Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has plans to review the Child Maintenance Service's treatment of income from foreign assets held by paying parents.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
To calculate a child maintenance liability, the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) uses gross income information provided by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for the latest available full tax year. A variation application can be made by either parent to include income from certain assets including property that is subject to tax in the UK.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the capability of the Pensions Ombudsman in meeting service demand within the Office's existing levels of funding.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Department works closely with TPO and so recognises the pressures increasing demand for its services has brought. This is why, as part of the 2021 Spending Review, the Department has committed additional funding of over £3 million to TPO (2022/23 to 2024/25), to enable it to improve its operating model and better manage service demand. The requirement for further additional funding will be kept under review.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the increasing cost of living does not disproportionately impact disabled people receiving Universal Credit.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The Government’s Energy Price Guarantee, running from October 2022- March 2023, will save a typical British household around £900 this winter, based on what energy prices would have been under the current price cap – reducing bills by roughly a third. This is in addition to the over £37bn of cost of living support announced earlier this year, which includes the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households, provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
In 2023/24, the Government is protecting the most vulnerable in society, many of whom face the biggest challenge making their incomes stretch, by increasing benefits in line with inflation. This means that they will rise by September Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation – 10.1%. Uprating working age and disability benefits will cost £11bn next year. More than 10 million working age families will see their benefit payments rise from April 2023.
To ensure stability and certainty for households, the Government is providing £26bn in cost of living support for 2023/24. This includes Cost of Living Payments for the most vulnerable. In 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to a further £900 in Cost of Living Payments. Individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits will also receive a £150 payment. Also included is the amended Energy Price Guarantee which will save the average UK household £500 in 2023-24.
For those who require extra support, the Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year. This is on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England, this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time was for the Pensions Ombudsman to respond to enquiries in the latest period for which data is available; and if he will set a timetable for reducing those waiting times.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has seen an increase in demand for its services in recent years from people with complaints about their occupational or personal pension schemes. The organisation has continued to perform strongly against its key performance indicators, as set out in the 2021/22 Annual Report and Accounts.
In 2020/21 TPO resolved 99 per cent of its general enquiries within 28 days of being logged on TPO’s system, compared to a target of 90 per cent, and closed 74 per cent of total pension complaints within 12 months, against a target of 70 per cent.
Additional funding was provided to TPO as part of the 2021 Spending Review to recruit additional staff to clear adjudication cases. Data shows TPO productivity increased by 14% across the last two years and it is working to bring down waiting times further.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help minimise the financial impact of a failure to pay child maintenance on the receiving parent.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
It is a key principle that unpaid child maintenance should be paid immediately. Where a parent fails to pay on time or in full, the CMS will take action to re-establish compliance and collect any unpaid amounts that have accrued. Where compliance cannot be achieved the CMS actively pursues all outstanding child maintenance using a variety of enforcement options including deductions from earnings, deductions from benefits and identifying and securing cash balances and assets through its enforcement actions. If non-compliance persists, then sanctions including commitment to prison or the disqualification of a driving licence and removal of passport is considered.
Asked by: Sarah Green (Liberal Democrat - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of the powers of the Child Maintenance Service to help prevent financial coercion through the non-payment of child maintenance.
Answered by Julie Marson
The Child Maintenance Service seeks to constantly review and improve its processes and services including the approach it takes to supporting customers who are experiencing or have experienced domestic abuse, including financial coercion. Through mandatory domestic abuse awareness training, the service undertakes to train all its caseworkers to be aware of and if possible identify any instances of abuse and signpost these customers to specialist domestic abuse organisations and to a range of information and advice about staying safe. This is supported through additional guidance related to domestic abuse.
There are no specific powers related to financial coercion. However, where ‘receiving parents’ are not receiving the full maintenance they are entitled to, a case can be moved from the Direct Pay part of the scheme onto the Collect and Pay service, whereby we can then use our administrative and legal powers up to and including enforcement activity to secure payment.
It is important to note new powers under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 extends the offences of controlling coercive behaviour to post separation. We will be reviewing how we change and align our processes to the requirements of the Act.
It may also be useful to mention that CMG has recently been subject to an independent review of its approach to domestic abuse.