.

SSAC Meetings

Full SSAC meetings take place around 10 times per year. In these meetings, the committee scrutinises regulations and has the opportunity to speak to policy makers to understand regulations better. Meetings are also used to make decisions on other advice, such as the topics and recommendations in IWP reports. The review found that discussion in meetings is open and that decisions are reached by consensus.

Through our interviews, evidence gathering and observing SSAC’s meeting in June 2019, we noted areas in which effectiveness could be further improved. For example, to ensure that discussions are consistently and appropriately focussed; ensuring that effective challenge occurs at the correct level; and that discussions were always effective. To help ensure maximum effectiveness, we suggested that every key agenda item be clearly linked to a strategic objective of the committee. This recommendation was accepted by the secretariat.

Recommendation 7

The committee is effective and it would be even better if the SSAC secretariat linked agenda items to strategic outcomes to further focus discussion at meetings.

The role of the Chair

The chair of SSAC has responsibility for ensuring the committee is working effectively and formulating the business plan and annual report. They manage the performance of members and ensure they are fully briefed and working effectively. The chair is responsible for communicating the views of the committee to the general public and representing the interactions with parliament. The chair builds relationships with DWP senior leaders to facilitate the work of SSAC.

In Summer 2019 it became evident through the review that the committee still needed to complete a transitional journey to work smoothly under the chair who had taken up post in August 2018. This experience showed the demand of the committee’s work and its high profile clearly pointed to needing more time and understanding from the chair. This conclusion was reached through interviews and sight of member’s own feedback in self-reflection exercises over the past year.

The chair is required to commit an average of 5 days per month and other members 2 to 3 days per month to ensure the effective delivery of the work plan for SSAC.

All potential future chair candidates of SSAC should be made aware of the extent of the commitment required to effectively lead the committee. Being new to the organisation and the work it represents means there is an additional need to invest good time to understand SSAC early on in the appointment. This investment of time will help to understand the complexity of the subject matter, take on board the diversity of committee views and to get the opportunity to be able to transition the committee to new leadership.

Recommendation 8

The partnership team and secretariat should review the time required for the role of the chair and ensure that future candidates are clear on the commitment needed. This would include considering the amount of time required to assimilate the secretariat’s comprehensive induction programme, receiving key briefings and the development of committee members.

Secretariat

SSAC is supported by a secretariat of four FTE. SSAC is currently reviewing the structure of its secretariat to ensure it is sufficiently resourced and that knowledge management is effective, combined with the flexibility to respond to the committee’s priorities.

The lead secretary has a high profile role with DWP officials and contacts in external organisations, for example select committee and third sector groups. when it comes to the work of SSAC. This level of influence has been observed as a fine balancing act in terms of ensuring continuously effective communications, feedback and progress within DWP all the way up to ministers and stakeholders outside DWP. As much of the work is DWP related business, it is crucial for the secretariat to be openly accountable to SSAC, DWP senior leaders and ministers in the way challenge and feedback are handled over the work and communications of the committee.

SSAC’s secretariat consists of staff seconded from DWP, but secondments can be from across government. The lead secretary function sits under the chair of SSAC, and the chair role is not held by an official with executive responsibility. This is correct for the day to day management of the secretariat as their independence from the Department must be clear. However, for leadership, performance and development arrangements, DWP should have a joint share of responsibility of the secretariat with SSAC. There should be some accountability both ways between SSAC and DWP when it comes to discussing high level leadership and performance of the secretariat function. We envisage that the discussions would touch on many things including the relationship issues from both perspectives, the leadership, performance and capacity of the secretariat function in supporting the committee over how it goes about delivering its statutory remit to provide high-quality independent advice to ministers and the secretary of state. This would further improve the effectiveness of the secretariat function and should be possible without compromising the independence of SSAC.

Recommendation 9

The lead secretary of SSAC and an appropriate DWP senior leader should meet quarterly to discuss the leadership and performance of the secretariat function.

Sub-Groups

At the time of the review, SSAC had 4 formal sub-groups, as follows:

1. Postal regulations sub-group:

• to consider straightforward draft regulations and assure the committee that they do not need to be further scrutinised;

2. Independent work programme:

• to conduct research and produce reports on topics of interest to government and wider stakeholder groups

3. Stakeholder engagement and communications sub-group:

• to oversee the committee’s stakeholder communications and engagement strategy

4. HMRC sub-group:

• to liaise with HMRC and ensure the MoU between HMRC, HMT and SSAC is discharged effectively

Each sub-group is led by a chair and they come together as a committee of leaders every 6 months to consider SSAC’s performance. This system of delegated leadership is effective at allowing SSAC to efficiently cover its wide remit, ensuring full committee meetings can be well focussed and effective. SSAC also brings together ad-hoc sub-groups as necessary. For instance, a sub-group was also in place to consider topics relating to EU-exit and issues relating to universal credit. This ensures that member expertise is fully utilised.

