Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions staff in his Department have suggested that UK residents could make use of foodbanks in response to issues they are having in accessing benefits.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Jobcentre Plus staff can, and do, signpost people in need to foodbanks, and other sources of help, while ensuring all sources of state support are explored. The number of claimants that have been signposted to foodbanks by the department is not captured.
Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations and the Department for Work and Pensions does not have any role in their operation.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of training provided to assessors who consider Personal Independence Payments and the Work Capability Assessments for disabled claimants.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
All assessment providers are required to ensure that all health professionals (HP) carrying out assessments have sufficient training and knowledge of the clinical aspects and likely overall functional effects of a wide range of health conditions and impairments.
To ensure a high standard is maintained the department has an Independent Audit function that continually monitors performance and provides feedback to providers. Audit refers to a comprehensive check of the elements of the assessment, including the evidence collection, further evidence provided, and the assessment report completed by the HP. The check is completed against a set of guidelines to ensure a consistent approach is taken. This ensures that assessment reports are fit for purpose, clinically justified and sound, and provide sufficient information for the department to make an informed decision on entitlement to benefit.
Providers work with the department to continuously improve assessment quality through a range of measures including audit procedures. We also measure the adequacy of HP training through customer satisfaction surveys undertaken by independent third parties. All providers have consistently exceeded their customer satisfaction targets of 90% for Personal Independence Payment and 92% for the Work Capability Assessment.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment has he made of the adequacy of housing benefits in light of increasing rental costs.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) determines the maximum financial support available for renters in the private rented sector who are in receipt of housing benefit or the housing element of universal credit. LHA rates are not intended to meet all rents in all areas.
For Great Britain in May 2022, 55% of the households on LHA had rents higher than the LHA rates. For these households the average gap was £146 per month.
In 2020 LHA rates were raised to the 30th percentile, a significant investment of almost £1 billion, we have maintained the increase since then so that everyone who benefited from the increase continues to do so.
We recognise that rents are increasing but the challenging fiscal environment means that difficult decisions were necessary to ensure support is targeted effectively. The Chancellor announced at Autumn Statement a package of targeted support worth £26 billion.
To protect the most vulnerable, working age and disability benefits will be increased in line with inflation for 2023-24, increasing expenditure by £11 billion in 23/24. In addition, to ensure that households will see an increase in their benefits following uprating – the benefit cap will also be increased in line with CPI (10.1%) in April 2023.
For those who require extra support, the government is extending the Household Support Fund providing an additional £1bn to help with the cost of household essentials, for the 2023-24 financial year, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding for this support to £2.5 billion.
For those who require additional support with housing costs, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available. Since 2011 we have provided nearly £1.5 billion in funding for DHPs.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Personal Independence Payment claims were (a) taken to tribunal and (b) overturned in (i) Slough and (ii) the Southeast of England in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Information on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeal lodgements and overturn rates are available within the PIP Official Statistics quarterly release. The latest release is available here:
Personal Independence Payment statistics April 2013 to July 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
In the accompanying tables, Table 5F(i) shows the number of appeals and overturn rate broken down by parliamentary constituency. Additionally, Table 5F(iii) shows the number of appeals and overturn rate broken down by region.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the staff turnover rate in her Department was in the last 12 months; and what recent assessment she has made the potential impact of staff turnover rates on her Department's ability to deliver its services.
Answered by Julie Marson
Turnover is defined as the rate at which employees leave the department for reasons outside of DWP’s control (i.e. resignations, retirements, transfers, dismissals) and excludes managed exits (all types) and fixed term appointment (FTA) staff who leave at contract end. The DWP turnover rate for the last twelve months (July 2021 to June 2022) is 12.1% for all staff.
The turnover rate has been impacted by numbers of fixed-term and temporary colleagues in the underlying workforce as we have found turnover rates for these colleagues are significantly higher than permanent staff. However, that impact is expected to reduce due to activity to stabilise our workforce.
We have agreed, and continually review, comprehensive workforce plans across the business for the year that take into account a number of factors impacting headcount, including turnover. These plans ensure that future recruitment will maintain our headcount at the required level to meet our Strategic Objectives and continue to deliver our services to a high standard.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps her Department has taken to ensure claims for Pension Credit are processed in a timely manner.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The success of the recent Pension Credit campaign together with the Cost of Living Crisis is driving the volume of Pension Credit claims being submitted to an all time high.
Additional resources are being deployed to ensure we deal with the increase as quickly as possible. We are also working closely with stakeholders and service providers to identify potential process enhancements that will drive efficiency and reduce processing times.
