Post Office Card Account

Debate between Steve Webb and Jenny Willott

Tuesday 16th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

I am grateful to the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee. We have not added features to the Post Office card account because, for example, adding direct debit means that the credit check threshold suddenly gets much more serious. Instinctively, I am with the hon. Lady on this. My approach would have been that the POCA is a good thing, so why should we not add nice things to it? We have not upgraded it, however, because one of its attractions is that people who have poor credit histories or who would struggle with some of the identity checks can be enabled to access it. In developing universal credit, my right hon. Friend the Work and Pensions Secretary is working with local authorities and the banking industry to look at different sorts of accounts, including, as the hon. Lady suggests, budgeting accounts. The basic bank accounts that were improved yesterday will be part of a suite. We intend that there should be the right sort of accounts for the right people.

[Jenny Willott (Cardiff Central) (LD)]

I am delighted by today’s news that the Post Office will be able to serve customers using the new POCA well into the future. As the Minister said, that will enable the Government to achieve their commitment to protecting the post office network, unlike the previous Labour Government, who closed thousands of branches in every single constituency across the entire country. How many customers does he estimate will access the new accounts, which will bring trade into these post office branches, and how many are unable to access bank accounts at the moment?

[Steve Webb]

I am grateful for the work that my hon. Friend has done on this. As she will recall, we met to discuss how we could deliver this contract when she was postal services Minister. About 4,000 people in her Cardiff constituency currently have Post Office card accounts, and they will welcome this announcement. She is right that we have to work out how we can develop and expand this in future. We are trying to make sure that we have the right accounts for the right people. The number of pensioners with these accounts will gradually decline. For people of working age, we want, where possible, financial inclusion and transactional accounts. Many people with POCAs do have other bank accounts—for various reasons, they hold both—but we will make sure that the most vulnerable people have access to their money at the post office.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Webb and Jenny Willott

Monday 8th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Pensions (Steve Webb)]

As the hon. Gentleman appreciates, the letters are sent by HMRC on behalf of the Treasury, and he is welcome to address his concern to our colleagues there. However, we clearly appreciate that there is a distinction between social security benefits and pensions paid to public servants in retirement.

[Jenny Willott (Cardiff Central) (LD)]

T9. We have heard today about the use of food banks, and the right hon. Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms) mentioned a recent report from the Church of England, the Child Poverty Action Group, Oxfam and the Trussell Trust that highlighted the problems that arise when those who have been sanctioned lose all their benefits, including housing benefit. I understand that the Department for Work and Pensions is working on a fix to prevent housing benefit from being stopped when a claimant is sanctioned, but while that is being worked on, will the Minister consider sanctioning all but, say, 10p of jobseeker’s allowance or employment and support allowance now so that other benefits are not automatically cancelled and claimants do not need to use a food bank and end up in rent arrears while they are being sanctioned?

Benefits Uprating

Debate between Steve Webb and Jenny Willott

Tuesday 6th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

The right hon. Gentleman, for whom I have a great deal of respect, will be aware that the reward for working comes from a combination of factors, one of which is the tax burden on the low-paid, and that this Government have twice increased the personal tax allowance by about £1,500. That is worth more than £300 a year for a standard rate taxpayer and, for two members of a couple in low-paid work, is a £600 gain with more to come. That is a real reward for working which all too often they have not had in the past.

[Jenny Willott (Cardiff Central) (LD)]

I welcome the fact that the state pension and the state earnings-related pension scheme will rise by 5.2%, and that pension credit will do so above earnings, but different levels of uprating and a complex system can make it difficult for pensioners to understand exactly what they should expect. Will the Minister do all that he can to simplify the system and bring in a flat-rate pension as soon as possible, so that pensioners are able to see clearly and easily what pension they should expect?

[Steve Webb]

My hon. Friend is characteristically persuasive. It is absolutely clear that a system in which we pay a wholly inadequate basic pension—we pay a pension that, even after the uprating to £107 a week, is not enough to live on, so we will top it up—cannot be a sustainable basis for the future. We therefore continue to develop our proposals for state pension reform, precisely so that we get more money to people automatically, with less reliance on complicated means tests that mean too many people do not get what they should.

Benefits Uprating

Debate between Steve Webb and Jenny Willott

Wednesday 8th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Jenny Willott (Cardiff Central) (LD)]

As the Minister said, the move from RPI to CPI will lead to much more stable increases in the uprating of benefits and pensions, and the triple lock will ensure that pensioners do not fall behind the rest of society. Some concerns have been raised, however, because the CPI does not include any costs associated with housing. The Government have announced plans to consider including some housing costs in the CPI calculation, but when does the Minister expect that to be done, and what impact is it likely to have?

[Steve Webb]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who is right that CPI rises tend to be more stable compared with the surges and freezes that we had with the RPI. On the point about the inclusion of housing in the CPI, costs in the form of rents are in the CPI already, so that is covered for lower-income renters. The CPI advisory committee is undertaking a two-year programme to see how housing costs might be included, but it has already ruled out directly including mortgage interest payments specifically, which will help with the issue that we have raised. As and when the Office for National Statistics comes up with alternative measures, we will certainly look at them, but that is without prejudice at this stage, because the work is ongoing.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Steve Webb and Jenny Willott

Monday 22nd November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Jenny Willott (Cardiff Central) (LD)]

7. What discussions he has had with representatives of the social care sector on the cost of mobility support for disabled people.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

The Government remain committed to involving disabled people when developing their policies, and I can tell my hon. Friend that we discussed the care homes measure with a number of disability organisations at the Department for Work and Pensions policy and strategy forum on 16 November.

[Jenny Willott]

We have already heard a number of concerns raised today about these particular proposals. I understand the Government’s rationale, but what consideration has been given to ensuring that residents in care homes who currently receive mobility disability living allowance will still be able to buy Motability cars, and scooters where appropriate, so that they can remain as independent as possible?

[Steve Webb]

My hon. Friend has raised an important facet of these changes, and I can assure her that the Department is already in discussions with Motability about how it might be handled.