Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to reduce unemployment rates across the West Midlands.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Throughout the pandemic, the UK Government has provided over £400 billion to support the economy, including funding for our Plan for Jobs. The Kickstart Scheme has enabled young people to move into employment, with many of these securing permanent jobs. Alongside this, the Restart Scheme offers a fresh start to those who have been unemployed for over 9 months. The scheme breaks down employment barriers that could potentially prevent jobseekers from finding work. In addition, to support those who may need extra help, we are delivering the following employability programmes; Job Entry Targeted Support, Intensive Personalised Employment Support and Work & Health Programme.
Way to Work is a campaign to help half a million job ready claimants into work by the end of June 2022. We are building on the success of Kickstart to work closely with employers and aim to move claimants into work quicker; through recruitment days, job fairs and work trials. We will be stepping up our expectations of claimants and taking a robust approach to ensure agreements made through the Claimant Commitments are adhered to.
In addition, our jobcentre teams are helping employers find the right people for their vacancies, particularly through the Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP), Skills Bootcamps, Apprenticeships and Traineeships. For example, the local team are working with the West Midlands Mayoral Authority to help equip people with the skills needed to fill vacancies for the upcoming Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Across the West Midlands, Jobcentres work collaboratively with the National Career Service (NCS) and Further Education Colleges to provide careers information, advice, and guidance so that jobseekers can make informed decisions on learning, training, and work. Collaborating with partners such as the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), the seven West Midlands Local Authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships and local Chambers of Commerce, to progress our strategic aims to increase diversity in the workplace, promote Disability Confident to reduce the disability gap in the workplace and increase skills provision in those sectors that are experiencing labour shortages.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to increase the number of employment and training opportunities available to (a) young people and (b) disabled people.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Through Jobcentre Plus, DWP is helping young people to find the right support, education or training that will ultimately lead to sustained employment opportunities and career progression. The Plan for Jobs provides a comprehensive package of support for young people, including the Youth Offer and Kickstart.
The Kickstart scheme is dedicated to helping 16 to 24-year olds at risk of long-term unemployment develop their skills and experience through fully funded six-month jobs.
We are extending the DWP Youth Offer to 2025 and have expanded eligibility to include 16 and 17-year olds, in addition to 18 to 24-year olds, who are claiming Universal Credit and in the Intensive Work Search group. As part of this, Youth Hubs offer a range of dedicated local services, including mental health support, alongside skills, training, and employment provision. Youth Employability Coaches work closely alongside Disability Employment Advisors who specialise in helping claimants who have a disability or health condition to move into the labour market.
We have increased the number of work coaches providing individually tailored support which will help the newly unemployed, enable us to continue supporting those with complex needs, and to work with partners to ensure they get the help they need.
A range of DWP initiatives are supporting disabled people and people with health conditions to live independent lives and start, stay and succeed in employment.
The UK Government will provide £1.3bn over the Spending Review 2021 period to provide support for disabled people and people with health conditions. We will extend the Work and Health Programme, expand the Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme, and expand employment support in NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services across England.
Through the Disability Confident scheme, DWP is engaging with employers and helping to promote the skills, talents and abilities of people with disabilities and health conditions. Through the scheme, DWP is providing advice and support to help employers feel more confident about employing disabled people, by signposting them to appropriate advice guidance and support.
Core skills are fundamental in securing, retaining and progressing in work. This Government has invested in apprenticeships, traineeships, vocational and basic skills training, alongside careers advice and Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). This all forms part of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee. DWP actively seeks to provide claimants with upskilling opportunities, and our delivery approach is aligned to wider Government support for priority areas as part of the economic recovery – ensuring those looking for work, including young people and disabled people, are well positioned to gain employment in these sectors.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support (a) young carers and (b) carers who are retired and care for a spouse or close relative who is also retired.
Answered by Chloe Smith
DWP provides support for adult carers, including both younger and pensioner carers, through a range of social security benefits depending on their individual circumstances. Some benefits, including Universal Credit and Pension Credit, are designed to provide extra support for carers. Others living in the same household as the carer, including potentially the disabled person being cared for, may be receiving benefits in their own right, so would also be able to contribute to overall household finances.
