Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the impact of carers losing access to Carers Allowance once they become entitled to the State Pension on those carers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Although there is no upper age limit to claiming Carer’s Allowance, it cannot normally be paid with the State Pension. It has been a long held feature of the UK’s benefit system, under successive Governments, that where someone is entitled to two benefits for the same contingency, then whilst there may be entitlement to both benefits, only one will be paid to avoid duplication for the same need.
Although entitlement to State Pension and Carer’s Allowance arise in different circumstances they are nevertheless designed for the same contingency – as an income replacement.
Carer’s Allowance replaces income where the carer has given up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to care for a severely disabled person, while State Pension replaces income in retirement. For this reason, social security rules operate to prevent them being paid together, to avoid duplicate provision for the same need.
However, if a carer’s State Pension is less than Carer's Allowance, State Pension is paid and topped up with Carer's Allowance to the basic weekly rate of Carer's Allowance which is currently £81.90.
Where Carer’s Allowance cannot be paid, the person will keep underlying entitlement to the benefit. This gives access to the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit of £45.60 a week and even if a pensioner’s income is above the limit for Pension Credit, they may still be able to receive Housing Benefit.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of amending the Widowed Parent's Allowance to allow continued claims if the individual remarries or lives with another person.
Answered by Paul Maynard
No assessment has been made. Widowed Parent’s Allowance is an income-replacement benefit. Entitlement to Widowed Parent’s Allowance ends on the formation of a new legal union or cohabiting partnership because that involves a change in the household composition and, consequently, household income. Universal Credit can provide ongoing assistance with living costs where further financial support is required.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the increased rate of Universal Credit began on 10 April 2023; and what steps he took to ensure that those with assessment periods between 1 April and 10 April 2023 were not adversely affected.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Increases in Universal Credit come into force from the start of the first assessment period beginning on or after the first Monday of the tax year. As Universal Credit is a calendar monthly assessed benefit that is paid monthly in arrears, a claimant will receive their newly-uprated benefit award at their first full Assessment Period that follows the change.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to alter the Universal Credit assessment and payment process to prevent repayments being demanded after the recalculation of a person's earnings and sick pay but before their next payment is due.
Answered by Guy Opperman
There are no plans to change the Universal Credit (UC) assessment and payment process. Changes made to a claimant’s earnings after an assessment period has ended, would generate an overpayment at the end of the following assessment period. The overpayment would be relevant to the period in which it occurred.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of (a) the potential merits of raising the minimum employer pension contribution and (b) the fairness of the proportion of pension contributions paid by (i) employees and (ii) employers.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
The current minimum contribution levels, and the split between employer and employees, were set following extensive stakeholder consultation and consensus building at the time, balancing the benefits of pensions saving with the costs to employers and individuals. No further assessment has been made since then.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the carers allowance.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to question UIN 69650 given by my Hon. Friend on 27 October 2022. See:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-10-24/69650
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 that the closure of Phoenix House on those seeking to claim (a) Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, (b) Pneumoconiosis compensation, and (c) the Mesothelioma Scheme due to asbestos-related illnesses.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
Plans to close Phoenix House were announced in 2017. Capability is being built in both Bradford and Barnsley to ensure the Department can continue to process claims for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit when Barrow closes, to the same high quality. This includes those customers who claim with asbestos related diseases, or under schemes such as the “Workers’ Compensation Scheme, Pneumoconiosis (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979 and the 2008 Mesothelioma Scheme.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 merits of a one-off payment to all those eligible for Cold Weather Payments for individuals struggling to pay their energy bills.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Cold Weather Payment scheme helps vulnerable people in receipt of certain income-related benefits to meet the additional costs of heating for every week of severe cold weather, between 1 November and 31 March each year. A payment of £25 is made when the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0 degrees C or below over seven consecutive days at the weather station linked to an eligible person’s postcode. It is paid automatically within 14 working days of a trigger to ensure claimants receive payments at the time of need. £98.8 million was paid out in Cold Weather Payments between 1 November 2020 and 31 March 2021.
There are currently no plans to change the Cold Weather Payment scheme.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to ensure maximum take up of pension credit to assist those struggling to afford energy bills.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department has undertaken a range of actions to raise awareness of Pension Credit and encourage pensioners to check their eligibility and make a claim. This has included a Pension Credit media day of action in June and working with stakeholders such as the BBC and Age UK.
We have also set up the Pension Credit working group, made up of a diverse range of organisations with reach and expertise, and including pensioner charities, the BBC, British Telecom, Virgin Money and the Local Government Association. The group is tasked with identifying new practical initiatives that we can work on together to help increase Pension Credit take up.
Over the coming weeks, all pensioners in Great Britain, over 11 million people, will receive information about Pension Credit in a leaflet accompanying their annual up-rating letter. This includes prominent messaging highlighting that an award of Pension Credit can also open the door to a range of additional benefits – not only extra help with fuel costs, but also help with rent and a free over-75 TV licence.
Our initial internal management information suggests new claims for Pension Credit in the past twelve months to December 2021 were around 136,000, representing an increase of around 30% compared to the 12 months to December 2019 when they were around 105,000. It also suggests that we have been receiving consistently high volumes of claims over recent months, at around 3,300 per week.
This management information has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics but are provided here in the interests of transparency.
The latest Pension Credit take-up statistics are due for publication on 24 February. These will cover the financial year 2019/20.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the start date for GMP equalisation is 17 May 1990; and what comparative assessment she has made of the potential merits of that start date being (a) 17 May 1990 and (b) the 1986 date of the UK’s ratification of The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The date relates to the court case that determines this matter. On 17 May 1990, the European Court of Justice ruled in the Barber Judgment https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A61988CJ0262 that private occupational pensions constituted ‘deferred pay’ and were therefore subject to Article 119 of the EEC Treaty (now in Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU). This means that these pensions are subject to the provisions of Article 157 on equal treatment between men and women. While the Barber Judgment was not specifically about Guaranteed Minimum Pensions, it meant that the impact of the different Guaranteed Minimum Pension rules for men and women have to be corrected.
The Court restricted the application of the Barber judgment so that it would not have effect prior to 17 May 1990, except in very limited circumstances concerning litigation existing at that time.