Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether payments under the Windrush Compensation Scheme count towards the savings limit of universal credit and other means-tested benefits.
Answered by Will Quince
Any payment of capital from the Windrush Compensation Scheme or the Windrush Exceptional Payments Scheme will be disregarded indefinitely for the calculation of capital in Universal Credit and other means-tested benefits.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether savings for the tax liability of self-employed people held in personal bank accounts count towards the capital limit for universal credit.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where a claimant has capital over £16,000 we will contact them to understand their circumstances and determine eligibility. If this money is to be used for business or tax purposes, it will not be counted towards their capital, but they may be asked to prove that the money is for these purposes.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-UK EEA citizens successfully appealed a failure of the habitual residency test between November 2017 and November 2018.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Eligibility for Universal Credit depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK. In line with EU law, EEA nationals must be exercising a legal right to reside, such as worker or self-employed status, and be habitually resident in the UK to be eligible for income-related benefits. EEA nationals may now apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to protect their entitlement to access UK benefits and public services.
The Department is committed to monitoring its policies, regularly reviewing and analysing the relevant data. Information on HRT appeals is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she made of the effectiveness of the habitual residency test for EEA nationals applying for universal credit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Eligibility for Universal Credit depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK. In line with EU law, EEA nationals must be exercising a legal right to reside, such as worker or self-employed status, and be habitually resident in the UK to be eligible for income-related benefits. EEA nationals may now apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to protect their entitlement to access UK benefits and public services.
The Department is committed to monitoring its policies, regularly reviewing and analysing the relevant data. Information on HRT appeals is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 effectiveness of the habitual residency test in accurately assessing the eligibility of EEA nationals to receive universal credit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Eligibility for Universal Credit depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK. In line with EU law, EEA nationals must be exercising a legal right to reside, such as worker or self-employed status, and be habitually resident in the UK to be eligible for income-related benefits. EEA nationals may now apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to protect their entitlement to access UK benefits and public services.
The Department is committed to monitoring its policies, regularly reviewing and analysing the relevant data. Information on HRT appeals is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 reasons for EEA nationals failing the habitual residency test when applying for universal credit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Eligibility for Universal Credit depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK. In line with EU law, EEA nationals must be exercising a legal right to reside, such as worker or self-employed status, and be habitually resident in the UK to be eligible for income-related benefits. EEA nationals may now apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to protect their entitlement to access UK benefits and public services.
The Department is committed to monitoring its policies, regularly reviewing and analysing the relevant data. Information on HRT appeals is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to review the use of the habitual residency test for EEA nationals applying for universal credit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Eligibility for Universal Credit depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK. In line with EU law, EEA nationals must be exercising a legal right to reside, such as worker or self-employed status, and be habitually resident in the UK to be eligible for income-related benefits. EEA nationals may now apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to protect their entitlement to access UK benefits and public services.
The Department is committed to monitoring its policies, regularly reviewing and analysing the relevant data. Information on HRT appeals is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to publish the accounts of the Credit Union Expansion Project.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DWP engaged a contractor to deliver the Credit Union Expansion Project (CUEP). It is the responsibility of the contractor to include any disclosure relating to the project within their accounts.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what effect the Credit Union Expansion Project had on access to finance for people who are financially excluded.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The contractor for the Credit Union Expansion Project (CUEP) facilitated access to a standardised banking service. This banking platform allows credit union members to receive a range of banking services and benefit from more affordable credit. The platform is currently used by three credit unions with a total of approximately 16.5k members and allows these members to benefit from 24 hour online access to their accounts, and receive faster payments on a loan on the same day, usually within 4 hours.
CUEP led to a number of credit unions to merge, and others to work together to develop standardised products and deliver local marketing campaigns to increase membership. CUEP also contributed to credit unions on the platform to increase the amount and value of loans made.
CUEP ended on 16 February 2018 and it is too early to say what effect it had on the credit union sector. It should be noted that the credit union sector has grown over the lifetime of CUEP. As of January 2018, credit unions in Great Britain serve over 1.1 million adult members and have total assets of £1.5 billion and £815m in loans.
The project will undertake an evaluation as part of the project closure.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
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 outcome of the Credit Union Expansion Project.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The contractor for the Credit Union Expansion Project (CUEP) facilitated access to a standardised banking service. This banking platform allows credit union members to receive a range of banking services and benefit from more affordable credit. The platform is currently used by three credit unions with a total of approximately 16.5k members and allows these members to benefit from 24 hour online access to their accounts, and receive faster payments on a loan on the same day, usually within 4 hours.
CUEP led to a number of credit unions to merge, and others to work together to develop standardised products and deliver local marketing campaigns to increase membership. CUEP also contributed to credit unions on the platform to increase the amount and value of loans made.
CUEP ended on 16 February 2018 and it is too early to say what effect it had on the credit union sector. It should be noted that the credit union sector has grown over the lifetime of CUEP. As of January 2018, credit unions in Great Britain serve over 1.1 million adult members and have total assets of £1.5 billion and £815m in loans.
The project will undertake an evaluation as part of the project closure.