Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that consumers’ future ability to access credit is not adversely impacted by any payment holidays taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government recognises the important role payment holidays play in providing temporary support to consumers through this period and continues to work closely with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to support consumers facing financial difficulty as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Lenders must act responsibly when deciding whether and how much credit to issue. This includes assessing consumers’ ability to repay. The information on a consumer’s credit file is an important part of this assessment. FCA guidance makes clear that, during a payment holiday, accounts should be recorded to ensure the consumers’ current credit data position is maintained or frozen for the duration of the payment holiday period. The Government expects that this should not impact on a consumer’s credit file.
Consumers should speak to their lender about their options when coming to the end of their payment holiday.
Asked by: Baroness Brady (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to carry out an equality impact assessment of women who are on maternity leave and using the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Government has taken various steps in developing the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help ensure women are not disadvantaged.
Employers can claim through the CJRS for enhanced (earnings related) contractual pay for employees who qualify for either maternity pay, adoption pay, paternity pay, or shared parental pay. Parents who have been furloughed whose period of family-related statutory pay begins on or after 25 April 2020 will have their entitlement calculated on the basis of their usual earnings, and not their furloughed wages. The amount that an employee receives in pay should not be affected due to being on furlough during the relevant 8-week period used to determine entitlement to family-related statutory payments and the earnings-related rates of Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay and Maternity Allowance.
In addition, the Government has ensured that women returning from maternity leave after 10 June are able to access the CJRS even if they have not been previously furloughed.
Detailed information is available in the online guidance.