House of Commons - Work and Pensions

Select Committee on Work and Pensions Fourth Report

7 The language barrier and information dissemination

140. The problems faced by some ethnic minorities, and refugees, who have difficulties in understanding the English language were widely identified during the inquiry as a substantial barrier to accessing DWP services and an area where improvements need to be made. This chapter will examine information and advice dissemination by DWP and how the language barrier can best be tackled by the Department.

Information needs

141. The previous chapter highlighted the effect of a lack of information upon benefit take-up among ethnic minority pensioners. The information needs of ethnic minorities may differ from those of the rest of the population and the Department, under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, is responsible for ensuring that these needs are met.

142. Lack of awareness of the benefits that are available plays a key role. Katie Lane from Citizen's Advice stated: "You can only ask for something if you know it exists."[186] Vanessa Davis of Disability Alliance expressed a similar view and commented:

187

143. A further assumption made regarding older ethnic minorities is that their younger family members will help and support them in accessing benefits and services, yet it was argued by Wolverhampton Council of Sikh Gurdwaras that younger Asian people are becoming more westernised and less involved with the family. Consequently their older relatives require information on benefits and support from other sources.[188]

144. The Department is responsible for ensuring adequate publicity and engaging in outreach work in ethnic minority communities. As chapter 2 outlined, most ethnic minority groups are more likely than the population overall to be economically inactive or unemployed and are more likely to be living in poverty. Consequently, there can be no doubt that ethnic minorities are in need to access DWP's services.

145. The Department's written evidence outlines the work of the Communications Directorate in meeting the information needs of ethnic minorities. This includes defining the needs of ethnic minority groups; evaluating the success of communications; defining which media to use; and ensuring communications are in accessible language and convey positive images.[189] DWP's Race Equality Scheme (RES) Progress Report identified some progress within the Communications Directorate that involved: closer links with ethnic minority media; working to ensure customer information "in all appropriate minority languages;" and commissioning research into the language needs of customers, leading to targetting of languages in different regions.[190]

The language barrier and the client experience

146. For those who do not speak and understand English, or for whom English is a second language, the language barrier to accessing DWP services is hugely significant and undoubtedly impacts upon benefit take-up rates and the employment prospects of those affected. The evidence received during the inquiry placed great emphasis on the relationship between poor service delivery and the language needs of customers. For example, Citizen's Advice stated:

"the failure of Jobcentre Plus staff to assist claimants with English language difficulties in completing application forms is the most frequent issue reported to us by CABx about clients from ethnic minority communities." [

191

147. This was reinforced by the Rotherham Welfare Rights Service, who said that the lack of language support offered at DWP offices results in their own advisers' time being taken up with helping DWP clients with straightforward administrative aspects of claims.[192] Several organisations referred to the unsatisfactory, but common, practice of children or other family members having to act as interpreters for parents leading to confusion, mistakes and embarrassment.[193] A frequent complaint was that DWP staff only communicate in English, even when it is evident that the client is unable to understand, and staff do not appear to consider the potential communication problems the client might experience.[194] Criticism was expressed of a failure to offer, and use, interpretation services and the lack of DWP staff awareness of available translation services, particularly Language Line.[195] Even when Language Line is used, it was pointed out that they are only interpreters and cannot explain the benefit rules or terminology.[196]

148. Another problem highlighted was that claimants with English language difficulties are sometimes given claim forms to take away and fill in on the assumption that they will have access to informal translators. This can then result in delayed or failed claims.[197] Staff were criticised by Warwickshire Welfare Rights Service for refusing to speak with representatives of ethnic minority clients, even though permission had been given by the client.[198] Attention was also drawn to the issue of some ethnic minority people being unable to read their own language.[199] Finally, a major barrier highlighted by many of those submitting evidence was the potentially detrimental impact of the increased use of telephony, particularly in the Pension Service, upon ethnic minorities whose first language is not English.[200]

149. It should also be pointed out that unfamiliarity with spoken or written English does not affect all ethnic minorities who may need to access DWP services. Many are from families that have been in the UK for several generations and whose first language is English. Nonetheless, for those who are not fluent English speakers, the barriers posed can be extremely problematic. It is notable that a large proportion of the evidence submitted to the inquiry focussed very heavily on the language issue. Yet at the same time, there was discussion around the extent to which the language barrier obscures other issues which are equally important in helping to improve the service delivery to ethnic minorities.[201]

DWP strategies to help overcome the language barrier

150. Mahmood Khan, a representative of Wolverhampton Mosques, said in evidence:

"DWP…has a duty to make sure the appropriate communication channels are there for the user."[

202

151. The Department does acknowledge that for some clients there is a language barrier that has to be overcome. Consequently, a range of strategies is in place to help address the issue. That said, it is surprising that the RES Progress Report makes very little reference to the language barrier experienced by some ethnic minority clients.

