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Written Question
Personal Independence Payment
Tuesday 4th July 2023

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made a recent assessment of the (a) effectiveness of systems and (b) potential pressures on his Department's phonelines during summer 2023 of requirements to notify his Department of trips abroad by claimants of the Personal Independence Payment.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Claimants are expected to contact the DWP if their circumstances change, including notification of periods abroad. Periods abroad may affect a claimant’s entitlement to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), so we need to know the date a claimant is leaving the country, how long they are planning to be out of the country, which country they are going to, and the purpose of the visit.

We have record levels of demand for PIP, and in turn this has increased pressure on the PIP Helpline. To meet this additional demand, significant recruitment activity has been taking place which is having a positive impact on calls answered and wait times.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Tuesday 9th May 2023

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department plans to take to help support people to find suitable work, in the context of changes to thresholds for Universal Credit.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The government is committed to supporting people both into work and to progress in work. The changes to the Administrative Earnings Threshold (AET) ensure that more Universal Credit claimants on low incomes are provided with regular Work Coach support to help them grow their earnings. This could be by accessing provision to improve their skills, identifying opportunities to work more hours or progress with their current employer, or finding a role that better suits their careers aspirations with another employer or sector.

We have also introduced a new In Work Progression Offer, which provides Work Coach engagement to UC claimants earning above the AET. This is supported by 37 new District Progression Leads who are working with key partners, including local government, employers, and skills providers to identify and develop local progression opportunities, and to overcome barriers that limit progression, such as childcare and transport.


Written Question
Employment: Musculoskeletal Disorders
Thursday 4th May 2023

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much he plans to spend on improving musculoskeletal health to reduce worklessness in the next five year]; and what aspects of musculoskeletal health he plans to spend that funding on.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

In the spring budget the government set out a package of measures to provide an extra £406 million over the next five years to tackle the leading health-related causes keeping people out of work, which includes investment targeted at services for musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions.

The government will pilot integrating vocational advice within MSK services to ensure people can access holistic support locally, scale up MSK Hubs in the community and ensure digital resources, such as apps for management of MSK conditions, are readily available so that more people can easily and quickly access the support that is right for them.


Written Question
Employment: Arthritis
Wednesday 29th March 2023

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she will take to help ensure that people with arthritis can stay in work.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

A range of Government initiatives are supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including arthritis, to start, stay, and succeed in work.

These include:

  • Increasing Work Coach support in Jobcentres for people with health conditions receiving Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance;
  • Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres offering advice and expertise on how to help disabled people and people with health conditions into work;
  • The Work and Health Programme and Intensive Personalised Employment Support, providing tailored and personalised support for participants;
  • Access to Work grants towards extra costs of working beyond standard reasonable adjustments;
  • Disability Confident, encouraging employers to think differently about disability and health, and to take positive action to address the issues disabled employees face in the workplace;
  • The Information and Advice Service, providing better integrated and tailored guidance on supporting and managing health and disability in the workplace; and
  • Support in partnership between the DWP and the health system.

To tackle rising economic inactivity due to long-term sickness, we announced a wide-reaching package at the Spring Budget to support disabled people and people with health conditions to work. New investment will provide faster access to joined-up work and health support, including for mental health and musculoskeletal conditions; the two leading causes of economic inactivity due to long term sickness.


Written Question
Local Housing Allowance
Wednesday 22nd March 2023

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of people in receipt of Local Housing Allowance who were not able to meet their housing costs in the last 12 months.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

It is not possible to make such an estimate as data is not available on whether people meet their housing costs.


Written Question
Carer's Allowance: Earnings Rules
Wednesday 15th March 2023

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)

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 raising the earnings limit for people receiving carers allowance to £200 a week.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to question UIN 114688 given on 10 January 2023.


Written Question
Cost of Living: Lancaster
Tuesday 25th October 2022

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an estimate of the level of reliance on charities in Lancaster and Fleetwood as a result of the increased cost of living.

Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General

We recognise the global inflationary challenges and that people are concerned about pressures on household budgets. That is why, in England, an additional £421 million is being provided to extend the Household Support Fund from 01 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. Guidance and individual local authority allocations for this further extension to the Household Support Fund have been shared with Local Authorities and will be published soon.

