Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department spent on exempt accommodation in each of the last three years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Providing the requested information would incur disproportionate costs to the Department due to the resource required to resolve data quality issues on exempt accommodation, which is a particular type of supported housing.
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is working to resolve a historical data quality issue in relation to how supported housing status is captured on Housing Benefit claims. The resulting fix will be for new claims and will not address historic claims.
In 2022, DWP made investments to deliver improvements to local authority (LA) IT systems, to accurately record all new Housing Benefit claims. This has substantially improved data quality for new claims. DWP have also taken action to improve data on existing claims. LAs have received funding to review their Housing Benefit caseload and set the supported housing status accurately by 31st March 2024.
The Departments’ analysts will then make a final assessment of these case reviews in Summer 2024, once they have received the full relevant data set, and will determine whether it is sufficiently robust to support quantification of the scale and cost of specified accommodation.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility to local playgrounds for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department published the Disability Action Plan on 5 February 2024 which includes measures looking at the accessibility of playgrounds.
A large amount of guidance about how to improve playground accessibility is already available, but practitioners are not always able to locate this advice. The Disability Unit will create an online hub of information for local authorities on creating accessible playgrounds with a new families disabled people’s experience panel helping to support the hub’s development.
This is a national-level approach that should support improvements across many local authorities. We will continue to monitor this area, as well as working with partners to explore the potential for new or updated guidance.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing discretionary housing payments to help reduce homelessness.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Current rental data and the broader fiscal context were considerations in the Secretary of State’s review of Local Housing Allowance rates last Autumn.
As announced in the Autumn Statement (AS) from April 2024 the Government is investing £7bn over five years to increase Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents in 2024/25. This is in addition to the around £30bn spent annually on housing support. Taken together with the wider benefits uprating, this will improve housing affordability for low-income households on benefits renting in the private sector, helping them afford their rent and reducing the risk of rent arrears and homelessness.
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs This is not restricted to those who meet the statutory definition of being at risk or homeless, which allows DHPs to be used to stabilise tenancies and thus preventing the need to access to homelessness services.
We’re providing £300m for DHPs between 2022-25. In addition to the central government contribution, English and Welsh local authorities can top up DHP funding up to a maximum of two and a half times this figure using their own funds.
In addition, there has been an investment of over £1bn in DLUHC’s Homelessness Prevention Grant (HPG) over three years, including a £109m top-up this year (2023-24). There has also been funding of £120m to help councils address Ukraine and homelessness pressures in 2024/25, including funding for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Child Maintenance Service is taking to improve collect and pay compliance.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) continues to take rigorous action to collect maintenance, combining robust negotiation activity with the highly effective use of its extensive range of Enforcement Powers. This approach is driven by the Payment Compliance strategy increasing CMS compliance influencing activities to tackle non-paying cases and challenge non-compliant behaviours. CMS applies a Continuous Improvement focus to Enforcement strategy and processes.
From the latest CMS official statistics, in the quarter ending In the quarter ending September 2023, of 180,000 Paying Parents due to pay via the Collect and Pay service:
Further detail on compliance is provided in the About these statistics section of this release.
As a result of this intense effort The Child Maintenance Service has a relatively low percentage of unpaid maintenance. Only 8% of the total maintenance due to be paid since the start of the CMS remains to be collected through Collect & Pay. This was as high as 17% in March 2015.
CMS does not hesitate to step in and move a case to collect & pay as soon as they are notified payments are not being made. Around 3% of direct pay arrangements move to collect and pay each quarter – a small percentage but this shows that parents can and do move to collect and pay to secure help in getting their child maintenance payments. With the focus of improving customer outcomes, there has been an increase from 64% to 69% of customers who are paying anything towards their maintenance via collect & pay since September 2022.
The published statistics provides data to September 2023 - Section 6. Paying Parents and the Collect and Pay service and National Tables, table 5 Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to September 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
We’ve announced measures to significantly speed up CMS enforcement processes that will reduce the time it takes to secure a liability order from 22 weeks to as low as 6 weeks. A consultation on detailed proposals has recently concluded and the Government response will be published shortly.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of housing benefit.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are forecast to spend £31 billion in 2023/24 on housing support. Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates were boosted by almost £1 billion in 2020, this significant investment has been kept annually to maintain rates at 2020 levels.
