Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the the number of benefit claimants that face a shortfall between their actual rent and the amount for rent included in their universal credit payment; and what assessment she has made of the average size of that shortfall in each region.
Answered by Will Quince
This is published in the supplementary tables available here:
For those that do experience a shortfall, Discretionary Housing Payments are available. Since 2011 we have provided over £1 billion in Discretionary Housing Payment funding, enabling local authorities to support households that need additional help by making financial awards to people experiencing financial difficulty with housing costs who qualify for Housing Benefit or the housing costs element of Universal Credit.
Universal Credit household shortfalls November 2020
| Average monthly shortfall |
East Midlands | £126 |
East of England | £181 |
London | £259 |
North East | £92 |
North West | £116 |
Scotland | £114 |
South East | £194 |
South West | £142 |
Wales | £112 |
West Midlands | £130 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | £107 |
Great Britain | £154 |
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
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 implications for her policies of the conclusion of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries' report, entitled Building financial resilience for households in the private rented sector, published on published 1 July 2020, that it is not possible to insure against facing a rent shortfall in the event of a claim for universal credit.
Answered by Will Quince
The criteria for accessing insurance products is a matter for the insurance industry, therefore no such assessment has been undertaken by the DWP.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether renters that receive income for payment of rent from (a) Income Protection and (b) other insurance policies have that income amount deducted pound for pound from their universal credit housing allowance.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit is not paid to claimants who have sufficient income available from other sources to support themselves. Where claimants have income available to meet their everyday living costs, their entitlement to Universal Credit is adjusted accordingly.
Regular income payments that are paid to meet living costs, including individual income protection insurance payments, result in reductions in the claimant’s Universal Credit entitlement pound for pound.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Memo ADM 30/17, whether previously unsuccessful personal independence payments claimants who had their claims refused after 9 March 2017 will have their claim reviewed according to a (a) LEAP exercise, (b) full case review or (c) any other review.
Answered by Sarah Newton
In order to ensure that claimants’ award decisions take into account the changes to the term ‘safely’ and how we consider risk of harm, we will review all previous decisions dating back to 9th March 2017. As referred to by the Memo Advice for Decision Making 30/17, this will be delivered by carrying out a Legal Entitlements and Administrative Practice exercise. This will include both existing claimants who may benefit and those who have previously been assessed as ineligible for PIP since the date of the judgment.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what appeals process is available to personal independence payment claimants whose claims are subject to review under the personal independence payment assessment guidance set out in the Written Statement of 2 November 2017, HCWS218.
Answered by Sarah Newton
We will be undertaking a Legal Entitlement Administrative Procedure (LEAP) to ensure claimants’ awards are updated in line with a recent Upper Tribunal judgment around the term ‘safely’. This is a complex exercise which we need to get right and we are committed to ensuring this process is fair to all. Claimants will be notified of appeal rights in accordance with applicable statutory requirements.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 2 November 2017, HCSW218, what additional training and support will be made available to personal independence payment (PIP) assessors and other relevant healthcare professionals in light of the updated PIP assessment guidelines.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Department has engaged closely with the PIP Assessment Providers to ensure that the impact of the Upper Tribunal ruling has been fully understood. Both Assessment Providers have enhanced their existing training packages to ensure that when Health Professionals are assessing whether a person can carry out an activity safely, they also consider both the likelihood of the harm occurring and the severity and nature of the harm that might occur. This same approach also applies to the assessment for a need for supervision.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 2 November 2017, HCSW218, when the updated guidance will be applied to new and existing personal independence payment claimants; and when those claimants will receive the additional support outlined in that Statement.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Claimants of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will not have to wait until 2022/23 to benefit from these changes. New claimants will be assessed under the updated guidance from the 13th of November.
Existing claimants will have their awards reviewed under a separate exercise to ensure that their awards take into account the changes to the term ‘safely’ and the severity of harm. Those who were previously assessed as being ineligible for PIP from 9th of March will also have their award looked at again as part of this exercise. For those who see an increase in their award or are now entitled to PIP, we will be paying claimants their full entitlements back to the date of the judgment (9 March 2017).
This will be a complex exercise and it’s important we get it right so we will begin testing the process from the 20th of November 2017.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 5 April 2017 to Question 69580, on personal independence payment: epilepsy, of the 7,100 re-assessment claims for people with a primary disabling condition of epilepsy, how many of those initial decisions were (a) upheld and (b) overturned.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Of the 7,100 Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Mandatory Reconsiderations raised following Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claimants re-assessment for PIP where the primary disabling condition is epilepsy, referenced in the answer to PQ 69580;
a) 6,100 were upheld
b) 1,000 were overturned