Oral Answers to Questions
Alison Griffiths Excerpts(6 days, 13 hours ago)
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Emma Reynolds
Claims have more than doubled—they have increased by 145% since late July—and we are working at pace to process those claims. We have deployed an additional 500 staff to ensure that those on the lowest incomes get the pension credit that they need.
Alison Griffiths (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) (Con)
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Liz Kendall)
As a lifelong champion of family carers, dealing with the problem of carer’s allowance overpayments is a priority for me and for my right hon. Friend the Minister for Social Security and Disability. Last week we set out the next steps in our independent review led by Liz Sayce, the former chief executive of Disability Rights UK. It will report by the summer and will look at how and why overpayments were built up, the changes we can make for the future and how best to help those affected. Along with the biggest ever cash boost to the earnings threshold for carer’s allowance announced in the Budget, it shows our determination to give family carers the support they need and deserve.
Alison Griffiths
In Bognor Regis and Littlehampton more than 23,000 people have lost their winter fuel allowance—more than 90% of former claimants. Does the Secretary of State think that it is fair that someone who has paid tax all their working life will now be taxed on their state pension as well as losing their winter fuel allowance?
Liz Kendall
The hon. Lady talked about the winter fuel payment, but she failed to mention our determination to ensure that the 880,000 pensioners who do not claim pension credit, but are eligible, claim it so that they can get their winter fuel payment. The £4.9 million allocated from the household support fund to West Sussex, which covers her constituency, can be used precisely for those pensioners just above the pension credit threshold who have worked hard all their lives but need extra support with the cost of heating.
Disability History Month
Alison Griffiths Excerpts(1 week, 3 days ago)
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Alison Griffiths (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) (Con)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark, and to contribute to this important debate, which I thank the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for securing. She made many important points, some of which I will also mention.
As has already been said, the theme of this year’s UK Disability History Month is disability, livelihood and employment. My interest in this issue has its foundations in losing 70% of my hearing from bacterial meningitis when I was aged 19. Ironically, being the Member of Parliament for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton is the first job in which I feel my disability has been a positive advantage, giving me a platform from which to advocate for others. My niece was born with spinal muscular atrophy, giving me a window into the experience of more acute disability in the workplace and the challenges she faces on a daily basis.
In 1995 it was a Conservative Government, under John Major, who delivered the first UK legislation to protect disabled people from various forms of discrimination. In the last 30 years, new protections have improved the work situation of disabled people. A good example is the Access to Work programme, which, if implemented and understood properly by business, can remove some of the barriers that employers may perceive in taking on a disabled employee.
Many disabled people are eager to work and contribute, but face significant barriers in understanding which opportunities are truly accessible to them. While there is a lot of emphasis on getting disabled people into further education, that same support is not prevalent beyond university. Many disabled people want to work, contribute to society, pay taxes and have a work routine that makes them feel valued. Time should be taken to understand not only what is possible but what an individual aspires to achieve.
Managing a disability can feel like a full-time job in itself. To enable disabled people to contribute to our society through work, we need systems that offer flexibility, and that safeguard benefits and allow individuals to take on work without jeopardising their health or their financial stability. A manager saying, “Tell me what you need and I will do it” is a great start, but the reality is that in a new job there are so many unknowns. For those with additional access needs, what is needed can be hard to define at the outset, without prior knowledge of exactly what the job entails. People’s needs can vary widely, depending on the disability.
There is an opportunity to create transformational change quickly. If we increase the prevalence of access co-ordinators, they can provide an interface between businesses, line managers and disabled employees and jobseekers. Their role is to implement best practice from other organisations and identify the help that is available. By supporting a disabled employee’s career progression—which can be even more challenging with geographic and access constraints—they can help to deliver the autonomy and flexibility that works for both employer and employee, ultimately ensuring that disabled employees have access to a career, not just a job.
Social Security Advisory Committee: Winter Fuel Payment
Alison Griffiths Excerpts(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Emma Reynolds
We are deploying an additional 500 staff to deal with the substantial increase—over 150%—in claims. That is the right thing to do. It is an operational focus for the Department to get through those claims as quickly as possible, to make sure that we get the help to those most in need.
Alison Griffiths (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton) (Con)
The Social Security Advisory Committee estimated that more than 70% of people with a disability will lose their winter fuel payment this year. Does the hon. Lady really think that cutting benefits from this vulnerable group of pensioners is the right thing to do?
Emma Reynolds
If the hon. Lady looks at the equality analysis, she will see that those with a disability will be disproportionately likely to retain the winter fuel payment. I urge her to have a look at that.