Local Authorities have the ability to deliver the scheme through a variety of routes, including offering vouchers to households, directly providing food, or issuing grants to third parties including charities.


Written Question
Poverty: Children
Thursday 21st July 2022

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what specific policies her Department has in place to support families with children in poverty.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The latest statistics on the number and proportion of children who are in low income families by local area, covering the seven years, 2014/15 to 2020/21, can be found in the annual publication: Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

This Government is committed to reducing child poverty and supporting low-income families, and believes work is the best route out of poverty.  With a record 1.3 million vacancies across the UK, our focus is firmly on supporting people to move into and progress in work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time – in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty and in improving long-term outcomes for families and children.

The latest available data on in-work poverty shows that in 2019/20, children in households where all adults were in work were around six times less likely to be in absolute poverty (before housing costs) than children in a household where nobody works. Compared with 2010, there are nearly 1 million fewer workless households and almost 540,000 fewer children living in workless households in the UK. In 2020/21, there were 200,000 fewer children in absolute poverty before housing costs than in 2009/10.

To help parents into work, our Plan for Jobs is providing broad ranging support for all jobseekers with our Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAP), Job Entry Targeted Support and Restart scheme. Our plan for jobs is providing results. As of 6 July, we estimate that at least 520,400 unemployed Universal Credit claimants and Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants have moved into work during the Way to Work Campaign between 31 January and the end of 30 June 2022.

We are also extending the support Jobcentres provide to people in work and on low incomes. Through a staged roll-out, which started in April 2022, around 2.1m low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work. This is on top of the support we have already provided by increasing the National Living Wage to £9.50 per hour and giving nearly 1.7 million families an extra £1,000 (on average) a year through our changes to the Universal Credit taper and work allowances.

To further support parents to move into and progress in work, eligible UC claimants can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month up to a maximum of £646.35 per month for one child and £1,108.04 per month for two or more children. This is on top of the free childcare offer in England which provides 15 hours a week of free childcare for all 3- and 4-year-olds and disadvantaged 2-year-olds, doubling for working parents of 3- and 4-year-olds to 30 hours a week.

Around 1.9 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a free school meal, saving families around £450 per year. In addition, around 1.25 million more infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime as well as over 90,000 disadvantaged further education students. We are also investing £200 million a year to continue the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, which benefitted over 600,000 children last summer, and we have increased the value of the Healthy Start Vouchers by a third to £4.25 a week.

On top of this, the government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. These are global challenges, that is why the government is providing over £15bn in further support, targeted particularly on those with the greatest need. This package is in addition to the over £22bn announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37bn this year.

This includes an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing the total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England, the current Household Support Fund is already providing £421m of support for the period 1 April – 30 September 2022, at least a third (£140m) will be spent on families with children. Lancashire County Council has been allocated £9,678,235.22.


Written Question
Poverty: Children
Thursday 21st July 2022

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the level of child poverty in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The latest statistics on the number and proportion of children who are in low income families by local area, covering the seven years, 2014/15 to 2020/21, can be found in the annual publication: Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

This Government is committed to reducing child poverty and supporting low-income families, and believes work is the best route out of poverty.  With a record 1.3 million vacancies across the UK, our focus is firmly on supporting people to move into and progress in work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time – in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty and in improving long-term outcomes for families and children.

The latest available data on in-work poverty shows that in 2019/20, children in households where all adults were in work were around six times less likely to be in absolute poverty (before housing costs) than children in a household where nobody works. Compared with 2010, there are nearly 1 million fewer workless households and almost 540,000 fewer children living in workless households in the UK. In 2020/21, there were 200,000 fewer children in absolute poverty before housing costs than in 2009/10.

To help parents into work, our Plan for Jobs is providing broad ranging support for all jobseekers with our Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAP), Job Entry Targeted Support and Restart scheme. Our plan for jobs is providing results. As of 6 July, we estimate that at least 520,400 unemployed Universal Credit claimants and Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants have moved into work during the Way to Work Campaign between 31 January and the end of 30 June 2022.