Diversity

The Committee currently comprises of 8 males and 4 females. All members are recruited by the DWP public appointments process, which includes monitoring and consideration of equality and other minority protected characteristics.

Conflicts of interest

SSAC members understand their responsibility to declare any conflicts of interest and these expectations are clearly stated in member guidance. The committee keeps a public register of all conflicts which is updated annually. Every meeting begins with the opportunity for members to declare any conflicts.

How transparent is SSAC?

The review found that SSAC is a transparent organisation. SSAC publishes all minutes of open sessions of the committee. All reports on regulations taken on formal reference, as well as correspondence with ministers and reports of the IWP are published.

The external stakeholders consulted as part of this review agreed that SSAC is transparent about the work they undertake and how they reach decisions. Particular appreciation was expressed for an event in which SSAC discussed with external groups what topics to explore in their IWP, giving insight into how SSAC approach their work.

Is SSAC effective in recruiting, retaining and developing its members?

Recruitment

The secretary of state is responsible for the appointment of all SSAC members and for determining their terms and conditions. All recruitment takes place by open competition and in line with public appointments guidance. ^{[footnote 19]} The current schedule of appointments is well staggered, allowing for knowledge and experience to be retained when members’ terms end.

Induction

SSAC members have a comprehensive induction to the committee’s work. This includes written material, support from the secretariat, and opportunities to meet DWP officials. Members are also given the opportunity to visit DWP sites to increase their understanding of how the social security system works in practice.

Skills

In Spring 2019, SSAC conducted an internal skills review to inform their future recruitment cycles. SSAC’s membership currently has the strongest representation of skills in policy development and research and strategic planning. SSAC is able to carry out its functions effectively with its current membership. However, the review identified areas where the skills range of SSAC members could be further improved. SSAC had no members with digital expertise at the time of the review and this gap was also highlighted in interviews. Current changes to the social security system rely on digital solutions. To scrutinise regulations effectively and to test whether they carry out policy intent, SSAC needs to have knowledge of the digital solutions available to the Department and the barriers faced by DWP in this area.

Three of the 9 members who participated in the skills review have experience in policy implementation. This is a core area for SSAC as their role involves checking that regulations do not have unintended consequences when implemented. Further representation in this area would therefore be desirable.

We note that SSAC was currently recruiting for a candidate with a detailed technical knowledge of regulations. We therefore are not recommending that SSAC recruit for this skill, as the recruitment campaign would most likely be complete by the time this report is published.

Remuneration

Members receive £256.80 per day of work and are expected to commit 2 to 3 days per month to committee business.

Recommendation 10

SSAC should look to gain membership with expertise of digital transformation in government and increase the proportion of members with experience of working within government to put policy into practice.

6. Effectiveness and efficiency

Does SSAC carry out its functions effectively?

Business planning

SSAC publishes an annual business plan which lays out its priorities for the year to come. ^{[footnote 20]} SSAC’s work is largely reactive as demand for their scrutiny role varies with the amount of regulations introduced by DWP and HMRC. This role can make it difficult for SSAC to plan its workload in any depth, but the review found that SSAC is effective at prioritising work throughout the year. SSAC’s primary scrutiny role is always prioritised over its other work, such as the IWP.

Category	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20
Total number of regulatory proposals scrutinised	42	29	44	26	15	16
IWP papers published	2	3	2	1	1	2

The number of sets of draft regulations that come to SSAC for scrutiny has fallen over recent years. ^{[footnote 21]} This is largely due to the UK’s exit from the EU taking up large amounts of parliamentary time. SSAC devotes its spare resource to its IWP, taking on around 2 projects a year.

It is unclear what workload SSAC can expect in the coming years as it will be reliant upon the government’s policy decisions. We would expect there to be a fall in the number of regulations presented by HMRC as responsibility for tax credits shift to DWP, however DWP could possibly present such regulations instead. The continuing implementation of universal credit may also affect SSAC’s workload, depending on what changes to regulations may arise from DWP’s ongoing test and learn approach.

Measuring and Improving Performance

The review found that SSAC is focussed on continuous improvement. This focus is part of the culture, with members and the secretariat all displaying an interest in measuring and further improving the committee’s overall effectiveness. SSAC also communicates with other public bodies to exchange examples of good practice and identify opportunities for improvement.

