Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of households awarded transitional protection under the Move to Universal Credit programme have subsequently lost that protection because of a change of circumstances.

Answered by Jo Churchill

The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which advice agencies the Government is providing funding to in 2024-25; and what level of funding is being provided to those agencies.

Answered by Paul Maynard

The ARA DWP annual report and accounts 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) contains 22/23 which is the latest published. 23/24 has not been audited or laid yet.

Page 163 lists all public bodies under the umbrella of DWP.

Main estimates and DEL Budgets are here Main Supply Estimates 2023 to 24 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Main and Supplementary for DWP are here Work and Pensions Committee - Estimate memoranda - Committees - UK Parliament.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria his Department is using to identify vulnerable people receiving legacy benefits during the managed migration process Move to Universal Credit.

Answered by Jo Churchill

DWP provides a tailored service that recognises those with complex needs at any point throughout their journey and ensures appropriate support is quickly made available. There is a range of support available to individuals, including a dedicated DWP telephone line, face to face support in the local Jobcentre, and independent support through Help to Claim, delivered by Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland.

DWP have developed and tested a new ‘enhanced support’ journey for ESA and Income Support customers who require more support to claim. This process is now in place for these customer groups and involves outbound telephony, system checks and home visits, dependent on individual support needs.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is planning to provide extra staff to support legacy benefit claimants in 2024-25 as part of the Move to Universal Credit.

Answered by Jo Churchill

To support customers who are involved in Move to Universal Credit (UC) the Department has introduced a dedicated DWP telephone line, face to face support in the local Jobcentre, and independent support through Help to Claim, delivered by Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number and proportion of Tax Credit claimants that have received migration notices under Move to Universal Credit and who have had to repay Tax Credit debt in (a) the UK, (b) Merseyside and (c) Wirral.

Answered by Jo Churchill

As of November 2023,100 Tax Credit claims, in Merseyside, and less than 5 Tax Credit claims, in the Wirral that have migrated to Universal Credit (UC) have had a deduction for a non-fraud Tax Credit debt from their UC award.

UC claims in Northern Ireland are administered by the Department for Communities.

Proportions of the Tax Credit caseload cannot be provided as Tax Credit claims are administered by HMRC. HMRC publish statistics on the number of families benefiting from Child Tax Credit (CTC) and/or Working Tax Credit (WTC) in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Latest publication can be found here:

Commentary - Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: Provisional awards - April 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Notes:

1. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.

2. The figures are of distinct Universal Credit households that have migrated from Child Tax Credits and/or Working Tax Credits that also had a deduction taken from their UC entitlement to repay a non-fraud Tax Credit debt. Any household with deductions in more than one assessment period will only be counted once.

3. "Merseyside" has been interpreted as the sum of the Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St. Helens & Wirral local authority areas.

4. Data has been provided for deductions taken up to November 2023, in line with the latest available UC Household Statistics.

5. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households his Department plans to send migration notices to as part of the Move to Universal Credit in 2024-24 in (a) the UK, (b) Merseyside and (c) Wirral.

Answered by Jo Churchill

The Government remains committed to moving all legacy benefit customers to Universal Credit (UC). Following the Prime Minister’s announcement on 19th April, we now plan to notify all remaining customers in scope of migrating to UC by the end of 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate her Department has made of the average time from first contact with the NHS specialist mental health services to the commencement of regular talking therapy treatment for someone with a mental health condition receiving treatment through talking therapy.

Answered by Maria Caulfield

In England, for the reporting period of 2022/23, there were 1,215,329 referrals to the NHS Talking Therapies programme, where treatment was started within the same period. The average waiting time from a referral being received to first treatment was 19.8 days. For the reporting period of February 2024, there were 109,260 referrals that started treatment within the same period, with an average 17.1 day wait from referral to first treatment. A referral has accessed services when the patient has attended their first treatment appointment, or an Internet Enabled Therapy log has been recorded for them.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Jobcentres will be offering face-to-face support for legacy benefit claimants required to transfer to Universal Credit under the Move to Universal Credit programme in (a) Merseyside and (b) Wirral; and which ones will be offering that support.

Answered by Jo Churchill

We currently provide assistance and support through a variety of channels, including face to face in all of our jobcentres across the United Kingdom.

We have a dedicated team in place to support customers in receipt of a Migration Notice to transition to Universal Credit including a dedicated telephone line for queries.

We continue to learn what we need to put in place for customers receiving a Migration Notice to support their transition to Universal Credit.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Jobcentres will be offering face-to-face support for legacy benefit claimants required to transfer to Universal Credit; and which ones will be offering that support.

Answered by Jo Churchill

We currently provide assistance and support through a variety of channels, including face to face in all of our jobcentres across the United Kingdom.

