Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2024 to Question 5385 on Pension Credit, how much extra funding her Department has secured for additional staffing to improve processing times.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The details of the departmental budgets for 24/25 and 25/26 will be agreed through the Spending Review. This will include details of funding to support Pension Credit claims.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average processing time for a Pension Credit application was in the latest period for which data is available; and whether she has taken steps to improve that processing time.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The most recent information on processing times for Pension Credit was published in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts published on 22nd July 2024 (link to ARA 23/24). This shows that in 2023/24 DWP cleared 192,000 Pension Credit claims within the planned 50 working day timescale, equating to 77.7%. The department has secured funding for additional staffing to improve processing times.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the impact assessment for the changes to the Winter Fuel Payment regulations.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Regulations came into force on the 16 September, the first day of the Winter Fuel Payment qualifying week.
A regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this legislation because the effect is on individuals and private households rather than businesses or voluntary sector organisations.
In making a decision on Winter Fuel Payment eligibility, the government had regard to an equality analysis in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty requirements. The equality analysis was published on Friday 13th September, and can be found here: Responses to Freedom of Information requests on Equality Impact Assessments produced for targeting Winter Fuel Payment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what comparative assessment she has made of trends in the take up of Pension Credit between (a) July 2024 and September 2024 and (b) July 2022 and July 2024.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain are published annually and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The annual publication reports on the take-up of Pension Credit on a financial year basis, and so it is not possible to do a comparative assessment on a partial year time period. A comparative assessment can be made by financial years, with the next publication covering financial year ending 2023 being released on 10 October 2024.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2024 to Question 33 on State Retirement Pensions: Women and with reference to the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman entitled Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues, published on 21 March 2024, what steps her Department is taking to consider the issues in the report.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Work is ongoing to consider the Ombudsman’s report and the views that have been expressed on all sides including the recommendations made by the Work and Pensions Select Committee and the points raised by representatives from the WASPI Campaign who I met on the 5th of September.
Once this work has been undertaken, the Government will be in a position to outline its approach.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the equality impact assessment for changes to winter fuel payment entitlement.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Regulations will come into force on 16 September, the first day of the Winter Fuel Payment qualifying week.
In making a decision on Winter Fuel Payment eligibility, the Government had regard to an equality analysis in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty requirements. However, it is not the convention for equality analyses to be published alongside secondary legislation.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to encourage pension credit take up in (a) Leicestershire and (b) the East Midlands.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Deputy Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions wrote to all local authorities on 20 August. The letter acknowledged the vital role local authorities play in supporting their communities. The Government recognises that many local authorities already do a huge amount of work to promote benefit take-up. We are asking that local authorities support our national Pension Credit campaign and help us reach those eligible pensioners who have not claimed Pension Credit, so they continue to receive an annual Winter Fuel Payment.
Building on last year’s ‘Invitation to Claim’ trial, the Department will be directly contacting approximately 120,000 pensioner households who are in receipt of Housing Benefit and who may also be eligible for, but not currently claiming, Pension Credit.
We will be inviting these households to apply for Pension Credit before the 21 December backdating deadline, in order to ensure that if they are eligible they will also qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment.
As part of the last week’s Pension Credit Week of Action, we joined forces with national charities, broadcasters and local authorities to encourage pensioners to check their eligibility and make a claim.
From 16 September, we will be running a national marketing campaign on a range of channels (including Nottingham Post and Leicester Mercury, and a range of local East Midlands radio stations including Greatest Hits Radio, Smooth Radio and Gold). The campaign will target potential pension-age customers, as well as friends and family who can encourage and support them to apply.
Our future campaign messaging will also focus on encouraging pensioners to apply for Pension Credit before the 21 December 2024, which is the last date for making a successful backdated claim for Pension Credit in order to receive a Winter Fuel Payment.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to ensure that the pension credit application process is (a) streamlined and (b) user friendly to complete.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We are streamlining all Pension Credit application routes by using information held internally to reduce the number of questions the citizen must answer.
A key objective of DWP’s Service Modernisation Programme is to utilise end user research to understand how the application process should operate in the future and consider the opportunities on how services can be more user friendly and easily accessible for citizens.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
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 impact of her Department’s Service Modernisation Programme in (a) encouraging more people to apply for pension credit and (b) improving the customer service experience when applying for pension credit.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The modernisation of Retirement Services, which includes Pension Credit, forms a key part of DWP’s Service Modernisation Programme. An objective of the team is to understand how the application process should operate in the future and understand the opportunities on how services can be accessed easier and faster for citizens. We are utilising end user research to improve the customer experience on all Pension Credit application routes and using information held internally to reduce the number of questions the citizen must answer. As part of our modernisation, we are engaging with leading external organisations to understand what improvements could be made to help increase Pension Credit take up and improve ease of application.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her policy is on continuing the Household Support Fund after 30 September 2024.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has announced funding to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) for a further 6 months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025.
An additional £500 million will be provided to enable the extension of the HSF, including funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual.
As with previous HSF schemes, the Fund will be made available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to provide discretionary support to those most in need.
The HSF scheme guidance and individual Local Authority funding allocations for the forthcoming extension will be announced as soon as possible ahead of the scheme beginning on 1 October 2024.