SSAC’s performance is difficult to fully measure. One method of measuring success is in evaluating the impact that their advice has, but this is not useful in isolation as DWP chooses whether to take SSAC’s advice for many reasons. In some cases DWP has previously rejected SSAC’s advice, but then eventually accepted SSAC’s recommendation later. ^{[footnote 22]}

However, the impact of SSAC’s advice is still an important way to evaluate their effectiveness. SSAC therefore tracks the recommendations made in its previous reports and the review saw that committee members were very focussed on understanding why recommendations were accepted or rejected by the Department.

SSAC also tracks how it is discussed in the media and in parliament. SSAC uses a system of scoring to assess its impact, for instance giving a high impact score if a report is discussed accurately and in detail in a news article.

Independent Work Programme (IWP)

Year	Number of recommendations made	Number of recommendations immediately accepted	Number of recommendations not immediately accepted
2014-15	6	1	5
2015-16	15	15	–
2016-17	31	30	1
2017-18	6	6	–
2018-19	11	5	6
2019-20	9*	3	Not known

*Includes five recommendations contained in the committee’s report on ‘The effectiveness of the claimant commitment in universal credit’ to which SSAC have yet to receive a response.

Regulations

Year	Number of recommendations made	Number of recommendations immediately accepted	Number of recommendations not immediately accepted
2014-15	7	5	2
2015-16	28	22	6
2016-17	11	10	1
2017-18	14	14	–
2018-19	41	34	7
2019-20	1	1	–

The figures in the above table reflect the number of recommendations accepted, or partially accepted, at the point of the Department’s initial response; whether that be at a committee meeting, a written response to correspondence or a report. However, it should be noted that the impact of SSAC cannot be solely assessed on these terms as the committee’s recommendations are occasionally accepted at a later stage, usually when the proposals are being implemented and some of the potential impacts identified by SSAC then become a reality.

To measure its performance, SSAC identified several success criteria in its business plan:

• rigorous scrutiny of draft regulations within agreed deadlines
• provision of pertinent and well informed advice to the government, informed by their wider stakeholders’ experience outside DWP, member expertise and other evidence
• strong engagement and collaboration with the DWP, HM Revenue and Customs, DfC and other appropriate government and devolved bodies

This review has found that according to these criteria, SSAC is effective. The Department reported that SSAC conducts its scrutiny within agreed deadlines and their scrutiny is rigorous. Department officials reported that SSAC finds possible issues in regulations that they have missed and identifies potential interactions with existing legislation. The Department did not report any concerns over the quality of SSAC’s main scrutiny work and it is clear that SSAC is able to challenge the Department effectively when appropriate.

External stakeholders from separate organisations expressed confidence in the quality of SSAC’s work. Several groups mentioned SSAC’s advice on universal credit managed migration as an example of the committee being able to collate a large number of stakeholder views and format them into a way with which the Department is able to engage. ^{[footnote 23]}

Chapter 4 mentioned SSAC’s relationships with other government departments. SSAC’s relationship with DWP is strong, but can always be further improved as noted elsewhere in this report. The extent to how transparent the committee’s work is was evaluated in the review and comments were made in chapter 5.

Improving impact

The review found that SSAC has been focussing on how to improve the impact of their work. For example, they have been considering how their advice can be best communicated to the Department to ensure it is fully understood.

We understand that the Department will never accept all of committee’s recommendations, as SSAC is only advisory. Measuring effectiveness based on whether recommendations are accepted is therefore not a helpful system.

Committee members suggested that having a discussion with the Department about their advice before the Department publishes a response would allow them to continue to improve their effectiveness. The review team agrees with SSAC and recommends that this way of working is tried out.

Having a deeper understanding of the thinking behind the Department’s responses to recommendations could better inform the committee’s work to maximise their quality of service.

Independent Work Programme (IWP)

The IWP is SSAC’s independent research, which results in published advice to the Department. The goals are to:

• provide an evidence base for SSAC work, improving members’ ability to scrutinise regulations and provide credible independent advice to ministers
• add value to the debate on a topic that is of current interest to government or a broad range of stakeholders outside DWP
• stimulate debate or discussion of a specific topic
• introduce new thinking on data analysis

SSAC chooses the topics of its IWP by sometimes consulting with external stakeholder groups and the Department over what topics they would be interested in. The committee engages with the DWP officials when producing reports and uses evidence provided by the Department.

