Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Departments response to the consultation entitled Child Maintenance: modernising and improving our service, published 18 June 2021, when he plans to implement the changes to secondary legislation set out in that response.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In May 2022 the government made changes to the Child Support Information Regulations 2008 to expand information regulations to include private pension providers, academy proprietors, the Motor Insurers’ Bureau and all types of companies that offer, promote or sell investment management services or facilitate share trading. The government also updated all the Child Maintenance regulations that deal with communications, to enable the Secretary of State to serve notice or notifications to customers and third parties, such as employers, in writing by post or by electronic means.
We are planning to make changes in secondary legislation as parliamentary time allows, to bring into force changes to:
Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of (a) the effect of the local housing allowance cap on the affordability of rented accommodation in Central London and (b) the potential merits of further increasing that cap to allow a higher proportion of tenants to afford rented accommodation in Central London.
Answered by Will Quince
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates determine the maximum amount of housing benefit or universal credit housing costs available for renters in the private rented sector. LHA rates were increased in April 2020 to the 30th percentile of local market rents costing almost £1 billion and providing 1.5 million claimants with around £600 more housing support per year than they would otherwise have received.
At the same time, we increased the national maximum caps, ensuring all rates including those in central and inner London received an increase. This year the monthly Central London rates were increased by:
Central London Increase in LHA monthly rate April 2020 | ||||
Room | 1 Bed | 2 Bed | 3 Bed | 4 Bed |
£40.63 | £82.47 | £196.32 | £286.01 | £657.57 |
In 2021/22 all LHA rates will be maintained at their increased level, meaning claimants renting in the private rented sector will continue to benefit from the significant increase in the rates applied this year.
Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to make permanent the offer of phone or paper assessments for benefits currently in place during covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Paper based reviews have always been a feature of Personal Independence Payment assessments and Work Capability Assessments and wherever possible Assessment Providers will conduct a paper-based review. Telephone-based assessments for suitable cases are a temporary measure replacing face-to-face assessments, which were suspended across all health and disability benefits from 17 March due to Covid-19. We are currently in the process of reviewing this measure in light of the latest public health advice and will confirm next steps as soon as possible.