Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's timetable is for abolishing the couple's administrative earnings threshold; and what estimate she has made of the potential impact of the abolition of the couple's administrative earnings threshold on the number of people entering the Intensive Work Search regime.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The previous administration planned to abolish the Couples AET to increase compliance and conditionality requirements on working households, without clear evidence that this would be cost-effective. The Government’s plans for supporting working households towards sustainable good quality jobs are set out in the Get Britain Working white paper.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Tables in the document entitled Work Capability Assessment Reform: update to estimated number of claimants affected, dated 18 April 2024, what her Department's estimate is of the number of claimants moved into each of those categories in the 2029-30 financial year.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The figures requested can be found in the table below:
Note – This reform was planned and made by the previous Government, but the figures reflect the latest OBR forecasts and assumptions.
Number of claimants affected by Work Capability Assessment Reform, Great Britain
Moved from LCWRA to LCW | 2029-30 |
Totals | 448,000 |
Total moved due to removing the LCWRA ‘mobilising’ descriptor | 282,000 |
Total moved due to amending the LCWRA ‘risk’ descriptor | 136,000 |
Moved from LCW to IWS | 2029-30 |
Total moved | 34,000 |
Total moved due to amending the LCW ‘getting about’ descriptor | 34,000 |
Source: Internal Work Capability Assessment Reform Policy Costing model
Notes to tables:
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it remains her Department's policy to begin the rollout of the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment and the categories of Limited Capability for Work and Limited Capability for Work Related Activity from April 2026.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We’ve been clear that WCA isn’t working and needs to be reformed or replaced.
We are working to develop proposals for reform to the system of health and disability benefits and will set them out in a green paper in the spring.
As part of the Get Britain Working plan, we will support more disabled people and those with health conditions to enter and stay in work, by devolving more power to local areas so they can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer that suits the needs of the people they serve.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she made a request to the Social Security Advisory Committee to expedite their consideration of the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payments Regulations 2024 before she invoked the urgency provision.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The urgency procedure was invoked as a means of making the necessary Exchequer savings in the current financial year, as the Regulations needed to come into force on 16 September 2024 (in time for the qualifying week for Winter Fuel Payments this winter).
DWP officials met the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) in August to discuss the Regulations, and the Committee had the opportunity to raise matters of interest to them, prior to formal scrutiny. The regulations were formally considered by SSAC on 11 September.
We welcome the observations and recommendations in the letter from the SSAC chair, and the decision not to take the Regulations on formal reference. The Secretary of State replied to the SSAC letter and recommendations which can be found here:
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to respond to the letter from the Chair of the Social Security Advisory Committee entitled The Social Fund Winter Fuel Payments Regulations 2024: letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, published on 17 October 2024.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
We welcome the observations and recommendations in the letter from the chair of the Social Security Advisory Committee, and the decision not to take the Regulations on formal reference. The Secretary of State replied to the SSAC letter and recommendations which can be found here:
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral answer of 7 October 2024 from the Minister for Employment, Official Report, column 6, what changes have been made to the Access to Work Scheme since the beginning of this Parliament; how many additional staff have been assigned to processing Access to Work claims since the beginning of this Parliament; and from which other area these staff have been diverted.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since the beginning of this Parliament the Department for Work and Pensions has taken steps to improve operational guidance and process to ensure Access to Work grants are awarded consistently and as quickly as possible.
Since July 2024, twenty-three additional staff have been deployed to support Access to Work. Of these, twenty-two were new recruits and one was redeployed from the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) team.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department provides information to local authorities on local residents who are (a) above State Pension age and (b) (i) eligible for and (ii) claiming Pension Credit.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department already shares extensive data with local authorities for a variety of purposes. Local authorities have access to DWP data about households in receipt of DWP benefits, including people over State Pension age which includes those receiving Pension Credit. Furthermore, as part of the Pension Credit claim process, if claimants state they want to claim Housing Benefit, DWP gathers the claim information required for this and passes it onto the relevant local authority to assess.
Local authorities are allowed to re-use DWP data under the terms of a data sharing Memorandum of Understanding, subject to them seeking their own legal advice, and subject to them notifying the Department of their intent. This process can be used to include re-using data originating from DWP to help identify people eligible for Pension Credit. Many local authorities already undertake their own initiatives to identify eligible households and promote take-up and over 160 local authorities have responded positively to our ‘call for action’ following the Secretary of State and the Deputy Prime Minister’s letter to all local authorities in August.
The Department will also be writing directly to 120,000 pensioner households in receipt of Housing Benefit who may also be eligible for, but not currently claiming, Pension Credit. We will be inviting these pensioners to claim Pension Credit by the 21 December, which is the latest date for making a successful backdated Pension Credit claim and still qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information her Department holds on the local government (a) area and (b) ward of individual pensioners who (i) are and (ii) are not in receipt of Pension Credit.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The department holds information on individual pensioners who do claim Pension Credit broken down geographically by ward, Local Authority, region, country, and also Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies 2010 and 2024. The department does not hold information on individual pensioners who do not claim Pension Credit.
The department publishes data on households in receipt of Pension Credit on Stat Xplore. This is broken down geographically by ward, Local Authority, region, country, and also Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies 2010 and 2024.
The department also publishes data on individuals receiving State Pension on Stat Xplore. However, these statistics are currently suspended due to issues with internal processing of State Pension data.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the correspondence from the Chair of the Social Security Advisory Committee entitled The Social Fund Winter Fuel Payments Regulations 2024: letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, published on 17 October 2024, whether she plans to publish an updated impact assessment of the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payments Regulations 2024.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
In line with the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty, an equality analysis was produced as part of the ministerial decision-making process. The Department will continue to monitor and review the impact of the policy, using this to inform any future decisions.
Asked by: Mel Stride (Conservative - Central Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 6515 on Social Security Benefits: Disability, what steps she plans to take to reform Personal Independence Payments; and what assessment she has made of the factors driving the rising (a) caseloads and (b) expenditure on that benefit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We will be considering our own response to social security in due course, informed by a range of evidence. This Government is committed to championing the rights of disabled people and to the principle of working with them, so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all that we do.