TRANSLATED MATERIAL

152. One of the more conspicuous methods of addressing the language needs of clients is through the provision of translated materials. Some of the Department's key leaflets and publicity material are available in different languages: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Punjabi, Somali, Urdu, Vietnamese and Welsh. The RES report said that the Department was researching whether the currently used languages are appropriate. More recently, the DWP Diversity Director said that the range of languages has been brought up-to-date and the Department is looking at introducing some material in some of the Eastern European languages. In addition, information videos are available in French, Somali, Cantonese and Sylheti.[203]

153. Several organisations criticised DWP for only producing the bare minimum of translated material and restricting its actual availability.[204] Disability Alliance commented that translated material is usually not on public display and called for a Departmental strategy for information and advice delivery designed around the realities of minority ethnic peoples' lives.[205]

154. The Committee recommends that a larger range of translated material should be made more widely available and that translated material should be updated frequently and put on public display.

INTERPRETERS AND TRANSLATORS

155. One of the major areas where the evidence indicated that the Department does not adequately meet the needs of those who require language support is in the use of interpreters and translators. Some of these difficulties are outlined in paragraphs 146-148. In light of the evidence received during this inquiry, it was surprising to hear the Business Strategy Director of Jobcentre Plus state that research conducted on behalf of the Department found no examples of clients failing to obtain interpreter services when needed.[206] This was not borne out by the evidence received by the Committee.[207]

156. Wolverhampton Citizens Advice were not alone in arguing that staff training is needed to ensure that they recognise when a client needs language assistance and that clients receive interpreter services when required.[208] When asked how staff identify clients who need help from an interpreter and what procedure is then followed to obtain appropriate services, the Business Strategy Director of Jobcentre Plus said that a standard part of the training received by staff is how to identify those who might need such support. If it is thought that the client needs access to an interpreter a range of options is available.[209] These include a combination of locally based face-to-face interpreters; telephone interpreting through Language Line; and using multi-lingual DWP staff. Increased centralisation and the use of contact centres means that some Agencies depend more upon Language Line. Jobcentre Plus is the biggest user of Language Line compared with other DWP Agencies (See table 3).[210]Table 3: DWP expenditure on Language Line by Agency[211]

Business Nov-04 Dec-04

Debt Management £38.00 £0

D&CS £721.70 £914.20

Appeals Service £8.00 £0

CSA £5,147.95 £3,579.25

Pensions Service £6,346.60 £4,975.90

Jobcentre Plus £89,536.75 £83,986.95

Other £8,714.70 £5,404.05

157. In spite of the translation and interpretation services available to staff, the evidence suggests that staff often fail to utilise them and use either informal translators or voluntary and community groups instead.[212] Citizen's Advice stated that Jobcentre Plus offices have a tendency to refer clients in need of an interpreter to Citizen's Advice and that this is a huge cost burden on the organisation.[213] Furthermore, the Language Line service is only available for access by DWP staff.

158. The Committee recommends that the Department soon carries out an urgent and fundamental re-consideration of:

a) its plan to address the language needs of clients;

b) the services it offers to assist clients needing language support; and

c) its plan to improve awareness amongst senior management.

159. Language Line is currently the contracted provider of telephone interpretation for DWP. In written evidence, Language Line themselves commented that take-up of their service fluctuates across different DWP offices and posited that the reason for this may be the prioritisation of resources at a local level.[214] The cost of using Language Line is £8 for the first 5 minutes, £13 for 6-10 minutes, £17 for 11-15 minutes and £2.25 per minute thereafter. Between 2000/01 to 2002/03 the DWP expenditure on Language Line doubled each year and has since levelled out (see table 4). For the past three years DWP has spent around £1 million per year on Language Line services.[215]Table 4: Annual[216] DWP spending on Language Line[217]

Dept 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 Total

DWP £280,048.48 £521,380.15 £1,113,422.75 £954,125.35 £1,002,418.50 £3,871,395.23

160. An important issue raised in evidence was that DWP fails to identify those who may require ongoing language support in subsequent communication with the Department. When questioned on this issue, the Minister for Work and Departmental officials indicated that those submitting new benefit claims using a contact centre would have any language needs logged on the IT system. However, it appears that this does not apply to existing clients or those accessing services via a DWP office.[218] Paradoxically, because of a greater tendency to dislike telephone contact (see paragraph 116), it is likely that a higher proportion of ethnic minority clients access services via a DWP office or Information Point.

161. One suggestion, raised by the Hounslow Welfare Benefits Unit, was that DWP letters should incorporate a reference to Language Line.[219] It was also suggested that, if the Department knows that a client cannot read English and requires written communication to be translated, that correspondence with the client should be translated by DWP as a matter of course. CPAG argued that all benefit claim forms should include a question asking which language the client wishes to communicate in and that all subsequent correspondence should be written in the client's language of choice.[220] The Minister and officials admitted that the current IT and processing systems do not enable this to happen but said that the Department should investigate the issue further.[221]

162. The Committee recommends that the Department develops a language marker on the appropriate IT systems to identify clients needing ongoing language support. We also recommend that clients are given the option of requesting that they receive correspondence in the language of their choice.

