Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress she has made on reducing the time taken for Access to Work applications to be processed.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to reducing wait times for Access to Work, and we have deployed additional staff to process claims and streamlined our delivery processes. We prioritise applications from customers starting a job in four weeks, and renewals.
Access to Work continues to be in high demand and we recognise that further work is needed to ensure that it is providing a timely and effective service for customers.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to tackle the proportion of people who die in poverty in South Oxfordshire constituency.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The primary way the Department supports people nearing the end of life is through special benefit rules which are known as the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL). These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment or serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit.
For many years, the Special Rules applied to people who have 6 months or less to live, they have now been changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live. Changes to the Special Rules mean that thousands of people nearing the end of life are now able to claim fast-tracked financial support from the benefits system six months earlier than they were able to previously.
Asked by: Olly Glover (Liberal Democrat - Didcot and Wantage)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of (a) 18 November 2024 and (b) 16 January 2025 from the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage on a request for a meeting on AEAT pensions.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
My office has been in touch to arrange a meeting, and I look forward to it taking place soon.