Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 effectiveness of the Universal Credit taper in incentivising part-time work.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The taper rate aims to make customers financially better off in work by ensuring that their Universal Credit award is reduced by less than their earned income.
Universal Credit has a single taper rate of 55% and some customers will also benefit from a work allowance which is the amount someone can earn before their Universal Credit award starts to reduce.
Once a customer is earning more than their work allowance (if applicable), their Universal Credit starts to be reduced at a consistent rate.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help improve the availability of (a) free and (b) independent benefits-related advice services in Nottingham.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions signposts customers to the following services in Nottingham, with which it has an active relationship.
St Anne’s Advice, Disability Support and Citizens Advice Centre all recently attended a DWP Health and Wellbeing event, to support customers with health conditions, and regularly attend our Disability Employment Adviser Cafes which provide an informal environment in Nottingham where the DWP works in collaboration with partners to support customers.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 potential impact of the closure of the DWP office employees in Lincoln; and whether flexible working arrangements will be offered to staff who cannot relocate.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department currently has excess space. All decisions around estates are driven by departmental strategy to deliver a smaller, better and greener estate. Equality Analysis has been undertaken as part of the decision-making process.
Since the announcement, all affected colleagues in Lincoln have been supported through a detailed conversation between each individual and their line manager to assess the personal impact of any closure, and inform consideration of all alternative employment options. Redeployment activity is now underway, looking at vacancies in other DWP locations and other government departments.
As a responsible employer, DWP offers flexibility including hybrid working, workplace adjustments and other support, but like other government departments, DWP is not a home working organisation.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of (a) the potential impact of the benefit cap on poverty rates among larger families and (b) the potential merits of its abolition.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made.
This government is committed to tackling child poverty and the Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in autumn, that will deliver fully funded measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty. We are considering all available levers, including considering social security reforms, to give every child the best start in life as part of our strategy.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 potential impact of her proposed changes to disability benefits on (a) people who receive social care support and (b) social care support providers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government has already started to bring about change to address health-related economic inactivity. We are injecting almost £26 billion of extra funding next year to get the health and social care system back on its feet and bring down waiting lists.
The Pathways to Work Green Paper set out our plans to reform the health and disability and employment support system. As we bring forward changes, we will ensure that the most vulnerable and severely disabled people are protected, so that they can live with dignity and security.
For those affected by the changes to PIP eligibility, we are consulting on how best to support this group, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. For new claimants on the Universal Credit health element after April 2026, we are proposing that those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who will never be able to work, will see their incomes protected.
As we develop detailed proposals for change, we will continue to consider the potential impacts of reforms.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to improve waiting times for the Personal Independence Payment helpline.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Telephony is our customers’ primary channel to contact us. We continually assess the number of calls we are receiving and the associated waiting times, deploying resources accordingly to support service levels wherever this is possible. However, due to recent media articles regarding PIP, we have been receiving high volumes of calls. As a result, we have been deploying, where practical (whilst also balancing the need to complete necessary processing work) 100% dedicated telephony specific resource to the Personal Independent Payment telephony lines which will give extra support with the increase in both volume of traffic and waiting times.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to require periodic redeclaration of circumstances every six months for Universal Credit claimants from April 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, the department will prompt Universal Credit claimants to confirm whether they have had a change in circumstances that might affect their claim. Any changes in circumstances declared will be processed and verified in the usual way. A roll out of this initiative will commence in April and testing will help determine frequency.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the number of weeks that people who live in supported accommodation and who have increased their working hours above 16 hours can claim extended housing benefit payments for.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Most working-age customers residing in supported housing now receive Universal Credit for their daily living costs and Housing Benefit for their rent support. Customers in receipt of Universal Credit are not eligible for extended rent support as Universal Credit is both an in-work and out-of-work benefit.
Like Universal Credit, Housing Benefit has an income taper. As Housing Benefit may be claimed by those both in work and out of work, there are no rules around the number of hours that someone may work; instead, there are income tapers which apply.
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. However, Housing Benefit treatment of earnings is less generous than that of Universal Credit. Therefore, although customers living in Supported Housing are better off working than doing no work at all, they can be financially better off limiting the hours they work to ensure they retain a small amount of Universal Credit entitlement.
Notwithstanding these positive outcomes from work, the Department acknowledges there is a challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those residing in Supported Housing and Temporary Accommodation and receiving their housing support through Housing Benefit. The department will consider the issue carefully in partnership with stakeholders.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of supporting leaseholders in receipt of Universal Credit to pay service charge costs when they take up (a) part-time, (b) short-term and (c) seasonal work.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has not recently assessed the potential merits of supporting leaseholders in receipt of Universal Credit (UC) to pay service charge costs when they take up a) part time, b) short-term and c) seasonal work.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting single parents in part-time work with dependent children from the Administrative Earnings Threshold.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Administrative Earnings Threshold determines the level of work coach support that Universal Credit customers receive. Customers on low incomes are able to access regular work coach advice and support to help them to increase their earnings, this can include advice on childcare or help to address skills gaps to aid career progression.
Work Coaches take each of our customers’ personal circumstances into account when agreeing reasonable actions to look for or progress in work, including any childcare responsibilities. Alongside this, we have committed to reviewing Universal Credit by listening to the full range of views on potential changes, so that our social security system is fit for purpose. And we will also be exploring how we can better support parents, as we develop our child poverty and labour market strategy objectives.