Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2022 to Question 11554 on Social Security Benefits: Armed Forces, how many of the 33,800 Universal Credit claimants who have previously served in the armed forces are former (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) RAF personnel.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested is not available. The department does not hold information about the service of personnel in the armed forces.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2022 to Question 11554 on Social Security Benefits: Armed Forces, how many of the 33,800 Universal Credit claimants who previously served in the armed forces are former (a) Commonwealth and (b) Gurkha personnel.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested is not available as the department does not hold any information about the service in the armed forces.
The Department continues to look at what other opportunities might be available to better identify and record data on veterans on the Universal Credit system and has regular conversations with the Ministry of Defence (MOD). This is part of a much wider piece of work involving a number of Departments, including the MOD and the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, to improve the collection and use of data relating to veterans.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of serving members of the armed forces are in receipt of Universal Credit.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested is not currently available. The Department has been collecting this information since April 2021, however there are not enough responses at present to accurately estimate the total number of serving members of the armed forces who are in receipt of Universal Credit.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2022 to Question 11553 on Universal Credit: Veterans, if she will provide a breakdown by (a) region and (b) local authority of the total number of veterans in receipt of Universal Credit for assessment periods ending in April 2022.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The data requested is not available by geography. We do not have data on the total number of veterans on UC, only those who have identified themselves.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many service personnel and veterans have (a) been identified as eligible and (b) received an additional benefits payment to help with the cost of living as of 1 June 2022.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Six million individuals who qualify through their entitlement to disability benefits including War Pension Constant Attendance Allowance, War Pension Mobility Supplement or Armed Forces Independence Payment on May 25th will receive a one-off Disability Cost of Living payment of £150 in the Autumn.
Latest published statistics on those in receipt of the Armed Forces Independence Payment can be found at:
Latest published statistics on those in receipt of the War Pension Constant Attendance Allowance and the War Pension Mobility Supplement can be found at:
War Pensions Scheme statistics: 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Some service personnel and veterans may also be entitled to other payments announced in this package, these include:
The department began collecting the armed forces status on new Universal Credit (UC) claims from April 2021 and UC claimants declaring their work and earnings from June 2021. From July 2021, Jobcentre work coaches could add information if the claimant were known to be serving or a veteran and had not already provided their status. For assessment periods ending in April 2022, we held a response for approximately 45% of the UC caseload. From this data we have identified 33,800 UC claimants who have previously served in the Armed Forces.
No assessment has been made of the total number of service personnel and veterans who are eligible for and will receive Cost of Living payments across all eligible benefits.
Further information on these payments will be discussed in Parliament as part of the legislative process to ensure their delivery.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many veterans have been identified to be in receipt of universal credit in each month since September 2021.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The department began collecting the armed forces status on new Universal Credit (UC) claims from April 2021 and UC claimants declaring their work and earnings from June 2021. From July 2021, Jobcentre work coaches could add information if the claimant were known to be serving or a veteran and had not already provided their status.
The Department continues to look at what other opportunities might be available to better identify and record data on veterans on the Universal Credit system and has regular conversations with the Ministry of Defence (MOD). This is part of a much wider piece of work involving a number of Departments, including the MOD and the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, to improve the collection and use of data relating to veterans.
DWP’s network of 50 Armed Forces Champions (AFCs) and 11 Group Leads provide vital support to veterans and other members of the armed forces community. The AFCs have specific responsibilities for supporting members of the Armed Forces community and their role involves front line responsibilities including building staff capability within their districts, personally handling some claims, supporting veterans into work and helping resolve complex cases where necessary.
Every Work Coach can also support members of the Armed Forces community and their families, working in partnership with their Armed Forces Champions. In those areas where there are particularly high levels of demand, for example garrison towns, this will form a significant part of the work done in individual Jobcentres.
Data is currently only available for the latest month and at a national level. For assessment periods ending in April 2022, we held a response for approximately 45% of the UC caseload. From this data we have identified 33,800 UC claimants who have previously served in the Armed Forces.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
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 number of people who have been affected by the underpayment of benefits after transitioning from incapacity benefit to employment and support allowance in (a) Wentworth and Dearne constituency, (b) Rother Valley constituency, (c) Rotherham local authority area and (d) Barnsley local authority area.
Answered by Chloe Smith
I refer the Rt hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19th January to question number 104377.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many armed forces champions are in post in each job centre district; and how many of those districts are without an armed forces champion.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP has 50 Armed Forces Champions, with at least one in each of our 37 Jobcentre Plus Districts. In addition, there are 11 Armed Forces Leads at group level.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many kickstart positions were (a) advertised and (b) filled in the defence sector during 2021.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not centrally collate information regarding jobs filled or advertised in the defence sector.
To encourage young people to apply for them, Kickstart jobs are categorised by the nature of the role rather than the sector of the employer. This means for example, that a defence-sector administrative job would be categorised as ‘administrative’ not ‘defence’. The most recently published statistics are published here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2021-12-06/87676
Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system which has been developed quickly. The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics, but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to fund more than 100 Armed Forces Champions posts in job centres to support former service personnel to find work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP is determined to provide veterans and other members of the armed forces community with the help and support they need and deserve. Our support to help veterans into jobs is unwavering with 84% gaining employment within 6 months of discharge – higher than the employment rate of the wider population.
To help deliver a better service, and to respond to feedback we had had from armed forces charities and other organisations, we introduced a new Armed Forces Champions model in April 2021. It provides for 50 Armed Forces Champions alongside 11 Group Leads at managerial level.
At least one Armed Forces Champion will be allocated to each Jobcentre Plus District. Their appointments mean for the first time jobcentres are providing help directly to veterans and others where additional support to access and progress in work is needed. Resources in the new network are targeted where there are particularly high levels of demand, for example in garrison towns, and where work linked to the armed forces will form a significant part of that done in individual jobcentres.
Officials in the Department have discussed the new model with a number of armed forces stakeholders and overall feedback has been positive. We continue to monitor and evaluate our new approach but have no plans to increase the number of champions.
In addition to the Armed Forces Champions roles, all DWP Work Coaches are trained to provide veterans and others with the help and support they need.