Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of errors in benefit payments resulting from claimants moving from one job centre catchment area to another, particularly when one jobcentre operates universal credit and the other does not.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Full guidance is made available to all DWP staff on what action is required when a claimant moves to a different area. To assist with this process, claimants are made aware of what steps they need to take to ensure that there are no delays in their payments. Work coaches and colleagues in service centres work hard to ensure that any errors made are kept to a minimum and rectified promptly.
If a claimant moves out of a postcode area where Universal Credit Full Service is delivered into a postcode area where it is not, their Universal Credit Full Service claim will remain open.
Their previous office would retain ownership of their records and, in collaboration with the new site, work with the claimant to move them closer to or into work. The claim would then transfer fully when the new office the claimant is now attending begins to deliver Universal Credit Full Service.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance her Department has issued to jobcentres on processing claimants who have moved from one job centre catchment area to another, particularly when a claimant moves to or from a universal credit full service rollout area to one that does not yet offer universal credit.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Full guidance is made available to all DWP staff on what action is required when a claimant moves to a different area. To assist with this process, claimants are made aware of what steps they need to take to ensure that there are no delays in their payments. Work coaches and colleagues in service centres work hard to ensure that any errors made are kept to a minimum and rectified promptly.
If a claimant moves out of a postcode area where Universal Credit Full Service is delivered into a postcode area where it is not, their Universal Credit Full Service claim will remain open.
Their previous office would retain ownership of their records and, in collaboration with the new site, work with the claimant to move them closer to or into work. The claim would then transfer fully when the new office the claimant is now attending begins to deliver Universal Credit Full Service.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2018 to Question 123035, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of introducing an automated system for universal credit claimants to reset their login details.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
In line with programmes of this size, it is not our policy to cost individual features. Costs are managed at a programme level.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will review the accuracy of reporting on DLA and PIP assessments; and if she will update best practice guidance for producing these reports.
Answered by Sarah Newton
As Personal Independence Payment has replaced Disability Living Allowance for people aged 16 to 64, the vast majority of Disability Living Allowance claims are decided on the basis of self-reporting of need. Where a medical assessment is required, the Department has published comprehensive guidance for Health Professionals on how to complete the assessment report. This guidance was last updated in July 2017.
As the majority of assessments are now undertaken on Personal Independence Payment, we work closely with the Assessment Providers to further improve the quality of assessments which includes ensuring their assessment reports are to the standard that the Department expects and are completed within an optimum timeframe. We have a programme of continuous improvement which includes Assessment Providers increasing clinical coaching, along with feedback and support available to each assessor. We are undertaking more observations of assessments and have introduced an independent audit of assessment reports to ensure that the advice provided to the Department’s Case Managers is of suitable quality, fully explained and justified. We will commit to progress the recommendations in Paul Gray’s second independent review around quality and consistency of Personal Independence Payment assessments.
The Personal Independent Payment Assessment Guide provides comprehensive guidance for Health Professionals regarding all aspects of the assessment process including completion of assessment reports. This guide is updated regularly and was last updated December 2017.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of PIP cases taken to tribunal following a failed mandatory reconsideration are successful in changing the original decision.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The percentage of PIP and ESA appeals cleared at a tribunal hearing where the appeal decision was in favour of the claimant can be found in Table SSCS.3 of the quarterly bulletin “Tribunals and gender recognition certificate statistics quarterly – July to September 2017”.
These figures include all Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) decisions subsequently appealed - not just ‘failed’ MRs where the original decision has been maintained, but also MRs where the award was changed but which were still disputed.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of ESA cases taken to tribunal following a failed mandatory reconsideration are successful in changing the original decision.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The percentage of PIP and ESA appeals cleared at a tribunal hearing where the appeal decision was in favour of the claimant can be found in Table SSCS.3 of the quarterly bulletin “Tribunals and gender recognition certificate statistics quarterly – July to September 2017”.
These figures include all Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) decisions subsequently appealed - not just ‘failed’ MRs where the original decision has been maintained, but also MRs where the award was changed but which were still disputed.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2019 to Question 121059, on universal credit, what data and research the Government would require before it would judge an automated system to be approved.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Hon. Gentleman to the answers of 8 January 2018 to Question 121059 and 21 December 119929.
Our design priorities are constantly being evaluated and updated. This means the Department has not yet set a date for implementation of the automated system.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2018 to Question 121059, whether the Government is conducting data collection and research on the use of an automated system for universal credit claimants.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Hon. Gentleman to the answers of 8 January 2018 to Question 121059 and 21 December 119929.
Our design priorities are constantly being evaluated and updated. This means the Department has not yet set a date for implementation of the automated system.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is her policy to implement an automated system for universal credit claimants to reset their login details; and what the timetable is for setting up such a system.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Hon. Gentleman to the answers of 8 January 2018 to Question 121059 and 21 December 119929.
Our design priorities are constantly being evaluated and updated. This means the Department has not yet set a date for implementation of the automated system.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of ESA cases taken to tribunal following a failed mandatory reconsideration are successful in changing the original decision.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The percentage of PIP and ESA appeals cleared at a tribunal hearing where the appeal decision was in favour of the claimant can be found in Table SSCS.3 of the quarterly bulletin “Tribunals and gender recognition certificate statistics quarterly – July to September 2017”.
These figures include all Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) decisions subsequently appealed - not just ‘failed’ MRs where the original decision has been maintained, but also MRs where the award was changed but which were still disputed.