Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the taper rate for housing benefit on young people in supported housing.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The income taper in Housing Benefit ensures people in work are better off than someone wholly reliant on benefits. In addition to any financial advantage, there are important non-financial benefits of working. These benefits include learning new skills, improved confidence and independence as well as a positive effect on an individual's mental and physical health.
Notwithstanding these positive outcomes from work, the Department acknowledges there is a challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those residing in Supported Housing and Temporary Accommodation and receiving their housing support through Housing Benefit and will consider the issue carefully in partnership with stakeholders.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
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 the adequacy of maternity pay for mothers of (a) twins and (b) other multiples.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Maternity pay is primarily a health and safety provisions for pregnant working women. It is not intended to replace a woman's earnings completely, rather it provides a measure of financial security to help pregnant working women take time off work in the later stages of their pregnancy and in the months following childbirth.
We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work. Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance rates are reviewed annually and were raised again by 6.7% in April from £172.48 to £184.03.
Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance are not paid in respect of each child but in respect of each pregnancy. The qualifying conditions for both are generally based on a woman's recent employment and earnings. They are not intended to assist with the costs associated with the birth of a new child or children.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of Gingerbread’s report entitled They are sanctioning the children, published on 16 September 2024.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Poverty Taskforce will explore how we can harness all available levers to reduce child poverty, including by listening to stakeholders on potential changes, before publishing a strategy in Spring 2025.
Additionally, the Government is committed to reviewing Universal Credit so that it makes work pay and tackles poverty.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of households that are (a) affected by the two-child limit and (b) living in poverty.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The latest available statistics related to the policy to provide support for a maximum of 2 children 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 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
National statistics on the number and percentage of people in poverty, including regional-level data, is published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. This can be found here. The most recent figures state that in the year 2021/22 there were 11.4 million people living in a household below the absolute poverty threshold after housing costs. This represents a decrease of 1.7 million people since 2009/10.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of ending the Household Support Fund on low-income households.
Answered by Jo Churchill
No such assessment has been made.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to provide a Disability Cost of Living Payment during winter 2022-23.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
A Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 was paid to eligible claimants in September 2022. A second Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 was then paid in June 2023. 85% of claimants were also entitled to either £300 Pension Cost of Living Payments and up to £900 means tested benefit Cost of Living Payments.
Further to this, the Energy Price Guarantee was extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, meaning a typical household bill will be around £3,000 per year in Great Britain.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will take steps to ensure that attendance allowance forms can be submitted electronically.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Attendance Allowance is currently in the private beta phase of development, where DWP are inviting a limited number of people to use the online claim service, so feedback can be gathered to improve the service. We will look to move from trialling to public beta in due course.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
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 people who are not claiming benefits to which they are entitled.
Answered by Guy Opperman
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to PQ 5616.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department uses (a) automated or (b) partially automated technologies to (i) investigate benefit claimants or claims and (ii) select or refer benefit claimant or claims for possible investigation.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
You ask: whether his Department uses (a) automated or (b) partially automated technologies to (i) investigate benefit claimants or claims.
The department does not use (a) automated or (b) partially automated technologies to (i) investigate benefit claimants or claims.
You further ask: whether his Department uses (a) automated or (b) partially automated technologies to select or refer benefit claimant or claims for possible investigation?
Yes, DWP’s Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service uses automated/partially automated technologies to identify claims that may warrant closer inspection (or may need additional consideration), assisting in the prevention and detection of fraud and error. It is right that we keep up with fraud in today’s digital age so that we can prevent, detect and deter those who would try to exploit the benefit system and more importantly, improve our support for genuine claimants. Any risk of fraud or error identified is reviewed by a trained member of staff and this is only one of a number of verification steps which will have to be cleared before an investigation is begun or before a claim is paid.
A decision to investigate a claimant is always made by a case handler who would take into account all relevant facts and circumstances.
Where automated technologies are used, DWP is always committed to processing data lawfully, proportionately, and ethically, with meaningful human input and safeguards for the protection of individuals.
We do not use automated technologies to replace human judgement to determine or deny a payment to a claimant. A human agent will always make final decisions and Equality and Data Protection Impact Assessments are carried out.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
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 reduce the number of people who do not claim benefits to which they are entitled.
Answered by Guy Opperman
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given on 9 May to PQ 183412.