Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will remove the cap on housing benefit subsidy rates for temporary accommodation.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP pays local authorities a Housing Benefit subsidy for temporary accommodation cases. There are restrictions on the amount paid, including a subsidy cap which is £500 per week in certain areas of London or £375 elsewhere.
We appreciate these are difficult times and local authorities are subject to many funding pressures. However, any increases to the Housing Benefit subsidy paid to local authorities would need to be taken in the context of the government’s missions, goals on housing, and the fiscal position.
We will continue to keep the subsidy arrangements under review.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress her Department has made on the managed migration of disabled people from the Employment Support Allowance support group onto Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department started moving customers who were claiming Employment Support Allowance with Child Tax Credits to Universal Credit from July. From September we will begin moving across customers receiving Employment and Support Allowance only or those with ESA with housing benefit. These plans are informed by learning, which started in June, where 500 ESA customers were invited to claim Universal Credit.
Asked by: Rachel Blake (Labour (Co-op) - Cities of London and Westminster)
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 ensure continuity of payments for disabled people who are (a) about to start and (b) mid-way through migrating from legacy benefits to Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
For DWP customers in receipt of ESA, DWP has agreed to continue to pay customers their legacy benefit for a further two weeks from when their legacy benefit stops to support a seamless continuation of payments. All customers will automatically receive a two-week run on of those benefits.
The DWP continues to learn and iterate its approach as we continue to move people to Universal Credit. We remain committed to ensuring that the transition to Universal Credit works as smoothly as possible for all customers, including the most vulnerable in society.
In June we invited 500 ESA customers to claim Universal Credit. This trial helped us learn and will allow us to start moving across customers receiving Employment and Support Allowance only or those with ESA with housing benefit at scale from September 2024.
In addition, DWP has developed an enhanced support journey for ESA and Income Support customers and remains confident that this provides effective support for our most vulnerable customers.