Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
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 adequacy of Universal Credit assessments for people with (a) autism and (b) other non-visible disabilities.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) determines entitlement to the additional health-related amount of Universal Credit (UC), as well as Employment and Support Allowance. It assesses the impact of an individual’s health condition or disability, not the condition itself. The assessment criteria cover the full range of conditions: physical, mental, cognitive and/or behavioural.
We are committed to supporting people, including those who have autism and other non-visible disabilities, through the assessment process. Healthcare professionals conducting the WCA receive training on autism, as well as other non-visible disabilities.
In Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper, published on 15 March 2023, we announced that we will legislate to remove the WCA and introduce a new UC health element linked to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), so that in future there is only one health and disability assessment – the PIP assessment. This will mean that there will be no need to be found to have limited capability for work and limited capability for work-related activity to get additional income-related support for a disability or health condition. Removing the WCA will reduce the number of assessments people need to take to access their benefits and enable us to provide more personalised levels of support in a new system.
The degree of change in our proposals will require primary legislation which we will aim to take early in a new parliament, when parliamentary time allows. These reforms will then be rolled out to new claims only on a staged, geographical basis, from 2026/27. We expect the new claims roll out to be completed by 2029, when we will then move the existing caseload onto the new system.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department plans to take to support carers, in the context of the rising cost of living.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government recognises and values the vital contribution made by carers every day in providing significant care and continuity of support to family and friends, including pensioners and those with disabilities.
Depending on personal circumstances, carers may be eligible for means-tested benefits, including Universal Credit and Pension Credit. Means-tested benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the Carer Element and the additional amount for carers respectively.
Nearly 60% of carers on low incomes who are of working age and on Carer’s Allowance, also claim a means-tested benefit through which they may be entitled to receive a Cost of Living Payment. We would encourage anyone who is providing unpaid care, and who is not already in receipt of a means-tested benefit, to check on GOV.UK to confirm whether there are other benefits they may be entitled to. Advice can also be sought from organisations such as Carers UK and Citizen’s Advice. Means tested benefits can provide extra weekly income and trigger extra support with the cost of living.
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living this winter and is taking action to help. The Government's Energy Price Guarantee 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 £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme, paid over six months starting in October 2022.
For those who require additional support, the current Household Support Fund, running in England from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, is providing £421 million of funding. The devolved administrations have been allocated £79 million through the Barnett formula. 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.
In 2023/24, subject to parliamentary approval, we are uprating all 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 are also increasing 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 of around £300 each across the 2023/24 financial year. A separate £300 payment will be made to pensioner households on top of their Winter Fuel Payments and individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits will receive a £150 payment. Further to this, the Energy Price Guarantee will be extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024. Over this period the Energy Price Guarantee will bring a typical household bill to around £3,000 per year in Great Britain.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will make an assessment of potential trends in levels of poverty among women born in the 1950s in the context of the increases in the cost of living.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Changes to State Pension age were made over a series of Acts by successive governments from 1995 onwards, following public consultations and extensive debates in both Houses of Parliament. The current state pension age is 66 for men and women. Since 1994/95, rates of female pensioners in poverty have fallen by a larger amount than for male pensioners over the same period. Reforms to the State Pension have put measures in place to improve State Pension outcomes for most women. Over three million women stand to receive an average of £550 more per year by 2030 because of the recent reforms. Pension Credit provides a safety net for those pensioners who have been unable, for whatever reason, to make provision for their retirement.
All benefit rates and State Pensions will increase in line with the Consumer Prices Index for the year to September 2022. This will mean that, subject to parliamentary approval, they will increase by 10.1% in April. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions the benefit cap will also be increased by 10.1% subject to parliamentary approval.
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 of around £300 each across the 2023/24 financial year. A separate £300 payment will be made to over eight million pensioner households on top of their Winter Fuel Payments and individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits will receive a £150 payment. Further to this, the amended Energy Price Guarantee will save the average UK household £500 in 2023/24.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he or a Minister in his Department next plans to meet with a representative from the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
We have no current plans to meet with WASPI representatives whilst the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s investigation is ongoing. Section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 states that Ombudsman investigations “shall be conducted in private”.
The Department is cooperating with the Ombudsman in their investigation.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of public sector employees are in receipt of Universal Credit.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not hold this information. UC customers are not obliged to inform the Department what sector they are employed in. In addition DWP employees claiming Universal Credit have no obligation to inform DWP they are receiving benefits.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made a recent estimate of the potential impact of increasing public sector pay on the cost to the public purse of Universal Credit payments.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No such estimate has been produced.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
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 potential merits of uprating benefits in line with inflation.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State is conducting his statutory annual review of State Pension and benefit rates. The outcome of the review will be announced shortly.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
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 effect of the under-occupancy penalty on those receiving housing benefit payments in the context of the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
For 2021/22, a total of £434m worth of deductions were made for the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) in Great Britain. This includes households on Universal Credit and Housing Benefit. No wider assessment has been made.
The RSRS policy allows for the provision of an additional bedroom in certain circumstances such as disabled people and carers, foster carers, and parents of service personnel. Additionally, those in receipt of pension age housing benefit are exempt.
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP’s) are available for those who need additional support with housing costs. Since 2011 we have provided almost £1.5billion in DHP’s to local authorities.
The Government announced over £37bn of cost of living support earlier this year which includes an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £421m, running from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. This is in addition to the energy bill support announced in September.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department has spent on Pension Credit awareness campaigns in each since 1 January 2019.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
A targeted, time-limited pilot campaign to promote Pension Credit in early 2020 included advertising in GP surgeries, Post Offices and social media at a cost of £65,000. Activity was curtailed by the early impact of the pandemic.
In 2021, the Department ran proactive press and social media activity at no cost, focused around the Pension Credit ‘day of action’ on 15 June.
The current Pension Credit take up campaign, aimed at pensioners and their family members, was launched in April 2022. The total budget committed to the paid campaign so far this year, including paid press advertising, is £1.2m, and the campaign is continuously monitored and optimised to deliver the best value for the money spent.
Our internal management information suggests that during the week of this year’s Pension Credit ‘day of action’ in June there was a 275% increase in claims compared to the same week in 2021.
This activity is in addition to the Pension Credit material included in the annual uprating mailing, which is sent to over 11m pensioners in Great Britain.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times was the online pension credit toolkit was accessed in each year since 1 January 2019.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Pension Credit toolkit is an on-line tool aimed at agencies and welfare rights organisations to help them encourage Pension Credit take-up.
The toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. The toolkit also provides links to information about disability and carers benefits.
The specific information requested around the number of times the toolkit was accessed is not available.
Since December 2019, citizens have the ability to opt-in to use performance cookies on GOV.UK and therefore DWP only sees data from the sample of those who accept these cookies. This means that we cannot use the data available to accurately reflect the total number of visits to the Pension’s toolkit. The data collected is primarily used for identifying trends in how citizens use and move within DWP content on the Gov.uk site.