Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of the difference between the rates of the (a) basic state pension and (b) new state pension on pensioners; and whether the Department has considered the potential merits of equalising these rates.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has made a commitment to the Triple Lock for the entirety of this Parliament which will mean spending on people’s State Pensions is forecast to rise by over £31 billion.
It is not possible to make direct, like for like comparisons between State Pension amounts under the new State Pension and the pre 2016 State Pension systems. While the headline full basic State Pension is £169.50 per week (2024/25 rates), people under the pre 2016 system may also receive Additional State Pension. If instead they had been contracted-out of the Additional State Pension, they will also have a workplace or private pension
It is also the case that not everyone under the new State Pension system will receive the full headline amount of £221.20 per week. Although the systems are different, they both reflect the National Insurance contributions an individual has made. This is reflected in the average amounts that people receive.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will commission an independent investigation into the mortality rates of paying parents using the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are currently no plans to commission an independent investigation into the mortality rates of paying parents using the Child Maintenance Service.
The Child Maintenance Service is committed to delivering a safe service that is sensitive to the needs of all parents who use it. We recognise that some parents may face difficult circumstances, particularly during separation.
The Child Maintenance Service is well-prepared to respond quickly and effectively if it becomes aware that any customer's safety is at risk. All caseworkers receive extensive training and follow a well-managed process with clear steps to support vulnerable clients, including those at risk of suicide, self-harm, or domestic abuse. Our priority is to handle these cases sensitively and ensure vulnerable customers get the help and support they need to use the service safely. This may include signposting to support organizations or reporting to the police if necessary.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 28 of Schedule 7 of the Pensions Act 2004, if she will make an estimate of the number of pensioners who have accrued pensionable service before 6 April 1997 for which they do not receive annual increases in periodic compensation from the Pension Protection Fund in (a) Boston and Skegness constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The rules around PPF indexation are generally in line with the legal requirements for defined benefit pension schemes. I recognise this matter has been the subject of much discussion and am aware of the concerns of pensions scheme members affected by this issue. The estimate, as of 31 March 2024, for members of the Pension Protection Fund with accrued pensionable service prior to 6 April 1997, who do not receive annual increases in periodic compensation are:
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in her Department are responsible for (a) processing and (b) responding to Freedom of Information Act requests; and if she will make an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of this work.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not keep this information centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs. This is because, whilst all Freedom of Information (FOI) requests are cleared by a central team, depending on the nature of the request, any member of the Department’s staff could potentially be involved in: processing; locating information for; or drafting, a response to a FOI request.
DWP Departmental spend is published here: DWP: departmental spending over £25,000 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what private sector companies the Child Maintenance Service has contracted to implement enforcement proceedings; what the value of each contract is; whether funds paid by parents are paid to such companies; and what accountability mechanisms are in place.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP holds a number of contracts to support Child Maintenance Service enforcement proceedings.
The suppliers collect funds on behalf of the Child Maintenance Service with the exception of contract for Scottish Legal Services which is in place to enable CMS to recover debt under Scottish Law. All contracts are based on government contracting and industry good practice to support the delivery of services for DWP. This includes meeting standards and regularly reviewed performance alongside compliance against relevant legislation.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many separated families applied to the Child Maintenance Service for advice on creating a family-based arrangement from 2021 to 2024; and how many parents who approached the Service did not proceed with a (a) Direct Pay and (b)Collect and Pay agreement in each of those years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not available. However, the Get Help Arranging Child Maintenance (GHACM) service opened on 18 November 2021 and provides individuals with information about options available for paying or getting support for a child, this includes how to make a private arrangement or how to apply to the Child Maintenance Service, if they choose to do so. There were 34,796 users who accessed GHACM and elected to pursue a private family-based arrangement. This accounted for 11% of GHACM users between 18 November 2021 and 31 December 2024.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the costs to the Child Maintenance Service are of the (a) supervision and (b) processing of (i) Direct Pay and (ii) Collect and Pay arrangements.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The cost of running the Child Maintenance Service is not separated between a) supervision and (b) processing of (i) Direct Pay and (ii) Collect and Pay arrangements, therefore, the information requested is not held.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many former armed forces personnel have been subject to enforcement proceedings by the Child Maintenance Service since 2021.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not available, as the Child Maintenance Service do not maintain a historical record of employers for each paying parent.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many paying parents party to a child maintenance agreement are assessed to have an income of less than £12,570 per year; how many paying parents are in receipt of universal credit; and how many paying parents are estimated to be earning less than the receiving parent.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
At the end of September 2024, there were 289,000 Paying Parents using the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) with a recorded income of less than £12,570 per year. This is 43% of all Paying Parents for whom we held income information.
Information on the number of Paying Parents claiming Universal Credit is published quarterly on StatXplore, as part of the ‘CMS Paying Parents’ dataset. Information on Universal Credit claims is generally not available for the latest published quarter, therefore the most recent information available relates to the end of June 2024 (rather than September 2024, as for most other information in this dataset). At this time, 199,000 Paying Parents claimed Universal Credit. This is 29% of all 675,000 Paying Parents who were using CMS at this time.
The income of the Receiving Parent does not factor into the CMS maintenance calculation, and so this information is not collected by CMS. Therefore, the information requested in the third part of your question is not readily available (and to produce it would incur disproportionate cost). However, you may be interested in the latest Separated Families Statistics, which contain some information, derived from survey data, of the position of ‘non-resident parent’ and ‘parent with care’ households within the Great Britain income distribution. See in particular section 6 of the release document. These statistics include all separated families and are not specific to CMS users.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of migrants who entered in the UK in the last 5 years are in receipt of state benefits.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold the information to produce the requested calculation. We are, however, exploring the feasibility of developing suitable statistics related to the immigration status of non-UK / Irish customers. The Department will ensure that this work is done in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.