Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to prevent two separate Winter Fuel Allowances being offered to a cohabiting couple who own two properties.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Entitlement to a Winter Fuel Payment is based on the circumstances of the household which the claimant has reported as their permanent address. Claimants of benefits, pensions and Winter Fuel Payments have an obligation to report relevant changes to the Department, including changes of address and (where material to entitlement) changes to their household make-up.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the saving in public expenditure resulting from the transfer of the cost of providing free TV licences for those aged 75 and over to the BBC.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
As announced at the Summer Budget 2015, the funding of the free TV licence for those aged 75 and over will transfer to the BBC from 2020.
Currently the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for reimbursing the BBC for free TV licences for those aged 75 and over. At the time of the Summer Budget 2015, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimated the exchequer impact to be:
2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 |
+ £200m | + £445m | + £745m |
There will also be an additional saving of £1m from 2020/21 onwards relating an administration fee payable by DWP to the BBC.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average call waiting time in each of the last five years of the pensions helpline.
Answered by Lord Freud
| 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 |
Changes Bereavement | 00:00:45 | 00:00:52 | 00:00:50 |
Changes (PC / SP) | 00:00:55 | 00:01:01 | 00:01:00 |
New Claims (PC / SP) | 00:00:51 | 00:00:54 | 00:01:01 |
Wait times are recorded from the point of entering a queue to successful connection to an agent.
All figures quoted relate to calls handled within DWP only, excluding calls routed to outsourcing partners.
Figures are presented by business year, spanning 1st April – 31st March. Figures for 2014/15 are complete to 30th June only.
No data is available prior to April 2012 as this metric was not included within data reported during previous periods and is no longer available in source data systems.
Data source: OPMIS