Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that there is no increase in levels of child poverty as a result of the economic effects of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Will Quince
This Government committed to supporting everyone through this emergency and has announced an unprecedented programme of support to mitigate the strain that Covid-19 is putting on households, livelihoods, businesses and our nation’s economy. This includes the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self-Employed Income Support Scheme, both of which are helping to protect people’s livelihoods.
We have also taken steps to strengthen our safety net welfare system, which will provide over £6.5bn of additional support. Measures include:
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has had discussions with children’s organisations on a potential increase in the child element of universal credit and child tax credit; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
The child element of universal credit and child tax credit have recently increased as part of the annual uprating of benefits.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to monitor the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on its goal of supporting one million more disabled people into work.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to reducing the disability employment gap and seeing one million more disabled people in work between 2017 and 2027. We continue to monitor employment of disabled people using the quarterly Labour Force Survey along with other relevant sources. Collection of this information is happening now but there will be a period until data needed to robustly assess the effects of the covid-19 outbreak on disabled people’s employment is available.
Labour Force Survey statistics for the first quarter of 2020, will be reported by the Office for National Statistics on 19 May 2020, covering the very start of the covid-19 outbreak in March. Statistics for the second quarter of 2020 will be available in August.
The Office for National Statistics is producing a range of wider information about the social and economic impacts of covid-19 such as the Business Impact of Coronavirus (BIC) survey. Statistics from the ONS Omnibus survey for 3 April 2020 to 13 April 2020 show that a lower proportion of disabled people than non-disabled people were worried about aspects of work and household finances.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of relaxing the savings rules that determine eligibility for and support from universal credit during the covid-19 outbreak in circumstances where the applicant can demonstrate those funds are required for pending tax bills.
Answered by Will Quince
A key principle of UC is that it supports people who do not have assets available to meet their basic needs. While it is important to protect the incentive to save for claimants on low earnings, people with substantial capital can take responsibility for their own support. This is to ensure that we can maintain our focus on getting money to citizens who need it and safeguarding the most vulnerable.
If capital exceeds £16,000 there will be no entitlement to UC, unless the capital can be disregarded, for example personal injury compensation payments. Capital above £6,000 will reduce the amount of UC paid by £4.35 per month for every £250 of capital or part thereof.
If someone has money in their account that is to be used for business purposes, for example for paying tax, it will not be counted towards their capital, but they may be asked to prove that the money is for business purposes. People should make clear in their application the savings that are business assets, and note it in their online journal.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential economic merits of granting 1950s-born women who are not eligible for universal credit but would otherwise be eligible for pension credit, early access to pension credit in response to the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on a range of issues.
The Government has already introduced a number of measures to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and is committed to providing financial support for people at every stage of their life, including when they near or reach retirement. It is important to stress that the welfare system will continue to provide support to men and women who unable to work or those who are on a low income but who are not eligible to pensioner benefits because of their age.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received support for upfront childcare costs under the Flexible Support Fund in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion of that Fund was used for childcare in that period.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
In response to the WPSC inquiry on childcare in June 2019 we committed to publish a breakdown of flexible support funds spent on upfront childcare costs at the end of the financial year once accounts audited.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many couples had a claimant who was receiving a carer element as part of universal credit between (a) May and August 2019 and (b) September and December 2019.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The available information on the number of households with a carer entitlement on Universal Credit is published and can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of upfront childcare costs under the childcare element of universal credit on maternal employment rates.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has not made an assessment of the effect of upfront childcare costs on maternal employment rates and it would require disproportionate costs to do so.
The Government recognises that high childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to take up paid work or increase their working hours. Working families claiming Universal Credit can therefore reclaim up to 85 per cent of their eligible childcare costs each month up to £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children. Eligible claimants can also get help from the Flexible Support Fund with initial up-front fees and advance costs as they move into work. Alternatively, help with upfront costs may also be available through Budgeting Advances.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners have been required to make a claim for universal credit rather than pension credit due to the fact that their partner did not reach pension age between September and December 2019.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
From September 2019 to December 2019, there were 2,200 new claims to Universal Credit where one member of the couple was above State Pension age and the other below.
This change in the way support is provided to couples where one partner is below State Pension age will ensure that the same incentives to work and save for retirement apply to the younger partner as apply to other people of the same age. Unlike Pension Credit, which in most cases allows couple to retain only £10 a week of earned income, Universal Credit provides clear incentives for people to find and progress in work.
The younger partner in a mixed-age couple claiming Universal Credit will get the personalised support provided by Work Coaches to help them find and progress in work where appropriate. If the younger partner is unable to work because of disability or caring requirements, additional amounts may be payable and conditionality requirements adjusted. No work-related requirements will be applied to the older partner.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure safe and timely access to state pensions for older adults during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As both the Prime Minister and Chancellor have made clear, the Government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID 19 and we have been clear in our intention that no one should be penalised for doing the right thing. These are rapidly developing circumstances, we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.