Successful claims and arrears are backdated and paid accordingly, to ensure those who are entitled do not miss out.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average processing time was for new Pension Credit claims made between 1 March 2022 and 1 September 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Average Actual Clearance Time for Pension Credit New Claims between March 2022 and July 2022 is 39.73 days. August data is not yet available.
Source: Customer Account Management System
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has any plans to increase the take up of Pension Credit in light of the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We have already undertaken a range of actions this year to raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up including a comprehensive multi-channel paid advertising campaign, launched on 3 April. This has included newspaper, social media and website advertising, as well as radio promotion, messaging on public transport and messages on screens in hundreds of medical centres across Great Britain.
We have provided charities and other stakeholders working across local communities with updated information and resources, to help them to promote Pension Credit.
The Pension Credit campaign is aligned to the broader Cost of Living branding to ensure people understand its association with the Government’s Cost of Living support package. In addition to this, Pension Credit is highlighted on the Help for Households website to maximise visibility and drive additional visitors and help encourage claims.
Our campaign has also focussed on encouraging the private sector to help drive up claims, and to reach those who may have been reticent about claiming Pension Credit. On 15 June DWP held a second Pension Credit Day of Action with broadcasters, regional and national newspapers and other partners encouraging them to reach out to pensioners and their family and friends, through their channels. Our internal management information suggests it has been highly effective – with over 10,000 Pension Credit claims made across Great Britain that week – an increase of 275% compared to the same week the year before, which included the 2021 Pension Credit day of Action.
It is more important than ever before to ensure that eligible pensioners claim Pension Credit, because a successful claim qualifies them for the Cost of Living payments. Our messaging highlighted that Pension Credit claims can be backdated 3 months so claims made by 18 August and successfully backdated would also be eligible for the first Cost of Living payment. Ongoing awards will also qualify for the second Cost of Living payment.
The work to raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up is ongoing.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the rate of child poverty is in Slough constituency; and what steps is the Government taking to lower that rate.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The latest statistics on the number and proportion of children who are in low income families by local area, covering the seven years, 2014/15 to 2020/21, can be found in the annual publication: Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
This Government is committed to reducing child poverty and supporting low-income families, and believes work is the best route out of poverty. With a record 1.3 million vacancies across the UK, our focus is firmly on supporting people to move into and progress in work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time – in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty and in improving long-term outcomes for families and children.
The latest available data on in-work poverty shows that in 2019/20, children in households where all adults were in work were around six times less likely to be in absolute poverty (before housing costs) than children in a household where nobody works. Compared with 2010, there are nearly 1 million fewer workless households and almost 540,000 fewer children living in workless households in the UK. In 2020/21, there were 200,000 fewer children in absolute poverty before housing costs than in 2009/10.
To help parents into work, our Plan for Jobs is providing broad ranging support for all jobseekers with our Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAP), Job Entry Targeted Support and Restart scheme. Our plan for jobs is providing results. As of 6 July, we estimate that at least 520,400 unemployed Universal Credit claimants and Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants have moved into work during the Way to Work Campaign between 31 January and the end of 30 June 2022.
We are also extending the support Jobcentres provide to people in work and on low incomes. Through a staged roll-out, which started in April 2022, around 2.1m low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work. This is on top of the support we have already provided by increasing the National Living Wage to £9.50 per hour and giving nearly 1.7 million families an extra £1,000 (on average) a year through our changes to the Universal Credit taper and work allowances.
To further support parents to move into and progress in work, eligible UC claimants can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month up to a maximum of £646.35 per month for one child and £1,108.04 per month for two or more children. This is on top of the free childcare offer in England which provides 15 hours a week of free childcare for all 3- and 4-year-olds and disadvantaged 2-year-olds, doubling for working parents of 3- and 4-year-olds to 30 hours a week.
Around 1.9 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible for and claiming a free school meal, saving families around £450 per year. In addition, around 1.25 million more infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime as well as over 90,000 disadvantaged further education students. We are also investing £200 million a year to continue the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, which benefitted over 600,000 children last summer, and we have increased the value of the Healthy Start Vouchers by a third to £4.25 a week.
On top of this, the government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. These are global challenges, that is why the government is providing over £15bn in further support, targeted particularly on those with the greatest need. This package is in addition to the over £22bn announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37bn this year.
This includes an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing the total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England, the current Household Support Fund is already providing £421m of support for the period 1 April – 30 September 2022, at least a third (£140m) will be spent on families with children. Slough Borough Council has been allocated £1,177,691.53.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will estimate expected staffing levels of her Department by the end of 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DWP continually monitors and reviews staffing levels. Based on current planning assumptions, we anticipate our headcount at the end of 2022 will be within a range of c.79,000 to c.82,000 full time equivalents.