Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 3 September 2024 to Question 4038 on Pension Credit: Expenditure, what estimate she has made of the additional cost to the public purse of the associated allowances for Pension Credit if all people eligible for claiming it did.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
No estimate has been made by the department as the requested information is not available. We are unable to quantify the value of all passported benefits.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was for Pension Credit in the latest year for which information is available.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The total government expenditure in nominal terms for Pension Credit awards was £4.9 billion in 2022/23.
This figure does not include other operational and administrative costs, such as the government’s campaign to increase take-up of Pension Credit, as well as supporting customers and sending letters.
Source: outturn-and-forecast-tables-spring-budget-2024.xlsx
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of households that will be affected by the proposed change to the eligibility criteria for Winter Fuel Payments in (a) Faversham and Mid Kent constituency and (b) Kent.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is estimated that around 12,400 households in Faversham and Mid Kent Constituency (2024 boundaries) and around 218,500 households in Kent (comprised of the following constituencies, 2024 boundaries: Ashford, Canterbury, Chatham and Aylesford, Dartford, Dover and Deal, East Thanet, Faversham and Mid Kent, Folkestone and Hythe, Gillingham and Rainham, Gravesham, Herne Bay and Sandwich, Maidstone and Malling, Rochester and Strood, Sevenoaks, Sittingbourne and Sheppey, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Weald of Kent) will be affected by the decision to amend the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment. This is based on February 2024 Pension Credit statistics which are available via DWP Stat-Xplore and the Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
This estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of people claiming Pension Credit in each respective constituency from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients in the same constituency. It is possible to use the Pension Credit statistics, to give a minimum estimate of the number who may be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments. Therefore, the above estimation is essentially the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients who are not claiming Pension Credit pre-policy change, as an estimate of those who will no longer receive the Winter Fuel Payment.
Please note that the above estimation would not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up that we might see as a result of the Government’s Pension Credit Awareness Campaign. We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies.
The published Pension Credit figures refer to households, so the number of individuals in respect of whom Pension Credit is paid will be higher (i.e. taking account of households where a claimant has a partner and / or dependents).
In addition, while Pension Credit claimants constitute the majority of those that will be eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment, pensioners who claim other qualifying means-tested benefits will also be eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment. It is not, however, possible to include those on other qualifying means-tested benefits in these figures.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people who have benefited from pensions auto-enrolment are (a) women and (b) men.
Answered by Guy Opperman
10.4 million workers have been automatically enrolled into workplace pension by more than 1.4 million employers. By 2019/20 an estimated extra £18.6 billion a year is estimated to go into workplace pensions as a result of Automatic Enrolment. Automatic Enrolment has reversed the decline in workplace pension saving.
Automatic Enrolment was designed specifically to help groups who historically were poorly served or excluded from workplace pension saving, such as women and lower earners. It is equalising workplace pension participation among eligible men and women. In 2017, 81 per cent of eligible men and 80 per cent of eligible women in the private sector were saving into a workplace pension. This compares with 43 per cent and 40 per cent respectively in the private sector in 2012.
The Government’s 2017 review of Automatic Enrolment https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/668972/print-ready-automatic-enrolment-review-2017-maintaining-the-momentum.pdf
set out our ambition for the mid-2020s, with proposals to strengthen financial resilience for traditionally excluded groups including women.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of personal independence payment assessments that have been video-recorded in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by Sarah Newton
There is currently no option available for Personal Independence Payment claimants to have their assessments video recorded. However, as part of our commitment to improve the Personal Independence Payment assessment process, we are progressing options to video record PIP face to face assessments. Following comprehensive work over the summer, we are designing a live pilot, due to begin later this year. The pilot will inform any wider full roll out decisions.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what measures his Department has in place to support those of its staff who have mental health problems.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
DWP is committed to creating an environment with parity of esteem for both mental and physical ill health; where mental health can be discussed honestly and openly without fear of discrimination.
The Department holds the status of Mindful Employer and is also a disability confident employer.
All staff and Line managers have access to comprehensive support via Occupational Health, Employee Assistance Provision, The department also has membership with organisations offering employees access to a wealth of practical advice and support on all aspects of disability, including mental health.
Mental health remains a top priority under the new departmental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, ‘Working Well Together’, fully endorsed by Debbie Alder, executive level Disability, Health and Wellbeing Champion.