Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the Universal Credit overpayment rate for the financial years (1) 2022–23, and (2) 2023–24; and how these figures compare to the forecasted rate used in the Spring Budget 2023 and Spring Budget 2024.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Universal Credit (UC) overpayment rate was 12.7% of expenditure in the financial year 2022-23, and 12.4% of expenditure in the financial year 2023-24.
At Spring Budget 2023, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that the UC overpayment rate would be 12.1% in 2022/23, an underestimate of 0.6ppts from actual 2022-23 outturn (12.7%).
At Spring Budget 2024, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that the UC overpayment rate would be 13.2% in 2023/24, an overestimate of 0.7ppts from actual 2023-24 outturn (12.4%).
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to page 138 of the Department of Work and Pensions Annual Report and Accounts 2023–24 (HC 62) published on 22 July 2024, what proportion of the total £9.4 billion debt stock held by Debt Management at the end of 2023–24 is deemed irrecoverable.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Impaired debt as a proportion of the £9.4bn debt stock reported in the 23/24 Annual Report and Accounts is: | ||
Impairment Value | £1.958bn |
|
Impairment as a % of Debt Stock | 21% |
|
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to the Get Britain Working White Paper (CP 1191), what assessment they made of the value of partnering with cultural and arts organisations, and in particular of the levels of pay and employment rights offered by such organisations.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government will work in partnership with organisations at the national and local level to join up, enhance and champion their efforts as part of our new Youth Guarantee. Our first partnerships will be developed with Channel 4, the Royal Shakespeare Company and leading sports organisations including the Premier League.
These sports, culture and arts organisations play a vital role in our economy, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and contributing to growth. This work has become even more important since the Covid-19 pandemic, which harmed the chances and choices of so many young people.
We have partnered with these organisations on the basis that they already have a track record of building trusted relationships with young people from all walks of life, including those in schools and those from areas of socio-economic disadvantage. As well as being heavily involved with young people in schools they all have a particular interest in young people who are not earning or learning.
We plan to expand into other sectors and organisations who also play a vital role in youth education, employment and training.
DWP does not hold data on pay by individual organisations.
The Good Work Review, published in February 2023 by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, was co-funded by DCMS and is the first sectoral deep dive of its kind into job quality and working practice in the creative industries.
DCMS is working closely with the sector as it responds to these recommendations. The review set out a number of priorities, including driving improvements in workplace and management practices in the Creative Industries.
Statistics on median annual gross pay in the Creative Industries and subsectors (vs. UK as a whole) in Economic Estimates: Earnings 2023 and Employment October 2022 to September 2023 for the DCMS Sectors and Digital Sector - GOV.UK
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether an annual Christmas bonus for benefit claimants will be paid this year; if so, how many claimants will receive that bonus; and what the total cost will be, including administrative costs, to public funds.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2024/25, it is estimated that there will be around 17.9 million recipients of the Christmas Bonus at a cost of £179 million. This information is available in Table 1c of the Outturn and Forecast tables for the Autumn Budget 2024, which can be found here: outturn-and-forecast-tables-autumn-budget-2024.xlsx
In most cases, the bonus is paid automatically with whichever qualifying benefit an individual receives, which ensures administration costs are kept to a minimum.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that information published about the total value of benefits paid to claimants, including available discount schemes and grants, can be readily compared with employee salaries, which are usually quoted before tax.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has no such plans. Independent, free and anonymous benefit calculators are available that can help individuals to see how their benefits are affected if they start work or increase their hours. Benefit calculators can be found on gov.uk.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of residents of Ceredigion in Wales are currently in receipt of disability benefits.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The table below shows the number of claimants in February 2024 who are on the different disability benefits, Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance, including the Child element (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA).
PIP | DLA | AA | Total |
4,449 | 1,293 | 2,785 | 8,527 |
This information can be found on the published datasets on Stat-Xplore - Log in (dwp.gov.uk)
The latest available population estimates published by the Office of National Statistics on Population estimates - local authority based by single year of age - Nomis - Official Census and Labour Market Statistics (nomisweb.co.uk) show that the estimated population of Ceredigion in April 2023 is 73,050.
This means that 12% of the residents of Ceredigion in Wales were claiming disability benefits in February 2024.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether, when referencing benefits, they will gross up the value of each benefit to demonstrate a direct and fair comparison with salaries paid to people who are not claiming benefits.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the benefits system continues to recognise polygamy in social security regulations and, if so, why.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
Polygamous marriages are illegal in the UK
Universal Credit does not recognise polygamous households in the benefit system. Any adults living in the household would each have to claim as a single person on the basis of their own circumstances.
Benefits such as Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and Housing Benefit do recognise a small number of polygamous marriages which took place in a jurisdiction where polygamy is permitted. This number is very small and declining, since the Immigration Act 1988, it has not been possible for people polygamously married overseas to bring second wives to the UK through the spouse visa route.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether an annual Christmas bonus for benefit claimants will be paid this year; if so, how many claimants will receive that bonus; and what the total cost will be, including administrative costs, to public funds.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Christmas Bonus will be paid this year. The Christmas Bonus is an annual, tax-free, lump sum payment to pensioners and to working aged people who, during the relevant week (which is usually the first full week in December) are entitled to payment of certain qualifying benefits and who are resident in the UK, an EEA state or Switzerland.
The qualifying benefits are:
State Pension; Pension Credit; Widowed Mother's/Parent's Allowance; Widows' Pension; Industrial Death Benefit by way of Widow's or Widower's Pension; War Widow's Pensions; Long-Term Incapacity Benefit; Personal Independence Payment; Adult Disability Payment; Child Disability Payment; Transitionally-Protected Severe Disablement Allowance; Attendance Allowance; Disability Living Allowance; Unemployability Supplement or Constant Attendance Allowance paid under Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes; Carer's Allowance; Mobility Supplement; War Disablement Pension (if over age 65); Armed Forces Independence payment; and contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance (once the main phase is entered after the first 13 weeks of claim)
In most cases the bonus is paid automatically with whichever qualifying benefit an individual receives, which ensures administration costs are kept to a minimum.
The number of benefit claimants expected to receive the annual Christmas bonus, based on 2022/23 forecasts are 16,443,000.
The total cost in real terms, based on 2022/23 forecasts is £164 million.
Source: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 19 January (HL5097), why they are unable to provide an answer as to when they expect to see the overall figure for benefit fraud reduce back to levels seen prior to March 2020.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)
The Department is determined to take decisive action and bring the collective weight of government to bear on this growing challenge
We stated in the recent Treasury Minutes (Government Response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-Second to the Twenty Sixth reports from Session 2021-22), that following confirmation from Her Majesty’s Treasury on the Department’s funding, we will be setting our Fraud and Error targets shortly.