The Government is committed to making sure young carers are not left behind and to do so in a way that supports their own health and wellbeing. Support for carers is not just restricted to that from Central Government though. Under the Children’s and Families Act 2014, young carers are entitled to a young carers assessment from their Local Authority.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
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 promote awareness of (a) winter fuel payments and (b) associated welfare provision.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Winter fuel payments are supporting over 11 million pensioners with their energy bills. We are also continuing to encourage those eligible for Pension Credit to make a claim. Pension Credit provides invaluable financial support for vulnerable pensioners. Around 1.4 million eligible pensioners across Great Britain receive some £5bn in Pension Credit, which tops up their retirement income and is a passport to other financial help such as support with housing costs, council tax, heating bills and a free TV licence for those over 75.
Cold Weather Payments are also available and help vulnerable people in receipt of certain income-related benefits to meet additional heating costs, during periods of unseasonably cold weather between 1 November and 31 March. This includes older people in receipt of Pension Credit.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is responsible for the warm home discount scheme and the majority of those in receipt of Pension Credit Guarantee Credit receive their rebate automatically without needing to claim.
Details of all three schemes can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment
https://www.gov.uk/cold-weather-payment
https://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme
The Social Security (Up-rating of Benefits) Act 2021 introduced a double lock and allowed the Government to increase pensions by the higher of inflation or 2.5%. From April 2022 state pensions will be increased by 3.1% and this represents an additional £4bn spend on pensioner benefits in 2022/23.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what long-term steps the Government is taking to help young people on universal credit who are not working into work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have announced our Plan for Jobs expansion which will see another £500 million invested in supporting people into jobs, with young people at the heart of this through Kickstart and our DWP Youth Offer.
The Kickstart scheme is dedicated to helping 16-24-year olds at risk of long-term unemployment develop their skills and experience through 6-month jobs. Around 112,000 Kickstart jobs have been started and the scheme will continue until March 2022, offering jobs and experience to many thousands more young people.
We are extending the DWP Youth Offer to 2025 and have expanded eligibility to include 16 and 17-year olds, in addition to 18 to 24-year olds, who are claiming Universal Credit and searching for work. The Youth Offer currently provides intensive work search support through the Youth Employment Programme, specialised Youth Employment Coaches for young people with additional barriers to work, and over 150 Youth Hubs across England, Scotland and Wales.
DWP is working in collaboration with the Department for Education, National Careers Service, devolved administrations, and other partners to deliver a comprehensive package of support for young people.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
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 support people in financial hardship with utility bill payments in winter 2021-22.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Department for Work and Pensions is providing three primary sources of support with the cost of energy bills this winter - Winter Fuel Payments, Cold Weather Payments, and the Household Support Fund – in addition to more general support, such as Universal Credit.
The aim of the Winter Fuel Payment, which is worth up to £300 per year, is to help older people with the cost of heating their homes in the winter. Over 11 million pensioners benefit from Winter Fuel Payments at an annual cost of £2bn.
The Cold Weather Payment scheme helps vulnerable people in receipt of certain income-related benefits to meet the additional costs of heating during periods of severe cold weather, between 1st November and 31st March. Cold Weather Payments are targeted at those in receipt of eligible benefits with a pension element, or disability component, or where there is a child under five in the household. Between 1 November 2020 and 31 March 2021 the Government made £98.8 million in payments to those in need.
The Warm Home Discount Scheme supports over 2 million low income and vulnerable customers each year with direct assistance with their energy costs. Energy suppliers provide rebates on energy bills currently worth £140 per household each winter. This year (2021/22), the scheme is projected to be worth £354 million.
We also recognise that some people may require extra support over the winter as we enter the final stages of recovery, which is why vulnerable households across the country will now be able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund will provide £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula will apply in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of people not in (a) employment, or (b) training across (i) the constituency of Wolverhampton South West, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) the UK.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Through our Plan for Jobs, we are targeting tailored support schemes of people of all ages to help them prepare for, get into and progress in work. These include: Kickstart, delivering tens of thousands of six-month work placements for Universal Credit claimants aged 16-24 at risk of unemployment; we have also recruited an additional 13,500 Work Coaches to provide more intensive support to find a job; and introduced Restart which provides 12 months’ intensive employment support to Universal Credit claimants who are unemployed for a year. Our Plan for Jobs interventions will support more than two million people.
