Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether claimants with disabilities who are in receipt of the Personal Independence Payment and legacy work-related benefits will be treated as new claimants for the purposes of the proposed changes to the health element of Universal Credit when they are migrated onto Universal Credit through managed migration; and whether such claimants will see a reduction in their income as a result of these proposed changes.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department plans to complete migration of ESA claimants to UC by March 2026. As part of this ESA claimants will be migrated to the UC Health Element. To protect any claimants who have not migrated by April 2026 we intend to mirror as closely as possible the changes made in UC in the ESA rates. Changes to the “support component” and the two disability premia (severe and enhanced disability premium rates) will reflect changes to UC LCWRA rates for existing claimants. Including these commensurate measures aims to give fair treatment for all customers moving onto UC from income related ESA, regardless of their point of migration.
Asked by: Amanda Martin (Labour - Portsmouth North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has taken steps to work with Portsmouth City Council to help increase pension credit take-up.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
As part of our nationwide Pension Credit campaign, the Department has engaged with all councils in Great Britain, including Portsmouth City Council, via the regular LA Welfare Direct bulletins.
The LA Welfare Direct 8/2024 bulletin in August featured a ‘call to action’, asking local authorities to help promote Pension Credit during the Pension Credit Week of Action and offering them the opportunity to request our promotional materials. The latest LA Welfare Direct 12/2024 bulletin also included a reminder about the 21 December Pension Credit backdating deadline to qualify for either a Winter Fuel Payment or Pension Age Winter Heating Payment.
In response to our call to action over 160 councils across Great Britain have supported our Pension Credit campaign either on social media, or by distributing the promotional material we have provided. We know that Portsmouth City Council are one of the councils that has promoted Pension Credit on social media using our campaign messages.
The local DWP strategic relationship team have also shared the campaign promotional material directly with Portsmouth City Council and attended a recent Tackling Poverty Partnership event to help raise awareness of our campaign.