Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Pension Credit applications her Department received in each region in each of the last three months for which data is available.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

We confirm that we do not hold the information you have requested as our systems do not breakdown Pension Credit applications by region.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of claimants for Pension Credit were (a) initially turned down and (b) successful on appeal in each region in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The information requested on the proportion of Pension Credit claims which are initially turned down but are subsequently overturned at Tribunal is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Information on appeals in the First-tier Tribunal, including Pension Credit appeals, is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics

Specifically, information on the number of appeal receipts, disposals and outcomes of Pension Credit appeals can be found in the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) tables: SSCS_1, SSCS_2 and SSCS_3 of the Main Tables.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average Pension Credit processing time is (a) per month in the latest three-month period for which data is available and (b) in each region.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Average actual clearance times are shown in the table below from 3 June 2024. Please note, the information is not available monthly.

The table below shows the average (in working days) for each week.

Please note, the data shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.

The information requested is not collected at regional level and to calculate it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department's review of Universal Credit will include the income threshold used to determine eligibility for (a) free school meals and (b) the NHS Healthy Start scheme.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Eligibility criteria, including earnings thresholds for passported benefits including Free School Meals and Healthy Start payments are owned by Department of Education and the Department of Health and Social care respectively.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to launch her Department's review of Universal Credit.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit, to make sure it is doing the job we want it to. We will set out the details of this in due course.

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Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2024 to Question 6049 on Pension Credit: Gosport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the survey sample sizes for entitled non-recipients of Pension Credit.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The take-up statistics which include the estimated number of entitled non-recipients for Pension Credit, are based on survey data from the Family Resources Survey. The Family Resources Survey is designed to produce robust regional estimates and does not include all local authorities each year so is not suitable for analysis at, or below, the Local Authority level [PQ 74999, Emma Lewell-Buck]. There is not currently an intention to increase the achieved sample size.

Further detail on the upcoming sample size of the Family Resources Survey can be found here: Family Resources Survey: release strategy - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)