Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
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 child maintenance calculations reflect the needs of children in the paying parent's home.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information about the paying parent's gross income is taken directly from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the latest tax year available. This allows maintenance calculations to be made quickly and accurately.
The amount of maintenance a paying parent must pay can be reduced if they have other children they provide care for. If the paying parent or their partner gets Child Benefit for children for whom they have financial responsibility, we can take them into account. We call these relevant other children. The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will reduce the paying parent’s weekly income by a percentage depending on the number of children they or their partner has responsibility for before the primary calculation rates are applied. If the Paying Parent’s liability is based on the basic or basic rate plus, their gross weekly income is reduced by 11% for one child, 14% for two children and 3 or more children by 16%.
This ensures the Child Maintenance Service fulfils its responsibility to consider the welfare of all children connected to a case. The Government is also conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many additional pensioners have claimed Pension Credit in Folkestone and Hythe constituency since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 27th February we published Pension Credit applications and award statistics. This publication provides application volumes up to 23 February 2025. Pension Credit Applications - February 2025
We do not hold data at regional or constituency level for applications made. We do hold Pension Credit caseload data by Parliamentary constituency. You can find the latest available data held on Stat-Xplore - Home which shows Pension Credit caseload data by Parliamentary constituency up to August 2024.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of uprating temporary accommodation subsidy rates on local authorities.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We continue to keep the rates used for Housing Benefit subsidy under review and are working closely with MHCLG and the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping to explore the impacts of subsidy rates on local authorities.
The Government will prioritise the best way to achieve its mission and goals within the current challenging fiscal situation at the appropriate fiscal event.
Asked by: Tony Vaughan (Labour - Folkestone and Hythe)
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 provide financial support to people in temporary accommodation.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) provides support through the social security system for rental costs as well as additional funding to local authorities. DWP provides support with rent and living costs to those who are eligible and living in temporary accommodation through Housing Benefit and Universal Credit. In 23/24, DWP spent £32bn on housing support.
For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) DHPs can be used to help people with a rent deposit, rent in advance, a shortfall in rent or moving costs. This supports people to move out of and can be used to help prevent use of temporary accommodation. For 2025/26, DWP is maintaining DHP funding at £100m for England and Wales. This is in addition to funding local authorities receive from MHCLG, including for the Homelessness Prevention Grant.
DWP also provided funding of £742 million to extend the Household Support Fund in England by a further year, from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026. This will ensure low-income households can continue to access support towards the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water.
We continue to work with MHCLG on the Long-Term Housing Strategy and the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping, supporting the development of a strategy to tackle the root causes of homelessness.