Asked by: Jonathan Davies (Labour - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support people with long covid into work.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our ambitions are to reverse the trend of inactivity, and to raise both productivity and living standards whilst improving the quality of work. To help achieve this, we have set a long-term ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate, demonstrating our commitment to bringing those furthest away from the labour market into it, increasing local labour supply. Backed by £240million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched last November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the 80% employment rate.
Appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key.
The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including people with long covid, and have range of support available so individuals can stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell, as well as support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants.
The Government also announced in the recent Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work, backed up by £1billion of new funding.
Employers play an important role in addressing health and disability. The Disability Confident Scheme encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces and to support disabled people to get work and get on in work. To build on this, the Joint DWP and DHSC Work & Health Directorate is facilitating “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review of the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces. The lead reviewer, Sir Charlie Mayfield, is expected to bring forward recommendations in Autumn 2025.
Asked by: Jonathan Davies (Labour - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total annual administrative cost was of implementing the 25p weekly age addition to the state pension for recipients over 80; and whether this cost exceeds the total amount paid out in such additions.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Age Addition is designed to be simple to administer. Payments are made automatically as part of the person's ongoing State Pension entitlement. The administration costs are therefore negligible.
In 2024, 474,239 letters were issued to inform people that they were now entitled to the Age Addition, costing £278,030 in printing and postage. In 24/25, the annual cost of the 25p Age Addition to the State Pension for those eligible 80+ is estimated to be £50.8m. Administrative costs therefore do not exceed the total amount paid.
Asked by: Jonathan Davies (Labour - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the target timeframe is for completing investigations into estates of deceased individuals where benefits may need to be recovered following the grant of probate; and what measures are in place to prevent prolonged delays.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no target timeframe for completing investigations into estates of deceased individuals, some cases are more complex than others and take time to conclude. The Recovery from Estates (RFE) team within Debt Management contacts executors to provide historic financial information in order to carry out posthumous reviews of benefit entitlement. This often takes time to progress, which can extend the customer journey.
There has been an increase in the number of DWP RFE cases which has impacted on the length of time to respond to customers. More staff have been trained to deal with the increase in cases and delays to customer responses are being reduced. We are also reviewing our current processes to identify any further improvements to continue to reduce the time to process RFE cases.
Asked by: Jonathan Davies (Labour - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to review the inclusion of military compensation as income in the means-testing criteria for benefits.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the honourable member to the answer given on 5 December 2024 to question UIN 16635.