Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
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 claimants of universal credit who receive a salary advance in December to cover the costs of Christmas do not have their eligibility for universal credit reduced as a result.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Where a claimant receives an advance on their earnings, including at Christmas, such advances are not taken into account as earnings for the period in which they are received. This also applies when the advance is repaid. This aligns with the treatment of such payments for tax purposes.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what procedures are in place to ensure that child claimants of disability living allowance who appeal the outcome of a mandatory reconsideration do not see their payments stopped between lodging of the appeal and the tribunal date.
Answered by Sarah Newton
For Disability Living Allowance (DLA), if a claim has been disallowed, a claimant is not eligible for any component of DLA, therefore no benefit is payable, including during the appeal phase. If the dispute is about eligibility to a higher rate and/or different component, as long as eligibility exists, the relevant component will remain in payment during the appeal phase. If a decision is overturned at appeal and the benefit awarded then the payment will be backdated.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Garston and Halewood constituency have had their eligibility for the higher rate mobility component of DLA or its PIP equivalent removed due to changes in their benefits in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has different eligibility criteria and takes a more holistic view of a person’s health condition or disability and the impact it has on their ability to live independent lives compared to Disability Living Allowance (DLA). Therefore, when someone on DLA is invited to claim PIP and is reassessed, the level of their award may stay the same, go up, down or cease altogether depending on the claimants assessed level of needs.
Data on changes in award levels for PIP claimants undergoing an award review in Garston and Halewood is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The table below shows the number of claimants in Garston and Halewood who received the higher rate mobility component on DLA and their outcome when reassessed for entitlement to PIP for each of the previous five calendar years.
Table: DLA higher rate mobility to PIP Reassessment outcomes for claimants in Garston and Halewood.
| Year | ||||
Award Received Under PIP Following Reassessment From Higher Rate Mobility on DLA. | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
Higher Rate Mobility Component | 0 | 0 | 80 | 320 | 230 |
Standard Rate Mobility Component | 0 | 0 | 70 | 250 | 160 |
No Mobility Component | 0 | 0 | 40 | 130 | 90 |
Source: PIP Computer System claimant records and DLA Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study claimant data (1st October 2013 to 31st October 2017).
Notes:
1. PIP Reassessment outcome shows the outcome of the first DWP decision on each reassessment claim (i.e. they reflect outcomes prior to any reconsideration appeal action and award review), where that decision was made between 1st October 2013 and 31st October 2017.
2. For each individual who has a PIP reassessment outcome their PIP entitlement has been compared to their DLA entitlement at the time of their PIP reassessment registration.
3. Figures include reassessment outcomes for individuals who were aged between 16 and 64 on 8th April 2013, and include both PIP Normal Rules and Special Rules for the Terminally Ill claims.
4. The breakdown of data provided is unpublished data. It should be used with caution and it may be subject to future revision.
5. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
6. Great Britain only.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average number of days is that claimants for universal credit in Garston and Halewood constituency have been sanctioned in the last twelve months for missing appointments.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Statistics on Universal Credit sanction decisions by constituency 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.
Additionally, the latest benefits sanctions statistics for Great Britain can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-sanctions-statistics-to-april-2018
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Garston and Halewood constituency have returned their Motability car in each year since 2010.
Answered by Sarah Newton
This information is not readily available at constituency level and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Garston and Halewood Constituency are not eligible for a motability car as a result of an reassessment of their entitlement (a) disability living allowance and (b) personal independence payments in each year since 2010.
Answered by Sarah Newton
This information is not readily available at constituency level and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Garston and Halewood Constituency had a motability car in each year since 2010.
Answered by Sarah Newton
This information is not readily available at constituency level and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Garston and Halewood Constituency have lost access to a motability car in each year since 2010.
Answered by Sarah Newton
This information is not readily available at constituency level and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were paid a transitional payment by Motability after the loss of their eligibility for a Motability car in each year since 2010.
Answered by Sarah Newton
This Department does not hold this information.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Written Ministerial Statement of 19 January 2018, HCWS414, on welfare, if she will provide a timescale for the reimbursement of backdated payments for claimants with evidence of psychological distress in Garston and Halewood constituency who have been refused the motability component of the personal independence payment.
Answered by Sarah Newton
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 2 February 2018 to Question UIN 125608.