We have a dedicated team in place to support customers in receipt of a Migration Notice to transition to Universal Credit including a dedicated telephone line for queries.

We continue to learn what we need to put in place for customers receiving a Migration Notice to support their transition to Universal Credit.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Prime Minister’s speech on welfare of 19 April 2024, what the evidential basis is for the statement that people with less severe mental health conditions should be expected to engage with the world of work.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities

Evidence shows that good work is generally good for health¹. The Government therefore has an ambitious programme of initiatives to support people with mental health conditions, who are able, to start, stay and succeed in work. This includes:

• Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies, which combines psychological treatment and employment support for people with mental health conditions;
• The Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care programme, a Supported Employment model (place, train and maintain) delivered in health settings, aimed at people with physical or common mental health disabilities to support them to access paid jobs in the open labour market; and
• WorkWell, which is being established as a new early-intervention work and health support and assessment service in England, with the aim of preventing and reducing economic inactivity among disabled people and people with health conditions.

¹ Is work good for your health and well-being? An independent review - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the average extra costs that disabled people face as a result of their disability compared to people who are not disabled.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities

No such estimate has been made.

The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. Over recent years, the government has demonstrated its commitment to supporting the most vulnerable with one of the largest support packages in Europe. The total support over 2022- 2025 to help households and individuals with higher bills amounts to £108 billion – an average of £3,800 per UK household.

We provided a Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 in June/July 2023 to people in receipt of certain disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Disability Living Allowance (DLA). This is in addition to the £150 payment paid in September 2022.

We estimate that nearly 60 per cent of individuals who received an extra costs disability benefit would have received the means-tested benefit Cost of Living Payments, worth up to £900.

We also increased extra costs disability benefits by 10.1 per cent from April 2023 and by 6.7% from April 2024 in line with the Consumer Price Index.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the number of people for whom the funds spent on Personal Independence Payments (PIP) would provide talking therapy for in place of PIP in (a) Wirral, (b) Merseyside and (c) the UK.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities

Such information is not available as no decisions on detailed policy design have yet been made. The consultation, Modernising Support for Independent Living: The Health and Disability Green Paper, is instead about opening up a broader conversation about how we could reshape the current welfare system to provide better targeted support to those who need it most.

Part of the Green Paper explores alternative ways of supporting people to live independent and fulfilling lives. This could mean financial support being better targeted at people who have specific extra costs, but it could also involve improved support of other kinds, such as physical or mental health treatment.

The Green Paper was published on Monday 29 April and the 12 week consultation will close on Monday 22 July.

We encourage everyone to respond to the consultation so that we are able to hear from as many people as possible on these important issues, including disabled people, people with health conditions, their representatives, and other stakeholders.

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 average extra costs that people with less severe mental health conditions face as a result of their conditions compared to the general population.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities

No such estimate has been made.

The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. Over recent years, the government has demonstrated its commitment to supporting the most vulnerable with one of the largest support packages in Europe. The total support over 2022- 2025 to help households and individuals with higher bills amounts to £108 billion – an average of £3,800 per UK household.

We provided a Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 in June/July 2023 to people in receipt of certain disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Disability Living Allowance (DLA). This is in addition to the £150 payment paid in September 2022.

We estimate that nearly 60 per cent of individuals who received an extra costs disability benefit would have received the means-tested benefit Cost of Living Payments, worth up to £900.

We also increased extra costs disability benefits by 10.1 per cent from April 2023 and by 6.7% from April 2024 in line with the Consumer Price Index.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his department's consultation entitled Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper, published on 29 April 2024, what steps he is taking to help ensure that disabled people can respond to that consultation.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities

To help ensure that disabled people and people with long term conditions can access and respond to Modernising Support for Independent Living: The Health and Disability Green Paper, the Green Paper was published in standard and five alternative formats:

• Large print
• Braille
• Easy Read
• British Sign Language (BSL)
• Audio

All formats can be accessed via the web page here.

We encourage everyone to respond to the consultation, so that we are able to hear from disabled people, people with health conditions, representatives, and others on these important issues.

It is possible to respond via the online form, via email or by post. If anybody has difficulty responding, they can ask a representative to support them or respond on their behalf.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper, published on 29 April 2024, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of condition-based assessments on people with multiple health conditions.

Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities

Modernising Support for Independent Living: The Health and Disability Green Paper was published on 29 April 2024. The associated consultation will last for 12 weeks, ending on 22 July. Throughout this period we will continue to listen to and work with disabled people, people with health conditions and their representatives.

The consultation aims to hear views on whether we should have a condition-based assessment. We understand that many people have more than one health condition, and if this proposal is taken forwards following the consultation, we will consider in the detailed policy design how a condition-based approach would work for people with multiple conditions.

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