Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will provide guidance to customer service teams to ensure that written responses are available upon request.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Customers can contact DWP by telephone or post, face to face and via digital channels.
DWP continues to develop services that are easy to find and navigate, ensuring that the people feel confident and protected when they are relying on us.
The department is modernising to allow customers to interact with the department across multiple channels and in a way that suits them, enabling customers to self-serve online, while retaining non-digital channels for those that need them, avoiding digital exclusion and ensuring that everyone gets the level of support they need. Of course, if a customer cannot access digital services and specifically requests a written response, the department will provide this.
Developing secure digital channels for both the customer and the department is a key foundation of the work to modernise its services and using email as an outbound channel to communicate with customers is being progressed, the department is developing more secure and effective inbound digital channels for customers to use.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40633 on Social Security Benefits: Reform, when her Department plans to publish the full suite of accessible versions of the Green Paper.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The remaining accessible formats of the Green Paper have now been published and can be accessed here: Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper - GOV.UK. A full suite of accessible versions is available including Audio, British Sign Language, Braille, Large Print and Easy Read.
The consultation will close in 12 weeks on 30 June 2025, to ensure that everyone has sufficient time to engage with and respond to the consultation.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what accessibility adjustments are in place for the consultation on the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper; and whether her Department consulted with disabled people on accessibility requirements for that consultation.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to putting the views and voices of disabled people and people with health conditions at the heart of everything we do. Throughout the consultation period we will listen, learn and take feedback through an online form, email, post and through accessible in-person and online events.
We will publish a full suite of accessible versions of the Green Paper, to ensure that everyone can engage with the consultation. The consultation will close 12 weeks after the point at which all the accessible versions are available, to ensure that all stakeholders have sufficient time to engage and we hear from as many people as possible. We will also be holding a full schedule of public events which we will publish along with the accessible versions in the coming weeks. The public consultation events will accommodate any reasonable adjustments for individuals who wish to attend, including re-imbursing travel costs and arranging accessible venues and interpreters for attendees.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a service standard timeframe for criminal investigations by her Department into fraud.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no Service Level Agreement for criminal fraud investigations. Each case presents unique complexities, depending on the offence type and individual circumstances. Cases are often operationally challenging due to the complexity of the work required, involving information gathering from external organisations to obtain supporting evidence. Timelines are also affected by the frequent need to capture witness statements and the reliance on customer participation.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training her Department requires call handlers to complete.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
All directorates within DWP receive Telephony learning. This begins with new joiners receiving induction and mandatory learning which covers topics such as communicating effectively, delivering excellent customer service, keeping safe, and how to support those with additional or complex needs.
On completion of the induction learning delegates will complete their technical learning covering the skills and knowledge required for their specific role.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many decision makers in her Department are working on cases of benefits fraud.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of the 31st October 2024, Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt (CFCD) Directorate has the following Full Time Equivalent (FTE) assigned to decision making:
CFCD Internal Decision Makers |
Administrative Officer | Executive Officer | Total |
181.2 | 148.6 | 329.8 |
*This covers both Administrative Officer (AO) and Executive Officer (EO) grades who conduct this work as part of CFCD’s Enhanced Review Team (ERT), Interventions, Investigations, Economic and Serious Organised Crime, and Compliance functions.
In addition, CFCD also refers some of the cases it reviews to decision makers within Universal Credit (UC). As of the 28th October 2024, this function has the following FTE assigned to decision making for CFCD cases:
UC Decision Makers Assigned to CFCD Cases
Total |
110.03 |
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) simplifying and (b) automating the process to apply for Pension Credit.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department continues to assess the Pension Credit service. This led to the introduction of the online claim process, providing customers with a convenient alternative claim route, alongside the existing telephony and paper application methods. As the Department continues to modernise the Pension Credit service, we continue to review the user experience, balancing simplification of application with capturing the right information to ensure accuracy of award.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of demand for the Access to Work scheme since October 2023.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Information on Access to Work applications is available but to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost.
However, the Access to Work statistics from previous years includes how many applications result in provision being approved from 2007/08 to 2022/23. Please see Table 3 of the Access to Work statistics.
The latest Access to Work statistics can be found here.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff are employed to work on the access to work telephone helpline.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
There are currently 131.76 (full time equivalent) colleagues within the Access to Work Service Centre. These are not Case Managers dealing with applications for Access to Work but a separate team that covers telephony, processing claims for reimbursement of costs and other administrative tasks. The team is multi-functional and will be deployed on different areas dependant on demand and business priorities.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to support those on a British National (Overseas) Visa to enter work.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Individuals who have a British National (Overseas) visa have the right to work and study in the UK, but in most circumstances would have a No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition attached to their visa. DWP has no powers to award Universal Credit to those with NRPF.
They can apply to have their NRPF condition lifted by making a ‘change of condition’ application if they are destitute or at risk of destitution, if the welfare of their child is at risk due to their low income, or where there are other exceptional financial circumstances. If this application is successful then they can apply for Universal Credit and access the full range of DWP employment services.