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Written Question
Attendance Allowance
Monday 9th March 2020

Asked by: Baroness Greengross (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to reduce the time needed to process new Attendance Allowance claims.

Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)

The Government currently spends £5.8 billion a year providing some help to 1.43 million people of pension age with the cost of their care needs.

Attendance Allowance provides financial support towards the extra costs faced by those with a severe disability. It is only available to those over State Pension age who require care or supervision as a result of their disability. The support is aimed at those with long term care needs so there is a qualifying period of 6 months. The qualifying period is waived for those with a terminal illness.

Claims for Attendance Allowance can be made by to the Department by telephone on 0800 731 0122 or by obtaining a claim form online at: www.gov.uk and returning to: Freepost DWP Attendance Allowance.

The Department routinely reviews its use of staffing resources to ensure that it meets the needs of our customers. The Department have recently recruited more staff to process Attendance Allowance claims, which will enable us to determine benefit eligibility within a shorter timescale.

Written Question
Sanitation
Monday 9th September 2019

Asked by: Baroness Greengross (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether there is a statutory requirement for public buildings and offices to provide appropriate disposal bins for the disposal of stoma and other continence products and personal care products in (1) female, and (2) male toilets.

Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott - Opposition Whip (Lords)

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 cover a wide range of basic health, safety and welfare issues and apply to most workplaces. These Regulations require for suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences to be available at readily accessible places. The attached documents the Workplace Health Safety and Welfare Approved Code of Practice and Guidance (L24) and Welfare at Work – Guidance for employers (INDG293), which are guidance to help dutyholders comply with the regulations, say:

  • provision must be made for any worker with a disability to enable them to have access to facilities which are adjusted for their use as necessary; and

  • that toilets used by women should be provided with suitable means for the disposal of sanitary dressings.

There are no equivalent requirements for men.

These regulations do not apply to non-workplaces; however, the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government’s building regulations are applicable to public buildings and the advice is:

  • Statutory guidance supporting Part M of the building regulations, includes a sanitary waste disposal bin in accessible toilets. All building other than dwellings in scope, including offices and all public buildings would require as a minimum one accessible toilet where a stoma bag can be safely disposed of.

  • Building Regulations come with statutory guidance on the layout of wheelchair-accessible unisex toilets. These toilets offer private space for anyone needing to attend to a medical need and are not exclusively for use by ambulant disabled people. The guidance for accessible WCs includes a sanitary waste disposal bin with a lid and a wash hand basin. The layout and content of these spaces are controlled in all newly built offices and public buildings.

  • The statutory guidance given in Approved Document M (Access to and use of buildings) also points to the British Standard BS8300-2:2018 “Design of an accessible and inclusive built environment. Buildings. Code of practice”. This independent best practice standard was updated in January 2018 with further information describing best practice in a range of toilets for people treating a medical condition.

Written Question
Pension Credit
Tuesday 23rd July 2019

Asked by: Baroness Greengross (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of (1) the number, and (2) percentage, of eligible state pensioners who claimed pension credit in (a) 2017–18, and (b) 2018–19; and how many pensioners are forecast to claim that benefit in 2019–20.

Answered by Baroness Buscombe

In 2016-17, 1.81m (60 per cent) of eligible state pensioners claimed Pension Credit. Corresponding figures for 2017-18 and 2018-19 are not yet available.

Official statistics on the take-up of income related benefits at Great Britain level, including Pension Credit, can be found in the ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up in 2016 to 2017’ publication on gov.uk.

Historic and forecast benefit expenditure and caseload data relating to DWP benefits at Great Britain level, including Pension Credit, can be found in the ‘Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2019’ publication on gov.uk.

Written Question
Occupational Pensions
Tuesday 21st July 2015

Asked by: Baroness Greengross (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average sum held in the pension funds of people who were enrolled in a pension scheme as part of the auto-enrolment process.

Answered by Baroness Altmann

The information is not available in the format requested.

Findings from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) Wealth and Asset survey show that overall, the average (median) amount of wealth held in pensions not yet in payment was £33,000 in 2010/12. There is no breakdown available to show wealth held in funds created due to Automatic Enrolment.

DWP’s annual official statistics on workplace pension participation found that in 2014, the annual total amount saved in workplace pensions by employees eligible for Automatic Enrolment was £80.3 billion, an increase of £6.6 billion from 2012.