Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
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 merits of extending contribution-based Job Seeker's Allowance from six months to (a) nine months and (b) twelve months as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Entitlement to contribution-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) is limited to a maximum of 182 days in any one jobseeking period. This is an absolute limit, provided for in primary legislation (section 5 of the Jobseekers Act 1995) and there are no plans to amend the primary legislation.
Universal credit, for those people who meet or continue to meet the conditions of entitlement, is available throughout any period of entitlement to contribution-based JSA.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in Canterbury constituency have (a) opted out after being auto-enrolled and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution in a workplace pension.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving, and reversing the decline in workplace pension participation in the decade prior to these reforms. Since automatic enrolment started in 2012 participation rates have been transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into a workplace pension in 2018, up from 55% in 2012.
The Department does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. However, we do know that overall around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates.
I am providing the following information about the impact of automatic enrolment in your constituency, as of August 2019:
In the Canterbury constituency, since 2012, approximately 11,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1,830 employers have met their duties.
Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish a Pensions Bill before the summer recess.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government is committed to legislation to facilitate collective defined contribution schemes. The Government has recently published responses to a series of consultations, and have engaged extensively with key stakeholders and the Pensions Regulator.
In these we have committed to strengthen the Pensions Regulator’s powers to both enforce pensions legislation and to punish those who have acted recklessly or failed to comply with their obligations. We have committed to facilitate industry to make pensions dashboards a reality. We are also compelling pension schemes to make consumers data available to them and to facilitate collective defined contribution schemes.
The Government will bring forward legislation to introduce these measures as soon as parliamentary time permits.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she bring forward legislative proposals before the summer recess to introduce collective defined contribution pension schemes.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government is committed to legislation to facilitate collective defined contribution schemes. The Government has recently published responses to a series of consultations, and have engaged extensively with key stakeholders and the Pensions Regulator.
In these we have committed to strengthen the Pensions Regulator’s powers to both enforce pensions legislation and to punish those who have acted recklessly or failed to comply with their obligations. We have committed to facilitate industry to make pensions dashboards a reality. We are also compelling pension schemes to make consumers data available to them and to facilitate collective defined contribution schemes.
The Government will bring forward legislation to introduce these measures as soon as parliamentary time permits.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2019 to Question 256341, what the timescale is for bringing forward legislation to facilitate Collective Defined Contribution schemes.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government is committed to legislation to facilitate collective defined contribution schemes. The Government has recently published responses to a series of consultations, and have engaged extensively with key stakeholders and the Pensions Regulator.
In these we have committed to strengthen the Pensions Regulator’s powers to both enforce pensions legislation and to punish those who have acted recklessly or failed to comply with their obligations. We have committed to facilitate industry to make pensions dashboards a reality. We are also compelling pension schemes to make consumers data available to them and to facilitate collective defined contribution schemes.
The Government will bring forward legislation to introduce these measures as soon as parliamentary time permits.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to extend the Tell Us Once service to the 10 local authorities where it is not currently available.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Department is working closely with the 10 councils who do not offer the ‘Tell Us Once’ service to support and encourage its introduction. We continue to promote the advantages the service offers to people when notifying deaths, eliminating the need to contact several different government departments at what can be a very distressing time.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with Capita on ensuring timely payment to GPs for their completion of DS1500 forms that are required to process end-of-life benefits.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The DS1500 forms are completed by GP’s making an assessment of patients nearing end of life through a terminal medical condition. These forms are then sent to and authorised by DWP before being issued to Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) who process payment on behalf of DWP.
In January 2019, SSCL reported that all properly completed and authorised payment requests were processed within their target of 5 days.
Asked by: Rosie Duffield (Labour - Canterbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
What steps her Department is taking to ensure that personal independence payment assessments are undertaken fairly and efficiently.
Answered by Sarah Newton
We are committed to ensuring claimants receive high quality, objective assessments. The Department holds regular performance meetings with Assessment Providers at local and senior levels. Assessments are independently audited and Departmental clinicians periodically observe assessments. Both providers have increased personalised clinical support to all Health Professionals. PIP Assessment Providers cost less than 4% of the total annual benefit spend on PIP.