Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of universal credit claimants received their full payment on time for the most recent period for which information is available.
Answered by Lord Sharma
This information can be found in the ad-hoc statistics release published on 9 July 2018 at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/length-of-payment-delays-for-new-claims-to-universal-credit.
This ad hoc release provides statistics on timeliness of payment for new claims to Universal Credit due a payment in February 2018. It also contains results for the number of new claims – due a first payment in February 2018 – that received their first payment on time.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of universal credit claimants received their full payment on time in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Lord Sharma
We plan to publish regular national statistics on Universal Credit, including payment timeliness, in the future. This data is currently going through quality assurance clearance procedures in line with the National Statistics and Official Statistics publication standard.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will bring forward legislative proposals to apply in England provisions equivalent to those of the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 .
Answered by Sarah Newton
Existing equality legislation already means employers, service providers and public bodies have to provide services in BSL and other formats when it is reasonable to do so. The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies to have due regard to the needs of all those with protected characteristics, We don’t think new legislation would add to that. However, we are looking at developments in Scotland and will learn lessons in order to inform our thinking for England and Wales.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Universal Credit split payment arrangement related to domestic violence cases, whether non-requesting partners are able to reverse a request via (a) their online account or (b) Jobcentre Plus.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
A non-requesting partner cannot reverse a split payment arrangement. The arrangement can be reviewed if the applicant and/or their partner provide further information via their online account, face to face with a Work Coach or over the phone. However, the arrangement will only be reversed if the Secretary of State is satisfied that it is in the best interest of the household.
To help ensure people requesting reviews are acting in the interests of their household, Universal Credit agents will collect as much information as possible from the claimants. This information will include details of the mismanagement of welfare support, its effect on individual members of the household and reasons for no longer making split payments.