A recurring theme in interviews with DWP officials was doubt that the IWP delivers value to DWP. The impact of IWP reports is inconsistent and difficult to ascertain, due to the way recommendations may be accepted long after the fact, or already be in train when the DWP response is written. DWP officials also felt that they did not value SSAC for its IWP, because of the wealth of other groups providing advice to them. SSAC’s core speciality is in its scrutiny of regulations and officials highlighted this role above other functions. The issue of whether the IWP is effective at providing advice to the secretary of state was also brought up in the previous triennial review 2015.

The IWP reports could be more useful if aligned to the Department’s strategic priorities with SSAC fulfilling their function of providing expert advice to the secretary of state. Recommendations from reports are accepted to varying degrees and sometimes have a clear impact on DWP decisions. However, the Department does not appear to be fully engaged with the committee’s IWP reports at the right level. The IWP will not achieve full value if the Department does not utilise the reports. Therefore, we recommend that the committee align the IWP to DWP priorities and that DWP should ensure they are engaging early on with the reports and giving due attention to their findings.

SSAC should also continue to explore how to increase the impact of their reports. We found that DWP officials were engaged in the process of forming a report, but that reports are not consistently well targeted to the priorities to which DWP is likely to be most receptive. This is not to say that SSAC should only investigate what DWP asks them to, as their ability to independently scrutinise DWP is at the core of the committee’s functions. However, SSAC may be able to increase further the impact of their reports by defining how they expect DWP to use their reports and ensuring they are communicating with the correct officials from the outset of a project to achieve those outcomes.

Recommendation 11

SSAC should ensure their IWP is aligned with DWP’s strategic objectives first, then engagement with their products will be more useful. DWP should ensure it engages with the products of SSAC’s IWP early, so that useful advice is not overlooked.

Recommendation 12

SSAC should continue to explore how their IWP can have maximum impact, for example by clarifying how they expect DWP to use the reports.

Recommendation 13

The Department and the committee should meet before the DWP formally responds to any advice provided by SSAC.

Stakeholder opinion/public standing

SSAC has a positive reputation with its external stakeholders. The majority of stakeholders are third sector organisations with a focus on social matters. The committee frequently consults these organisations as part of the scrutiny of regulations; and stakeholder events are held to discuss the work of SSAC and to conduct surveys.

Many stakeholder groups consulted by the review team felt that SSAC was impartial and did well at maintaining its position of independence from both government and interest groups.

Does SSAC carry out its functions efficiently?

Funding and financial planning

SSAC receives a budget from DWP which is primarily used to fund staff costs. SSAC has received an annual budget of £350,000 for every year since 2015/16. The committee chair has delegated accounting responsibilities and is subject to the delegations set by the Department as detailed in the framework document. SSAC is required to comply with the principles set out in HM Treasury managing public money’. ^{[footnote 24]}

SSAC sets out its forecast expenditure annually in its business plan and discusses budget allocation with the ALB partnership team. The committee secretariat is responsible for working with DWP finance function to ensure that SSAC receives the level of detailed financial reporting it needs to inform decision making.

Future funding requirements for SSAC are unlikely to change greatly and any change will be based on secretariat resourcing requirements. The review team saw no other potential system of funding for the committee that would not impact on its ability to provide independent and impartial advice; and the review has concluded that the current funding arrangements are suitable.

Efficiency

The review found that SSAC is good value for money. There is no more cost effective delivery model as members are paid per day of work and the committee is supported by only a small secretariat. SSAC is able to meet departmental timescales in its core work to advise on regulations, a key purpose which the Department gets value from.

At the time of the review, we heard that the secretariat team was under-resourced, operating with two vacancies that were in the process of being filled. Staff costs form the greatest part of expenditure but the secretariat could not be reduced without impacting upon the committee effectiveness. SSAC utilises finance, digital, and people and capability services from DWP. There is no further scope for SSAC to use more shared services.

Operating Expenditure

Category	2016/17 (£)	2017/18 (£)	2018/19 (£)	2019/20 (£)
Staff Costs	224,829	224,268	192,630	190,215
Staff Expenses, personnel and training	40,683	33,746	24,882	12,942
Professional fees	–	–	–	14,000
Printing, stationery, IT and office expenses	1,255	2,675	628	386
Consultancy	71,449	83,910	37,301	50,587
Catering	561	4,824	2,307	1,577
Subscriptions	–	–	750	–
Total	338,777	349,423	258,498	269,707

SSAC members receive a fee for attending meetings or undertaking other related work on behalf of the committee. The daily rate of £256.80 has not been increased for at least the past decade. Reimbursement of travel expenses are also payable in accordance with DWP rates and conditions.