DWP offers significant support to unemployed people across Great Britain to access employment opportunities through our network of Jobcentres. Our Work Coaches provide support on finding a job, help with retraining or skills advice, CV, job applications and access to new vacancies we record every day, in addition to signposting to the Find a Job service.
In Wolverhampton, the Youth Hub, based at ‘The Way’, opened on 5th October 2021. DWP Work coaches, in collaboration with City of Wolverhampton Council and a range of partners such as Black Country Impact and Princes Trust, provide bespoke support to customers to move closer to work or opportunities. Across The Black Country district, we regularly host and support Jobs fairs that aim to provide the greatest opportunity for our claimants to find work.
The DWP Support for Schools programme has a relationship with a number schools across the Wolverhampton borough. The team provides advice on routes into traineeships and apprenticeships, promoting the parity of vocational and academic pathways into work. They also provide advice on local labour market including employability and soft skills that employer’s value, for example team working and commitment.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
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 ensure that people over the age of 50 can access personalised (a) financial and (b) careers advice.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2019, the government launched an online Mid-life MOT to encourage individuals to optimise re-skilling prospects and improve health and longer-term financial resilience. The Mid-life MOT acts as a vital prompt to engage more people in planning more actively for later life – both for work and retirement. It provides individuals in their 40s, 50s and 60s with signposting to information and guidance on wealth, work and wellbeing, providing a holistic assessment to ensure that individuals can plan for the later life that they want. We continue to work with organisations, and with employers, on how they can offer the Mid-life MOT.
The government also ensures that all savers have access to free, impartial financial guidance as they approach retirement. Pension Wise, part of the Money and Pension Service (MaPS), is available from age 50 and helps consumers understand their options and make informed decisions when accessing their pension savings. MoneyHelper Pensions, also provided by MaPS, provides guidance on all areas of UK pensions to the public regardless of age.
DWP published its consultation on draft regulations implementing a stronger nudge to pensions guidance in July 2021. These regulations propose requiring occupational pension schemes to ensure that members who wish to access their pension have either received, or opted out of receiving, pensions guidance.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
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 mental health is included in the decision-making processes on provision of social security.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The impact of a claimant's mental health is taken fully into consideration when deciding on their entitlement to health and disability benefits. Decision makers receive mental health awareness training, have access to guidance and to the support of healthcare professionals when considering entitlement to benefit. The Green Paper on health and disability benefits, which was published on 20 July, explores how the welfare system can better meet the needs of disabled people, including those with mental health conditions, now and in the future, to build a system that enables people not only to receive the benefits to which they are entitled but to live independently, and move into work where possible.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - Wolverhampton South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of young people resident in the Wolverhampton South West constituency who are informal carers; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure that those young people receive adequate welfare support.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Government recognises and appreciates the vital contribution made by informal carers, including younger carers, who provide invaluable support for relatives, partners, friends and neighbours who are ill, frail or disabled.
Carers aged 16 and over can apply for Carer’s Allowance if they meet the qualifying conditions, such as providing 35 hours of care or more a week, and not being in full-time education. As of November 2020, there were 75 carers aged 16 to 25 in the Wolverhampton South West constituency that were receiving Carer’s Allowance. There will undoubtedly be other young carers in the constituency who are not receiving benefits, but the department does not hold any information on them.
As well as Carer’s Allowance, carers have access to the full range of social security benefits according to their circumstances.
The Government is also committed to making sure young carers are not left behind and to do so in a way that supports their own health and wellbeing. Under the Children’s and Families Act 2014, young carers are entitled to a young carers assessment. And, the Government’s focus on supporting carers during the pandemic has included: providing over £11 million to the “See, Hear, Respond” programme to support young carers; guidance tailored to carers; actions to help carers self-identify; and ongoing to work to help carers access the support they need.