Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
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 with Parkinson's who receive the health element of Universal Credit do not have to prove that they continue to live with a degenerative condition after six months in order to keep the health element of Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) determines entitlement to the extra health-related amount of Universal Credit. It is not based on a person’s condition, but on how it affects their ability to function. It recognises that conditions can vary in their severity and therefore people with the same condition can have different WCA outcomes.
WCA reassessments are prioritised for customers on the health element of UC who report a change in their health condition. Routine department-led reassessments are scheduled according to expected prognosis length for recovery and subject to available assessment capacity.
The healthcare professional who performs the WCA, will advise a DWP decision maker on when an individual should be re-assessed. This advice is based on when the individual’s condition is expected to have improved to the point were looking for work or preparing for work may become a realistic option. For those with Limited Capability for Work, re-referral dates can be 6, 12, 18 or 24 months. For individuals with more serious or complex conditions, who have Limited Capability for Work and Work-related activity (LCWRA), a 3-year re-referral date can be chosen.
Individuals, who have LCWRA, with the most severe and lifelong health conditions or disabilities, whose level of function means that they will always have LCWRA and are unlikely ever to be able to move into work, are not routinely reassessed.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to make changes to the Work Capability Assessment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Work Capability Assessment is not working and needs to be reformed or replaced. This needs to come alongside a proper plan to support disabled people to work, which will, in turn, bring down the benefits bill.
We are taking the time to review this in the round before setting out next steps on our approach in the coming months.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help ensure the accessibility of her Department's digital services for elderly claimants.
Answered by Paul Maynard
Digital accessibility is no different for elderly people than for any other disabled people. We aim to comply with the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (2018), which means that services must conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to AA level. All services are tested to ensure that they work with assistive software, particularly with screen readers, screen magnifiers and voice recognition software.
ONS data shows that disability prevalence increases significantly as people get older. In the UK 2021 census, approximately 23% of working age adults identified as disabled. This rose to just over 40% of 65 to 70 year olds and almost 60% of people over the age of 80.
The types of disability that affect older people’s ability to use digital services include
Meeting the legislation for digital accessibility mitigates all of these issues to the extent that it is possible. Our citizen-facing services that are aimed at elderly claimants, such as Pension Credit, Get Your State Pension, Pension Tracing Service, bereavement related services and Carer’s Allowance are all compliant.
All citizen facing services in Retirement, and Bereavement and Care are 100% compliant and work with all the main assistive software types.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the disability cost of living payment on levels of poverty among disabled people.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
To date, 6,400,000 Disability Cost of Living Payments have been processed by DWP.
As of 26 June 2023, over 99% of DWP claimants already eligible for the Disability Cost of Living Payment have had their payments processed.
Management Information on the Cost of Living Payments is available here: Cost of Living Payment 2023 to 2024 management information - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
An evaluation of the Cost of Living Payments is underway. This will seek to understand their effectiveness as a means of support for low-income and vulnerable households, including those with a disability.
This Government is committed to reducing poverty, including poverty among disabled people, and supporting low-income families, and has overseen significant falls in absolute poverty since 2009/10.
The proportion of people in families where someone is disabled who are in absolute poverty after housing costs has decreased by 1 percentage point since 2019/20, and by 3 percentage points since 2009/10. The number of people in such families has increased slightly due to an increase in the number of people in families where someone is disabled.
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and is taking action to help. The total support over 2022-2025 to help households with the high cost of living is £104 billion.
This includes up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments for households on eligible means-tested benefits. The most recent payment of £300 was made between 31 October 2023 and 19 November 2023 for most people who are eligible, which follows on from the £301 payment issued in April 2023 to 8.3 million households. A further payment of £299 will be made by spring 2024 for those entitled. In addition, more than eight million pensioner households across the UK will receive an additional £300 Cost of Living Payment during winter 2023-24 paid as a top up to the Winter Fuel Payment and 6.4 million individuals on eligible ‘extra-costs’ disability benefits have also received a further £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment.
Since October 2021, the Government have provided total funding of over £2 billion via the Household Support Fund to local authorities in England to enable them to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the cost of essentials. The current scheme worth £842m runs until March 2024 and the devolved administrations receive consequential funding as usual to spend at their discretion. Local authorities are expected to support households in the most need, and in particular those who may not be eligible for the other support the Government recently made available, but are nevertheless in need of support. In the scheme guidance, local authorities have been strongly encouraged to explore ways in which they might use the funding to support disabled people in their area.