We are also extending the support Jobcentres provide to people in work and on low incomes. Through a staged roll-out, which started in April 2022, around 2.1m low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work. This is on top of the support we have already provided by increasing the National Living Wage to £9.50 per hour and giving nearly 1.7 million families an extra £1,000 (on average) a year through our changes to the Universal Credit taper and work allowances.

To further support parents to move into and progress in work, eligible UC claimants can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month up to a maximum of £646.35 per month for one child and £1,108.04 per month for two or more children. This is on top of the free childcare offer in England which provides 15 hours a week of free childcare for all 3- and 4-year-olds and disadvantaged 2-year-olds, doubling for working parents of 3- and 4-year-olds to 30 hours a week.

Around 1.9 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a free school meal, saving families around £450 per year. In addition, around 1.25 million more infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime as well as over 90,000 disadvantaged further education students. We are also investing £200 million a year to continue the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, which benefitted over 600,000 children last summer, and we have increased the value of the Healthy Start Vouchers by a third to £4.25 a week.

On top of this, the government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. These are global challenges, that is why the government is providing over £15bn in further support, targeted particularly on those with the greatest need. This package is in addition to the over £22bn announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37bn this year.

This includes an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing the total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England, the current Household Support Fund is already providing £421m of support for the period 1 April – 30 September 2022, at least a third (£140m) will be spent on families with children. Lancashire County Council has been allocated £9,678,235.22.


Written Question
Poverty: Children
Thursday 21st July 2022

Asked by: Cat Smith (Labour - Lancaster and Fleetwood)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the number of children living in poverty in Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The latest statistics on the number and proportion of children who are in low income families by local area, covering the seven years, 2014/15 to 2020/21, can be found in the annual publication: Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

This Government is committed to reducing child poverty and supporting low-income families, and believes work is the best route out of poverty.  With a record 1.3 million vacancies across the UK, our focus is firmly on supporting people to move into and progress in work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time – in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty and in improving long-term outcomes for families and children.

The latest available data on in-work poverty shows that in 2019/20, children in households where all adults were in work were around six times less likely to be in absolute poverty (before housing costs) than children in a household where nobody works. Compared with 2010, there are nearly 1 million fewer workless households and almost 540,000 fewer children living in workless households in the UK. In 2020/21, there were 200,000 fewer children in absolute poverty before housing costs than in 2009/10.

To help parents into work, our Plan for Jobs is providing broad ranging support for all jobseekers with our Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAP), Job Entry Targeted Support and Restart scheme. Our plan for jobs is providing results. As of 6 July, we estimate that at least 520,400 unemployed Universal Credit claimants and Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants have moved into work during the Way to Work Campaign between 31 January and the end of 30 June 2022.

We are also extending the support Jobcentres provide to people in work and on low incomes. Through a staged roll-out, which started in April 2022, around 2.1m low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work. This is on top of the support we have already provided by increasing the National Living Wage to £9.50 per hour and giving nearly 1.7 million families an extra £1,000 (on average) a year through our changes to the Universal Credit taper and work allowances.

To further support parents to move into and progress in work, eligible UC claimants can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month up to a maximum of £646.35 per month for one child and £1,108.04 per month for two or more children. This is on top of the free childcare offer in England which provides 15 hours a week of free childcare for all 3- and 4-year-olds and disadvantaged 2-year-olds, doubling for working parents of 3- and 4-year-olds to 30 hours a week.

Around 1.9 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a free school meal, saving families around £450 per year. In addition, around 1.25 million more infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime as well as over 90,000 disadvantaged further education students. We are also investing £200 million a year to continue the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, which benefitted over 600,000 children last summer, and we have increased the value of the Healthy Start Vouchers by a third to £4.25 a week.

On top of this, the government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. These are global challenges, that is why the government is providing over £15bn in further support, targeted particularly on those with the greatest need. This package is in addition to the over £22bn announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37bn this year.

This includes an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing the total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England, the current Household Support Fund is already providing £421m of support for the period 1 April – 30 September 2022, at least a third (£140m) will be spent on families with children. Lancashire County Council has been allocated £9,678,235.22.