Asked by: Patricia Ferguson (Labour - Glasgow West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the potential impact of the time taken for his Department to make decisions on the finances of applicants.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department endeavours to process new claims for benefits and changes of circumstances as quickly as possible after customers have provided all relevant information and evidence relating to their claim.
Asked by: Patricia Ferguson (Labour - Glasgow West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on reducing the time taken for Access to Work applications to be allocated to a case manager.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As set out in the Green Paper, we are reforming Access to Work to improve the scheme so that it helps more disabled people into and on in work.
We are committed to reducing waiting times for claims to the Access to Work Scheme. We also prioritise customers starting a job in four weeks. To support our customers several measures have already been put in place, including streamlining our delivery processes and recruiting additional staff.
Asked by: Patricia Ferguson (Labour - Glasgow West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what priority his Department gives to responding to MPs' enquiries.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department treats enquiries from Members of Parliament as a high priority and has issued clear guidance to staff members.
We are committed to improving response times and have taken a number of steps, such as deploying additional resource, to improve the timeliness of responses to MP enquiries. The Department has also published guidance on the W4MP website to ensure MP offices have clear visibility of appropriate contact numbers for each DWP benefit product line.
Data on responses to correspondence from MPs is regularly published and can be found here: Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and peers - GOV.UK
Asked by: Patricia Ferguson (Labour - Glasgow West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has issued guidance to staff on the timeframe in which they should respond to MP enquiries.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department treats enquiries from Members of Parliament as a high priority and has issued clear guidance to staff members.
We are committed to improving response times and have taken a number of steps, such as deploying additional resource, to improve the timeliness of responses to MP enquiries. The Department has also published guidance on the W4MP website to ensure MP offices have clear visibility of appropriate contact numbers for each DWP benefit product line.
Data on responses to correspondence from MPs is regularly published and can be found here: Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and peers - GOV.UK
Asked by: Patricia Ferguson (Labour - Glasgow West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to monitor the (a) number of, (b) time taken to respond to and (c) urgency of MPs' enquiries to his Department.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department treats enquiries from Members of Parliament as a high priority and has issued clear guidance to staff members.
We are committed to improving response times and have taken a number of steps, such as deploying additional resource, to improve the timeliness of responses to MP enquiries. The Department has also published guidance on the W4MP website to ensure MP offices have clear visibility of appropriate contact numbers for each DWP benefit product line.
Data on responses to correspondence from MPs is regularly published and can be found here: Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and peers - GOV.UK
Asked by: Patricia Ferguson (Labour - Glasgow West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the length of time taken by his Department to resolve MPs' enquiries.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department treats enquiries from Members of Parliament as a high priority and has issued clear guidance to staff members.
We are committed to improving response times and have taken a number of steps, such as deploying additional resource, to improve the timeliness of responses to MP enquiries. The Department has also published guidance on the W4MP website to ensure MP offices have clear visibility of appropriate contact numbers for each DWP benefit product line.
Data on responses to correspondence from MPs is regularly published and can be found here: Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and peers - GOV.UK
Asked by: Patricia Ferguson (Labour - Glasgow West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken was for his Department to resolve MPs' enquiries in the last year.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department treats enquiries from Members of Parliament as a high priority and has issued clear guidance to staff members.
We are committed to improving response times and have taken a number of steps, such as deploying additional resource, to improve the timeliness of responses to MP enquiries. The Department has also published guidance on the W4MP website to ensure MP offices have clear visibility of appropriate contact numbers for each DWP benefit product line.
Data on responses to correspondence from MPs is regularly published and can be found here: Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and peers - GOV.UK
Asked by: Patricia Ferguson (Labour - Glasgow West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of adjusting in line with inflation the £30,000 threshold over which advice must be sought before a pension is transferred.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to ensuring that pension savers receive clear and essential information, and that pension transfers are conducted on an informed basis.
To support this principle, individuals with pensions that include a guarantee remain required to take independent financial advice before converting their pension pot, where the value exceeds £30,000. This requirement is intended to ensure savers are made aware of valuable guarantees that could provide a secure income in retirement, before they choose to relinquish those guarantees through a transfer.
The £30,000 threshold aligns to the trivial commutation rules and raising this figure could increase the risk of transfers being made without sufficient understanding.
A review of the regulations conducted in 2023 identified potential concerns regarding the cost and availability of independent financial advice and the Government is keen to explore the extent of these issues. As such, the Department for Work and Pensions is working closely with the Financial Conduct Authority, the pensions industry, and His Majesty’s Treasury . We intend to consult on the outcome of this work in the coming months.
Asked by: Patricia Ferguson (Labour - Glasgow West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will review the level of the Housing Benefit disregard for young people living in supported accommodation.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It remains the department’s priority to ensure that those who can work are supported to enter the labour market and to sustain employment.
The Department acknowledges there is a challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those living 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.
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, the treatment of earnings in Housing Benefit 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.
Changing the current rules would require a fiscal event and funding at a Budget. As funding is required to allow a change, any future decisions will take account of the current fiscal context.
Asked by: Patricia Ferguson (Labour - Glasgow West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will reduce the Housing benefit taper rate to 55% for those living in supported accommodation.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It remains the department’s priority to ensure that those who can work are supported to enter the labour market and to sustain employment.
The Department acknowledges there is a challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those living 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.
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, the treatment of earnings in Housing Benefit 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.
Changing the current rules would require a fiscal event and funding at a Budget. As funding is required to allow a change, any future decisions will take account of the current fiscal context.