On 1 April 2024, the Government will increase the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 years and over by 9.8% to £11.44, representing an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW.
Subject to parliamentary approval, working-age benefits will rise by 6.7% from April 2024, in line with inflation, including Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance. The Basic and New State Pensions will be uprated by 8.5% in line with earnings, as part of the ‘triple lock”.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of people who lost job opportunities in the time between an Access to Work assessment and its implementation in the last 12 months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
This data is not routinely collected.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to assess which workplace interventions are suitable to help ensure that people with arthritis are able to remain in work.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Government has a range of initiatives to provide expert and tailored support for disabled people and people with health conditions, including people with arthritis, to start, stay and succeed in work. These focus on providing suitable interventions for each individual and helping employers to support their employees’ needs:
Work in partnership between the DWP and the health system, including the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) programme, a Supported Employment model (place, train and maintain) delivered in health settings, aimed at people with physical or common mental health conditions to support them to access paid jobs in the open labour market.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) recruit and (b) train more Access to Work advisors.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
There have been several recruitment and redeployment activities this year to increase the AtW Advisor staffing numbers. All of these staff will have comprehensive training when they join AtW to enable them to carry out their role.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to support employers to encourage good musculoskeletal health in the workplace, in the context of levels of musculoskeletal-related economic inactivity in the workforce.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Government is taking several steps to help support employers to encourage good musculoskeletal (MSK) health in the workplace and reduce MSK-related economic inactivity.
In October 2022, we published the Musculoskeletal (MSK) Health Toolkit for employers and further education institutions which encourages employers to support adolescents and young adults with MSK conditions. The Musculoskeletal health toolkit for employers was developed in partnership with Business in the Community and provides practical information for employers of all sizes to address MSK conditions in the workplace for the working age population.
On the 24 January 2023, the Government announced plans to publish the Major Conditions Strategy (MCS). The Strategy will focus on six major groups of conditions including musculoskeletal disorders such as arthritis. It will explore how we can tackle the key drivers of ill-health in England, reduce pressure on the NHS and reduce ill-health related labour market inactivity. MSK is one of six key focuses of the MCS, which will be published early next year.
In the Spring Budget of 15 March 2023, the Government also set out a package of measures to tackle the leading health-related causes keeping people out of work, including people with MSK conditions:
The Government also has a range of initiatives to provide expert and tailored support for disabled people and people with health conditions, including people with MSK conditions, to start, stay and succeed in work. These include:
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps his Department has taken to support disabled people with the cost of living.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Government understands the pressures people, including disabled people, are facing with the cost of living. Disabled people may be entitled to an extra costs benefit such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which is a contribution towards the extra costs associated with being disabled. PIP is paid tax free and can be worth up to £8,983 a year. Recipients are free to choose how they spend their PIP and there is no requirement for them to use it for any particular purpose. Entitlement to PIP depends on the effects that a disability or health condition has on a disabled person’s life and not on a particular disability or diagnosis.
PIP can passport to a range of additional support including:
PIP also exempts the eligible household from the Benefit Cap.
In April, we uprated benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions, the benefit cap levels also increased by the same amount.
In addition, for 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments. This will be split into three payments across the 2023/24 financial year, with the first payment of £300 having already been made. A separate £150 payment was made to individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits, including PIP, from 20 June. In addition, more than eight million pensioner households across the UK will receive a £300 Cost of Living Payment during winter 2023-24.
The Household Support Fund will continue until March 2024. This year long extension allows local authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the significantly rising cost of living. The devolved administrations will receive consequential funding as usual to spend at their discretion.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to include a commitment to create a requirement for all businesses to admit guide dogs in the Disability Action Plan.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Guide dog access is protected as a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010. All businesses should be mindful of their duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people are able to access goods and services.
The Disability Action Plan consultation has specific questions on guide dog access refusals. People who are reliant on guide dogs to access goods and services are encouraged to make their views known via the fully accessible consultation which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/disability-action-plan-2023-to-2024.