Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many care leavers in England claimed Universal Credit between 1 April 2023 and 1 April 2024.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not available.
DWP stated routinely collecting data on care leavers claiming UC in February 2022. All new claimants are now given the option of reporting their care leaver status, and work coaches can record existing claimants’ care leaver status if they are told about this.
This data is being monitored for data quality and does not meet the quality assurance standards for officials statistics: the data coverage is still very limited and the claimants we have data on are not representative of the UC caseload. It is hoped that information will be available for publication in 2027. I have asked officials to explore the potential for answering this question from other data sources.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of pensioners not in receipt of Pension Credit living in (a) relative and (b) absolute poverty; and what estimate she has made of the number of additional pensioners who will be living in (i) relative and (ii) absolute poverty as a result of no longer receiving the Winter Fuel Payment.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
For the latest year 2022/23, 1.9 million pensioners were in relative poverty after housing costs (AHC). Of these, 1.6 million pensioners were not in receipt of Pension Credit.
For the latest year 2022/23, 1.4 million pensioners were in absolute poverty AHC. Of these, 1.2 million pensioners were not in receipt of Pension Credit.
A household is in relative poverty if its income is less than 60 per cent of the median household income in a given financial year. A household is in absolute poverty if its income is less than 60% of median household income in 2010/11, uprated by inflation.
‘Households Below Average Income’ provides estimates on the number of and percentage of people living in low-income households based on their household disposable income. As an income measure, it does not include other available resources that might impact on a household’s poverty levels such as savings.
These numbers have been rounded to the nearest 100,000.
This data is available on Stat-Xplore at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk in the ‘Households Below Average Income’ dataset.
More Information on the data included in the ‘Households Below Average Income’ dataset can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023/households-below-average-income-series-quality-and-methodology-information-report-fye-2023#income-definition.
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.
An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.
Recognising the wide-ranging causes of pensioner poverty, we will explore how we can use all the available levers we have across government, external partners and local authorities. This includes boosting the uptake of Pension Credit to ensure that the poorest pensioners get the support they need.
We know there are low-income pensioners who aren’t claiming Pension Credit, and we urge those people to apply. This will passport them to receive Winter Fuel Payment alongside a range of other benefits – depending on circumstances, these could be worth hundreds of pounds that could really help them.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
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 potential impact of changes to the Winter Fuel Payment on the demand for health care.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government is committed to pensioners – everyone in our society, no matter their working history or savings deserves a comfortable and dignified retirement.
Given the substantial pressures faced by the public finances this year and next, the government has had to make hard choices to bring the public finances back under control.
Winter Fuel Payments will continue to be paid to pensioner households with someone receiving Pension Credit or certain other income-related benefits. They will continue to be worth £200 for eligible households, or £300 for eligible households with someone aged over 80.
The Government is committed to a preventative approach to public health. Keeping people warm and well at home and improving the quality of new and existing homes will play an essential part in enabling people to live longer, healthier lives and reducing pressures on the NHS.
We are also providing support through our Warm Homes Plan which pensioners will benefit from. This will support investment in insulation and low carbon heating – upgrading millions of homes over this Parliament. Our long-term plan will protect billpayers permanently, reduce fuel poverty, and get the UK back on track to meet our climate goals.
In making a decision on Winter Fuel Payment eligibility, the Government had regard to the equality analysis in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty requirements.
Asked by: Jess Asato (Labour - Lowestoft)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many exemptions to the two-child benefit limit due to rape have been (a) requested and (b) granted since that exemption was introduced.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested information is not available. However, figures are published showing the number of households in receipt of an exception for children likely to have been born as a result of non-consensual conception, which for this purpose includes rape or where the claimant was in a controlling or coercive relationship with the child’s other biological parent at the time of conception. Table2, provides this information.
The full statistics tables and supporting narrative are published here: Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit claimants: statistics related to the policy to provide support for a maximum of 2 children, April 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)