Editing Impact of digital technologies on social protection and human rights (section)

=== Case study 1:  Online claims and disabled people ===
Individuals claiming UC, including disabled people, are initially signposted to the self-service online channel, other channels are an exception. While telephone claims can be completed where appropriate, Inclusion Scotland has found that this rarely happens. All claimants are required to maintain their claim online, other than in exceptional circumstances. These changes impact people and communities across society, however, disabled people are particularly vulnerable to the requirements of digital by default services. 

Disabled people are least likely to have internet access. The 2015 Scottish Household Survey found that 35% of disabled people in Scotland did not access to or use the internet in comparison to over 90% of the non-disabled people. People without qualifications, with low levels of literacy and/or living on low incomes, or who are workless are also less likely to have internet access, disabled people are over-represented in these groups. 

It is not, however, only disabled people without internet access who might have difficulty making and maintaining an online claim. Inclusion Scotland highlight people with learning difficulties, communication difficulties, visual or physical impairments, may have difficulty completing complex, lengthy online forms. A survey of entitlement recipients found for example that 45% of participants would need support to claim and manage their claim online (DWP, 2012). Similarly a survey by Glasgow Citizens Advice Bureaux found that over 75% of those using CAB services would require such assistance. The DWP Universal Support offer, to be delivered by Citizens Advice from 2019–20, includes a single session of digital support for each claimant to help them to claim their entitlement online. This is insufficient to address the ongoing challenges many people experience when using the UC digital systems. 

Inclusion Scotland have found that as a consequence of these issues disabled people have experienced significant delays in UC payments and, in some cases, been subjected to sanctions, causing severe hardship and undermining the right to access social security and an adequate standard of living.