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Written Question
Access to Work Programme
Tuesday 28th November 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications to the Access to Work scheme were rejected in each month since May 2022.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Month

Applications not awarded AtW

May-22

2002

Jun-22

2480

Jul-22

2577

Aug-22

2792

Sep-22

2873

Oct-22

3277

Nov-22

3524

Dec-22

2812

Jan-23

3354

Feb-23

2943

Mar-23

3807

Apr-23

2497

May-23

3029

Jun-23

3718

Jul-23

3706

Aug-23

3698

Sep-23

3392

Oct-23

3566

Applications not awarded include advice provided to the applicant, no contact with applicant, no evidence provided by the applicant, applicant not eligible, applicant not pursued application and closed other (those that do not fall in to the other categories).

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.  

Written Question
Access to Work Programme
Tuesday 28th November 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of time was for Access to Work applications to be processed in each month since May 2022.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

Month

Initial date of contact to decision Actual Average Clearance Time in days

May-22

49.1

Jun-22

56.0

Jul-22

59.7

Aug-22

58.6

Sep-22

61.1

Oct-22

63.1

Nov-22

61.8

Dec-22

62.3

Jan-23

60.7

Feb-23

58.2

Mar-23

62.7

Apr-23

56.2

May-23

50.1

Jun-23

41.4

Jul-23

47.2

Aug-23

46.9

Sep-23

45.2

Oct-23

45.0

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.

Written Question
Access to Work Programme
Tuesday 28th November 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the longest length of time has been for an Access to Work application to be processed in each month since May 2022.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

The case that has taken the longest to have a decision was made on 13/12/2021 with a decision being made on 11/05/2023. This took 354 working days for a decision being made.

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.

Written Question
Revenue and Customs: Standards
Thursday 23rd November 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the (a) average length of time taken between notification being received from HMRC of a change to a person's National Insurance record and that change being reflected in a revised state pension (i) forecast and (ii) award and (b) how many such notifications are outstanding.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

This information is only available at disproportionate cost to The Department for Work & Pensions as the Department does not have a business requirement for this information to be retained.

The vast majority of voluntary contributions paid result in records being updated within days, though more complex cases requiring specialist caseworkers can take longer to resolve.

The Government has extended the deadline to 5 April 2025 to give taxpayers more time to fill gaps in their National Insurance record and help increase the amount they receive in State Pension.

Written Question
Allied Steel And Wire: Pensions
Tuesday 14th November 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he last met with former Allied Steel and Wire employees to discuss their pensions campaign.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Secretary of State has not met with the former Allied Steel and Wire employees to discuss their pension campaign. However, the former Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion, Guy Opperman, met with members of the Allied Steel and Wire pension scheme on 16 June 2021 to discuss their financial assistance payment.

Written Question
State Retirement Pensions: Females
Wednesday 13th September 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the context of married women who reach state pension age prior to 6th April 2016, whether it is his Department's policy for a woman who draws a category A state pension prior to her husband reaching pension age and who is widowed after her husband reaches pension age and draws his pension should be automatically assessed at the point of being widowed for a backdated category BL pension in the case where her category A pension is lower than the Category BL rate; and whether a woman over pension age with no entitlement to a category A state pension, and who is widowed after her husband reaches pension age and draws his pension should automatically be assessed at the point of being widowed for a deferred Category BL pension, with her date of claim treated as the date when her late husband first drew his pension.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

For married women who reach State Pension age prior to 6th April 2016 the Department’s policy is as follows.

  • For those in receipt of a Category A state pension based on their own National Insurance contributions and whose husband became entitled to his state pension on or after 17th March 2008, a Category BL pension will be paid automatically by the Department. There is a LEAP exercise currently underway to identify and correct some historical cases where this did not happen.

  • For those in receipt of a Category A pension and whose husband became entitled to his state pension before 17th March 2008, including where someone is widowed, a claim is required in order for the Department to be able to assess entitlement to any Category BL pension.

  • Women who have not made a claim for and are not receiving a state pension at the point they are widowed must also make a claim to become entitled to a state pension based on their late husband’s National Insurance contributions. If it is their preference, they can get any Category BL pension backdated for a maximum of 12 months before their claim. They may also be entitled to a deferral payment (one-off lump sum or an additional weekly amount) for the time they have deferred their Category BL pension.  
Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Buildings
Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) has been found within their Department's estate.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

For now, the focus is on bringing together the information we hold about the Government estate into one place. This work is being coordinated by the Office for Government Property. Survey work is underway.

Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Ministers
Friday 21st July 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions a request for a meeting by an hon. Member was not agreed to by (a) a Minister and (b) their office on behalf of a Minister in the last 12 months.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This information is not centrally collated and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Ministers will regularly seek to engage with hon. Members, whilst balancing wider Ministerial and Parliamentary responsibilities.

Written Question
Finance: Older Workers
Wednesday 28th June 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on (a) demographic and (b) diversity data for users of the Mid-life MOT service.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Midlife MOT within Jobcentres was rolled out from the end of January 2023.

Data is not yet available.

Written Question
Finance: Older Workers
Wednesday 28th June 2023

Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people accessed the Mid-life MOT service in each month between April 2022 and May 2023.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Midlife MOT within Jobcentres was rolled out from the end of January 2023.

Data is not yet available.