Dear Rob, 

Thank you for your letter of 31 March highlighting the complaints you have received relating to our press release on 13 March entitled ‘Almost two million people on Universal Credit not supported to look for work’.  

I accept that the original statement, and the update we made after you alerted us to the concern, was misleading by not sufficiently recognising the impact of the process of migrating people from legacy benefits on the increase in the number of people claiming disability elements of Universal Credit.  

As you requested in your letter, we have acted quickly to address these concerns through removing all references to the 383% figure, and associated lines on the increase. We have published an updated statement on 1st April, with a note to advise that this Press Notice has been revised, clarifying the figures related to increased UC LCWRA caseload.  

Going forward, we are ensuring that where we use official statistics in our communications that the lead statisticians and analysts are involved at all stages of the process, and that there is appropriate oversight from our Head of Profession for Statistics. We are reviewing the process to make sure that all colleagues involved are aware of this and follow the agreed approach. 

Yours sincerely  

Peter Schofield