MULTI-LINGUAL STAFF

163. The evidence gave mixed views on the use of multi-lingual DWP staff. The Local Government Association (LGA) claimed that they are sometimes exploited by the Department,[222] whereas the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union suggested that staff able to converse in other languages are discouraged from using them and told to use Language Line instead.[223] During our visit to Wolverhampton, staff at the Pension Service informed the Committee that staff fluent in other languages frequently take client telephone calls which their colleagues cannot deal with as the client is unable to converse in English.[224] At that time, staff were eligible for a language allowance of £250 per year if they spent more than 25% of their time using a second language, although this percentage was for staff to substantiate. The RES Progress Report states that this payment has since increased to £500. More recent evidence from the Department clarified that, at July 2004, the language allowance is now worth £520 per year. In addition, a reserve rate of £260 is set for staff providing cover for those on annual leave.[225]

164. Currently, only 134 staff are claiming the allowance out of around 130,000 DWP staff. When asked if there were any difficulties for staff in accessing the language allowance, the Department said that this was a new initiative and would be reviewed along with other staff allowances.[226]

165. The Committee recommends that the Department further reforms the current staff language allowance and differentiates between staff who frequently use their linguistic skills and those who are 'casual' users; and that staff who spend more than 25% of their time using a second language should receive a substantial annual allowance, and that those who use their language skills less frequently should be entitled to an annual allowance of at least £520.

Staff reductions in London and the impact on language support

166. As discussed in chapter 4, the effect of the DWP staff efficiencies will involve 4,000 staff relocating from London and further reductions in staff numbers to contribute to the overall reduction in staffing within the Department. As nearly half of administrative staff and more than a third of staff at the executive officer grade in London are from an ethnic minority, there are real concerns that this will reduce the number of multi-lingual staff. It may also lead to a reduction in the social and cultural knowledge of the remaining staff and thus impact upon the quality of service to ethnic minorities in London.[227]

167. Referring to the Jobcentre Plus contact centre for the Hounslow areas moving to a location in Pembroke Docks, South Wales, the Hounslow Welfare Benefits Unit said:

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168. When questioned on the staff reductions in London and the effect on the language support provided to clients by multi-lingual staff, the Business Strategy Director of Jobcentre Plus said:

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169. Regarding the Pension Service, he said that the London Pensions Group had been providing pension services for the London area out of Newcastle-upon-Tyne for some time. Significant changes are taking place with the roll-out of Pension Credit and the Pension Service that will provide a local service. Regarding the increased use of contact centres across DWP, he said:

230

170. Further evidence submitted by the Department explained that, as part of the efficiency review, each Agency is examining possible costs and efficiencies whilst also maintaining access to services for all clients.[231]

171. The Committee is concerned that the staffing cuts and relocations outside London will have a detrimental effect upon the service ethnic minorities can expect to receive from DWP and that this will be particularly problematic for those with language needs. We recommend that the Department by 31 December 2005 conducts an audit of the languages spoken by staff in London together with an impact assessment of the staff efficiencies; and that by 1 October 2006 a strategy is developed to ensure that clients in London who require language support are not disproportionately and adversely affected by the staffing efficiency measures.

The language barrier and outreach work

172. It was strongly argued that the Department needs to make further efforts to fulfil the information needs of ethnic minorities through closer working with representative organisations and community groups.[232] LGA argued that translated materials are never a panacea to solve all information needs as they need to be backed up with active outreach.[233] Salford Welfare Rights commented that there is often an assumption that simply disseminating information results in the needs of ethnic minorities being fulfilled, whereas in reality, dissemination needs to be supplemented with direct links with the people it is aimed at and their representatives.[234] A similar example was given in evidence by the Wolverhampton Council of Sikh Gurdwaras who also criticised DWP for passing translated leaflets to community groups, mosques and so on, even though the leaders of religious and cultural groups may not have the knowledge to pass on the information to their communities. The leaflets were not always understood and there was no way of monitoring the extent to which the information was disseminated within the community. They argued that DWP should go into the communities themselves to explain what the information means, who is entitled and how to claim. [235] Dr Sadhu Singh told the Committee:

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173. Another suggested method of distributing advice and information on DWP services, which also counteracts any language barrier, is the use of videos or DVDs.[237] In addition, the LGA pointed out that there are many ethnic minority radio stations and other media, both local and national, that could be used to disseminate information. Other outreach strategies that the Department might employ were suggested during the inquiry and are also explored in chapter 6.

174. The Committee recommends that by 1 May 2006 the Department develops a coherent ethnic minority outreach strategy and works in close partnership with local and community groups in order to meet the information needs of ethnic minorities. The Committee also recommends that a thorough review is undertaken of capacity within advice services serving communities with high minority populations, and other indicators of social need.

186 Q 24 Back

187 Q 158 Back

188 Q 226 Back

189 Ev 144 Back

190 DWP (2004), Progress Report on Realising Race Equality, July 2004, p 59 Back

191 Ev 2 Back

192 Ev 187 Back

193 Ev 2-4, 115, 187, 189 Back

194 Q 5, Ev 2-4, 180, 189-190 Back

195 Ev 197-198 Back

196 Ev 187 Back

197 Ev 184 Back