SSAC occasionally commissions and pays for research to support its IWP.

Staff costs

This covers the costs of the secretariat staff.

Staff Expenses

This includes the travel expenses claimed by committee members for attending meetings.

Accommodation

DWP provides accommodation for SSAC in its main London office. SSAC’s secretariat is based in London and rooms within the building are used for SSAC meetings. The London location enables sharing an office for access to departmental officials and ministers. Due to SSAC’s small financial size the office sharing arrangement is the most cost efficient form of accommodation. However, care is taken to ensure that SSAC’s physical presence in the shared building does not compromise committee independence.

7. Next steps

The tailored review has worked closely with SSAC, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Cabinet Office. All of the recommendations of this review have been accepted by SSAC, the Department and approved by the minister for work and pensions (Lords).

The next tailored review of SSAC should take place in around five years’ time and should consider the progress made against the recommendations of this review.

Annex A

SSAC Tailored Review – Interview schedule

HMRC, James Dunstan and Jade Colgan.

SSAC Secretariat, Denise Whitehead.

SSAC Partnership interview, Stuart Whitney.

SSAC Policy, James Bolton (Deputy Director, UC policy).

SSAC Policy, Pete Searle (Director, Working Age).

SSAC Policy (Devolution), Dave Annison.

SSAC Government Legal advice over Devolution from Sukhi Grewal.

SSAC Partnership interview, Tammy Fevrier.

SSAC Partnership Division, Catherine Green.

SSAC Child Poverty Action Group – Alison Garnham.

SSAC Disability Benefits Consortium.

SSAC Policy in Practice.

SSAC Citizens Advice.

SSAC member interviews:

SSAC member, Carl Emmerson.

Liz Sayce (SSAC Vice Chair).

Professor Sir Ian Diamond (SSAC Chair).

Graine McKeever (NI representative; and also chair’s postal regulations sub-group).

SSAC member, Chris Goulden.

SSAC Policy Director, Jonathan Mills (DG Policy) interview.

Neil Couling (DG Change) – interview.

Observation of full SSAC meeting in Caxton – June 2019.

DWP Permanent Secretary was informed about the review taking place.

Work and Pension Select Committee – written evidence provided to the review on behalf of the WPSC Latest draft recommendations discussed with full SSAC meeting – September 2019.

Subsequent discussion about SSAC held with Liz Sayce in her capacity as Acting Chair of SSAC.

1. Cabinet Office, (2019), Tailored Reviews: Guidance on Reviews of Public Bodies ↩

2. Department for Work and Pensions, (2015), Triennial review report: Social Security Advisory Committee ↩

3. Social Security Administration Act 1992 ↩

4. Social Security (Scotland) Act 2016 ↩

5. Social Security Administration Act 1992 ↩

6. Social Security Advisory Committee (2009), Memorandum of Understanding between HM Treasury, HM Revenue and Customs and the Social Security Advisory Committee ↩

7. Department for Work and Pensions, (2019), Department for Work and Pensions single departmental plan ↩

8. Cabinet Office, (2016), Classification Of Public Bodies: Guidance For Departments ↩

9. Social Security Advisory Committee annual report 2018-19 ↩

10. Social Security (Scotland) Act 2016 ↩

11. Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 ↩

12. Any enactment not listed as being a ‘relevant enactment’ in section 170(7) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 or part XII of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 ↩

13. Department for Work and Pensions,( 2014), DWP/SSAC Framework Document ↩

14. HM Treasury, (2013), Managing Public Money ↩

15. Cabinet Office February (2017); Code of Good Practice ↩

16. Cabinet Office April (2017); Code of Good Practice ↩

17. HM Treasury and Cabinet Office (2017), Corporate governance in central government departments: code of practice ↩

18. HM Treasury, (2013), Managing Public Money ↩

19. OCPA Guidance (Dec 2016) ↩

20. Social Security Advisory Committee, (2017), Social Security Advisory Committee business plan 2019 to 2020 ↩

21. The low number of regulations in 2015/16 was due to the 2015 General Election; between April to August 2015 only two sets of draft regulations were sent to SSAC for scrutiny ↩

22. An example of this is waiting days in universal credit. See Social Security Advisory Committee, (2017), Social Security Advisory Committee annual report 2017-18, pp. 9-10 ↩

23. Social Security Advisory Committee, 2018, The draft Universal credit (Managed Migration) Regulations 2018: SSAC report and government statement ↩

24. HM Treasury, (2013), Managing Public Money ↩