Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions,what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Universal Credit reimbursement processes on claimants having to pay childcare fees upfront in a lump sum.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Credit customers can claim up to 3 months of future childcare costs at a time with these costs reimbursed month by month.
Universal Credit childcare element, when claimed together with upfront childcare costs, means that customers receive up to 185% of the first month of childcare costs to ease them into the Universal Credit childcare costs payment cycle.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department is taking steps to simplify the application process for Pension Credit.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department have introduced an 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.