Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 simplify the pension credit application process.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department continues to assess the Pension Credit service. This led to the introduction of the online claim process, providing customers with a convenient alternative claim route, alongside the existing telephony and paper application methods. As the Department continues to modernise the Pension Credit service, we continue to review the user experience, balancing simplification of application with capturing the right information to ensure accuracy of award.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 reduce the processing times for pension credit applications.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department has secured funding for additional staffing to assist with the processing of the additional Pension Credit claims being made.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support elderly, disabled people who are ineligible for pension credit with higher energy costs.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government is committed to pensioners. Everyone in our society, no matter their working history or savings deserves a comfortable and dignified retirement.
Given the substantial pressures faced by the public finances this year and next, the government has had to make hard choices to bring the public finances back under control.
For those with long-term illnesses, the “extra costs” disability benefits, namely Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA), provide a tax free, non-income-related contribution towards the extra costs people with a long-term health condition can face, such as additional heating costs. They are paid monthly throughout the year. AA can be worth up to £5,600 a year and recipients are free to use their benefit according to their own priorities.
Receipt of AA can provide a passport to additional amounts in means-tested benefits (notably Pension Credit and Housing Benefit) for those on low incomes providing they meet the other eligibility criteria.
Other measures to support pensioners include the State Pension, which is the foundation of income in retirement and will remain so, protecting 12 million pensioners through the Triple Lock. Based on current forecasts, the full rate of the new state pension is set to increase by around £1,700 over the course of this Parliament.
We are also providing support for pensioners through our Warm Homes Plan which will transform homes across the country by making them cleaner and cheaper to run.
The Warm Home Discount scheme in England and Wales provides eligible low-income households across Great Britain with a £150 rebate on their electricity bill. This winter, we expect over three million households, including over one million pensioners, to benefit under the scheme.
The Household Support Fund is also being extended for a further six months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025. An additional £421 million will be provided to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England, plus funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department is taking steps with HMRC to data match housing benefit claimants with those eligible for pension credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP do not need HMRC data to match Housing Benefit customers with Pension Credit.
The government is actively working with external partners and local authorities to boost the uptake of Pension Credit and to target additional support to the poorest pensioners.
In November we will also be directly contacting pensioners who are in receipt of Housing Benefit but who may be eligible for, but not currently claiming, Pension Credit – building on last year’s “Invitation to Claim” trial.
In the longer term we will bring together the administration of Pension Credit and Housing Benefit as soon as operationally possible, so that pensioner households receiving Housing Benefit also receive any Pension Credit to which they are entitled.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 (a) identify and (b) reduce the barriers facing young people not in work or education.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our plan to get Britain Working includes a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or employment support. This will sit alongside; a new national jobs and careers service to help get more people into work, work health and skills plans for the economically inactive, and the launch of Skills England to open new opportunities for young people. We will set out further detail in the upcoming ‘Get Britain Working’ White Paper.
Currently through the Youth Offer, we provide labour market support to young people aged 16-24 claiming Universal Credit through a range of tailored interventions to help reduce the barriers young people may face, bringing them closer to work or education.
Jobcentre Plus School Advisers target support to young people that schools have identified as being at greatest risk of not being in work or education, or who may be disadvantaged in the labour market.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the administrative cost to her Department will be to means-test Winter Fuel payments.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The department will deliver this year’s winter fuel payments within the existing planned headcount and budget. This is due to linking eligibility to Winter Fuel with existing means tested benefits rather than means testing Winter Fuel separately.
In terms of administrative costs, in 2022/23 the Department for Work and Pensions spent £2.6m on the administration of Winter Fuel Payments. It is currently assessing the delivery costs current and future years.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 campaign to increase the uptake of Pension Credit on proposed savings from reductions in the Winter Fuel Allowance.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government estimates that linking entitlement to receipt of Pension Credit and other relevant DWP income-related benefits will reduce expenditure by around £1.4 billion in 2024/25 and £1.5bn in 2025/26.
The responsibility to make a claim to Pension Credit is with individuals, and we can only encourage them to apply. We encourage all pensioners who may be eligible for Pension Credit to use the Pension Credit Calculator to check eligibility and to use our online Pension Credit claims process, via telephone or paper claims.
The Government is determined to ensure that the poorest pensioners get the support they need. As part of Pension Credit Week of Action, we joined forces with national charities, broadcasters and local authorities to encourage pensioners to check their eligibility and make a claim.
From 16 September, we will be running a national marketing campaign on a range of channels. The campaign will target potential pension-age customers, as well as friends and family who can encourage and support them to apply.
Our future campaign messaging will also focus on encouraging pensioners to apply for Pension Credit before the 21 December 2024, which is the last date for making a successful backdated claim for Pension Credit in order to receive a Winter Fuel Payment.
We will work with external partners, local authorities and the Devolved Governments to boost the take-up of Pension Credit.
The latest available take-up estimates Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) cover the financial year 2021/2022 and suggest an overall Pension Credit take-up rate of 63%. The next take-up estimates covering the financial year 2022/2023 are due to be published in October.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of all people eligible for Pension Credit claiming it.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The estimated total cost if all people eligible for Pension Credit claimed is around £7.6 billion, for Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2022, for Great Britain.
This has been calculated by adding the benefit expenditure for Pension Credit for 2021/2022 (Pension Credit claimed by eligible pensioners) and the estimate of pension credit unclaimed by eligible pensioners in FYE 2022.
As published in DWP Pension Credit Take-up statistics, an estimate of up to 880,000 families who were entitled to receive PC did not claim the benefit, and the estimate of Pension Credit unclaimed by eligible pensioners in FYE 2022 is £2.1 billion. The pension credit expenditure was an estimated £5.5 billion in 2021/2022.
Source:
Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the proposed saving is from the reduction in the franchise of the Winter Fuel Payment.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The savings were estimated in Fixing the Foundations as Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) Winter Fuel Payments (WFP) savings of £1.4bn, for 2024/2025, for Great Britain. These included an assumption about increased take-up of Pension Credit which is in line with the highest levels it has achieved historically. WFPs are classified as AME. Estimated savings are sensitive to forecasted take up of Pension Credit. Final savings will be certified and published by the Office for Budget responsibility at the Autumn Budget on the 30th October Budget, taking account of any behavioural response.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department consult former Prime Minister Gordon Brown on policies to reduce levels of child poverty.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
The Child Poverty Taskforce, co-chaired by the Work and Pensions and Education Secretaries, has started urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring and will explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.
The Taskforce will engage external experts throughout the strategy development process including through a rolling programme of meetings, with sessions built thematically to bring together a broad range of experts on specific topics.
The Government also recognises the importance of capturing the experiences of those living in poverty which is why the Taskforce will also draw on findings from wider external engagement events in all regions and nations of the UK. These events will convene a broader range of voices, including bringing in the perspectives of families and children themselves.
We will also consider the record of previous administrations, not least during 1999-2005; the period in which official statistics recorded the fastest reduction in relative after housing costs UK child poverty rates.