Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department provides for benefit claimants who are fleeing domestic violence.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is fully committed to the prevention of abuse and the Department for Work and Pensions has a range of measures designed to support people who flee violent households. Easements in benefit conditionality give claimants the space and time needed to stabilise their lives. Job-seeking and work-preparation requirements can be suspended for up to 13 weeks. There is special provision in Housing Benefit for when someone is temporarily absent from their home through fear of domestic violence and abuse. If the person intends to return to their former home, they can receive Housing Benefit for both a former permanent home and temporary accommodation. There is similar provision in respect of the housing cost element of Universal Credit.
Universal Credit provides an exemption for 18 to 21 year old claimants to be entitled to help with housing if they are a victim of domestic violence and abuse. There is provision for Universal Credit claimants to request separate benefit payments from their partner. There is also an exemption made in Universal Credit to support a third or subsequent child who is born on or after 6 April 2017 as a result of a non-consensual sexual act.
Housing support for exempt accommodation such as a refuge is excluded from the calculation of the benefit cap for victims of domestic violence and abuse. The removal of the spare room subsidy will not apply to those victims of domestic violence who are staying in exempt accommodation.
The department provides funding for Discretionary Housing Payments which are available from local authorities. These are aimed at a number of groups likely to be affected by welfare reform, including individuals or families fleeing domestic violence.
Customers who have reported domestic violence are exempt from paying the £20 application fee to use the child maintenance service.
A person that came to the UK on a family visa as a spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner, who needs to leave home through fear of domestic violence and abuse, can apply for a Home Office Destitute Domestic Violence concession. This will allow someone to claim benefits for up to 3 months while UK Visas and Immigration consider their application to settle in the UK.
Jobcentre Plus work coaches signpost and refer domestic violence victims to organisations that can provide further support.
Information on our support to victims of domestic violence was published on gov.uk on 5 January 2018 at the following link
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-violence-and-abuse-help-from-dwp
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department provides for benefit claimants who are fleeing domestic violence.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is fully committed to the prevention of abuse and the Department for Work and Pensions has a range of measures designed to support people who flee violent households. Easements in benefit conditionality give claimants the space and time needed to stabilise their lives. Job-seeking and work-preparation requirements can be suspended for up to 13 weeks. There is special provision in Housing Benefit for when someone is temporarily absent from their home through fear of domestic violence and abuse. If the person intends to return to their former home, they can receive Housing Benefit for both a former permanent home and temporary accommodation. There is similar provision in respect of the housing cost element of Universal Credit.
Universal Credit provides an exemption for 18 to 21 year old claimants to be entitled to help with housing if they are a victim of domestic violence and abuse. There is provision for Universal Credit claimants to request separate benefit payments from their partner. There is also an exemption made in Universal Credit to support a third or subsequent child who is born on or after 6 April 2017 as a result of a non-consensual sexual act.
Housing support for exempt accommodation such as a refuge is excluded from the calculation of the benefit cap for victims of domestic violence and abuse. The removal of the spare room subsidy will not apply to those victims of domestic violence who are staying in exempt accommodation.
The department provides funding for Discretionary Housing Payments which are available from local authorities. These are aimed at a number of groups likely to be affected by welfare reform, including individuals or families fleeing domestic violence.
Customers who have reported domestic violence are exempt from paying the £20 application fee to use the child maintenance service.
A person that came to the UK on a family visa as a spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner, who needs to leave home through fear of domestic violence and abuse, can apply for a Home Office Destitute Domestic Violence concession. This will allow someone to claim benefits for up to 3 months while UK Visas and Immigration consider their application to settle in the UK.
Jobcentre Plus work coaches signpost and refer domestic violence victims to organisations that can provide further support.
Information on our support to victims of domestic violence was published on gov.uk on 5 January 2018 at the following link
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-violence-and-abuse-help-from-dwp
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
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 risk to pensions posed by Melrose's proposed takeover of GKN.
Answered by Guy Opperman
This is a matter for the independent Pensions Regulator which was established by Parliament to provide regulatory oversight of work-based pension schemes, including defined benefit schemes.
It has operational independence and therefore it would not be appropriate for Ministers to become involved in the Regulator’s casework.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Independent - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will ensure that parents who share custody of a child are exempted from the under-occupancy penalty.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
With 1.7 million households on the social housing waiting list in England alone, 250,000 households living in overcrowded conditions, and around 820,000 spare bedrooms being paid for within the social sector it was important that something be done to address this and the housing benefit bill that was spiralling out of control.
The removal of spare room subsidy was introduced in April 2013 for these reasons as well as to strengthen work incentives; encourage both mobility within the social sector and the better use of available social housing by social landlords. More importantly, this measure was required to bring about parity of treatment between private and social rented sectors tenants because it is only fair that housing benefit claimants living in the social sector should make the same considerations as private sector tenants about the affordability of their rent rather than relying upon the taxpayer to meet the costs of housing that may be too large for their needs.
Providing blanket exemptions to the policy were not considered to be the most effective or affordable approach to targeting resources for those who are vulnerable. Nor was it considered right that the taxpayer should provide bedrooms in separate households for the same child where parents are separated especially as this could act as a disincentive to work.
To mitigate the impact for those facing difficult situations money was added to the Discretionary Housing Payment scheme. For instance this financial year £60 million has been added specifically for this measure. This however forms only part of the overall funding of £125 million for 2015/16, and since April 2013, £470 million has been provided in DHP funding. This is a proportionate approach which is effective and provides local authorities, who administer Housing Benefit, with the right level of flexibility to ensure that those who are vulnerable receive the help they need, an approach that has also been upheld by the Courts.