Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of Government support systems that help refugees and asylum seekers into work.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Once refugee status has been granted, individuals have immediate access to employment support and services.
We recognise that refugees often face additional barriers to labour market participation and are supporting the development of interventions that help to overcome these barriers. This includes developing an integration package which has a strong focus on supporting refugees to move more quickly to self-sufficiency.
DWP employment support includes help with job search and English language skills as well as with skills training, CV writing and securing work experience. Local Jobcentre Managers have considerable flexibility to provide tailored support to meet individual needs as required.
DWP also works closely with businesses expressing an interest in employing people in response to the situations in Afghanistan and Ukraine. We support them to develop job adverts open to any applicant and then share those adverts with Jobcentres and with the Refugee Employment Network, a charity who work with over 200 Refugee Support Organisations across the UK, to ensure these opportunities are widely advertised.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that people subject to managed migration do not have their existing benefit stopped until they have established a universal credit claim.
Answered by David Rutley
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 8th February to question number 120621.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to make reasonable adjustments for people being required to apply for universal credit during managed migration, including for people who cannot access an online universal credit journal or people who need more frequent payments.
Answered by David Rutley
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 8th February to question number 120621.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she will take to ensure that people with mental health conditions do not lose their benefit entitlement during managed migration from legacy benefits to universal credit.
Answered by David Rutley
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 8th February to question number 120621.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made on the potential effect of not uprating benefits in line with inflation on levels of child poverty in Salford and Eccles constituency.
Answered by David Rutley
No such assessment has been made. The Government is up-rating benefits in line with inflation. The Secretary of State undertakes an annual review of benefits and pensions with reference to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). All benefit up-rating since April 1987 has been based on the increase in the relevant price inflation index in the 12 months to the previous September. The relevant benefits are increasing by 3.1% from April.
The latest statistics on the number and proportion of children who are in low income families by local area, covering the six years, 2014/15 to 2019/20, can be found in the annual publication: Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).
This Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families, and believes work is the best route out of poverty. Our approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment – particularly where it is full-time – in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty and in improving long-term outcomes for families and children.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what equality impact assessment has been made of the effect on benefit and pension claimants no longer being able to redeem cash from ATMs and cashpoints with the new Payment Exception Service cards following the closure of the previous Post Office cards.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Equality Assessment showed no impact relating to the protected characteristic groups for the new Payment Exception Service; Post Office card account customers were able to use Post Office branded ATM’s to cash their payments, however, this was not extended to ATM’s more generally.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
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 cost converting to the Payment Exception Service payment card scheme from the current Post Office card account system.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department is realising a reduction in costs by encouraging use of transactional bank building society, credit union or internet based accounts, for benefit claimants and pensioners that are able to provide such an account, and contracting for a single payment exception service, for benefit claimants and pensioners that do not.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what equality impact assessment has been made of the impact of benefit and pension Payment Exception Service users being required to collect payment claims by a 90 day expiration date.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Equality Assessment showed no impact relating to the protected characteristic groups for the new Payment Exception Service. A 90-day expiry date ensures the Department is alerted where a benefit claimant or pensioner has not cashed a voucher and may require additional support to access their payments. The Department can then put in place and re-issue payments where appropriate.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an estimate of the number of people claiming (a) benefits and (b) state pensions who do not have a bank account.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Under successive governments of different persuasions, the Department has never held information on the reason that benefit claimants or pensioners do not provide details of a transactional account.
In October 2021, there were less than 300k active Post Office accounts.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what equality impact assessment has been of benefit and pension claimants being required to provide proof of identity when cashing vouchers under the new Payment Exception Service.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Equality Assessment showed no impact relating to the protected characteristic groups for the new Payment Exception Service; all users are required to show proof of identity.
A wide range of documents are accepted as proof of identity including a recent benefit entitlement letter, which is available on request by everyone in receipt of a DWP payment for State Pension or benefit.