The level of LHA rates is reviewed annually by the Secretary of State. LHA rates are not intended to cover all rents in all areas. However, the Department monitors average rents and housing support levels provided to claimants to assess the impact of the policy.
For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and need further support. Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. Since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.7 billion in DHP funding to local authorities
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of benefits rules on levels of employment of residents of supported housing who have their housing costs supported through the housing benefit system.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department acknowledges the challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those working and living in supported housing as the two systems were never intended to run alongside one another.
People in receipt of Housing Benefit are always better off in work. The income taper in Housing Benefit ensures people in work are better off than someone wholly reliant on benefits. In addition to any financial advantage, there are important non-financial benefits of working. These benefits include learning new skills, improved confidence and independence as well as a positive effect on an individual's mental and physical health.
We are working to gain a broader understanding of the impact of benefit rules in Housing Benefit on residents of supported housing who are in employment including the impact on different claimant groups.
After a successful bid to the Labour Market Evaluations and Pilot Fund, we are designing a proof of concept in conjunction with West Midlands Combined Authority. The voluntary PoC will test financial support for eligible 18–24-year-olds living in commissioned supported housing who move into work or increase their working hours and cease receiving Universal Credit. They will receive a top-up payment for 6 months. We are hopeful that this will provide new insight to inform future policy.
Alongside the pilot, officials will continue to work to build our understanding of this topic and to impact future policy options.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to review the 65p Housing Benefit taper rate; and if will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing that rate in line with the Universal Credit taper rate in incentivising young people into work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are no plans to bring the Housing Benefit taper in line with that of Universal Credit. The two benefits have different treatment of earnings rules, both include tapers that ensure that all claimants are better off working than wholly reliant on benefits.
At present, there is a broad spectrum of claimants receiving their rent support through Housing Benefit; those resident in supported housing or temporary accommodations as well as those claimants who have not yet migrated to Universal Credit. Any amendment to the Housing Benefit taper rate would apply to all of these groups and could result in Housing Benefit outstripping the provision provided by Universal Credit in some circumstances.
The Department acknowledges the challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those working and living in supported housing and temporary accommodation. This issue is a complex one, and eradicating the financial cliff edge some individuals face as they incrementally increase their earnings could not be achieved by simply aligning the taper rates within the two benefits. Officials are working to explore this issue further considering the impact including impact on different groups and consider policy options.
It remains the department’s priority to ensure that those who can work are supported to enter the labour market and to sustain employment.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of regulations on pensions funds maladministration.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Pensions Ombudsman and their Deputy have legal powers to consider complaints of maladministration and disputes of a fact or law concerning personal and occupational pension schemes. Decisions made by the Ombudsman and their Deputy are legally binding and are covered in the Pension Schemes Act 1993, Part X.
The power to decide these matters rests with the Pensions Ombudsman and their Deputy who are appointed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Only an Ombudsman can make a final and binding decisions on a case. However, they can delegate any other responsibilities to other people in their organisation.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of his Department's recent policy change in paying Universal Credit's Housing Element directly to claimants rather than to landlords and housing providers on the timeliness of rent payments.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made.
Universal Credit is designed to mirror the world of work in order to ease the transition back into employment. The intention is that the same considerations and choices faced by people not in receipt of benefits should also face those claiming benefits. Expecting claimants to manage their own finances helps to achieve this.
The Department understands that some claimants will require support to help them handle monthly payments and has put in place procedures to address this.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when support for mortgage interest will be implemented; and what that figure will be.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
An increase to the rate paid through the SMI scheme was triggered on Wednesday 29th March 2023. The rate will increase from 2.09% to 2.65% and will be implemented no later than 10th May 2023.
The rate of SMI payments only changes when the Bank of England’s average mortgage rate differs by 0.5 percentage points or more from the standard interest rate.