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, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of differential uprating levels for (a) the additional state pension under the old pension system and (b) other elements of the state pension on levels of pensioner poverty.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of State Pensions and benefits. Her review for this year will be based on CPI in the year to September 2024, and on earnings growth in the year to May-July 2024.
The Office for National Statistics will publish the average weekly earnings figure for May to July on 15 October and the CPI figure will be published on 16 October. The outcome of the review will be announced in the Autumn – and until the review has been concluded, it would not be appropriate to pre-judge the outcome. The new rates will take effect from April 2024.
The Government remains committed to supporting pensioners, and giving them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement. Through our commitment to protect the Triple Lock, over 12 million pensioners will benefit, with many expected to see their State Pension increase by over a thousand pounds over the next five years; the full new State Pension is forecast to increase by around £1,700 this Parliament.
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 her Department plans to respond to the consultation entitled Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper, which closed on 22 July 2024.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The consultation on Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper ran for 12 weeks and closed on Monday 22 July.
There were over 16,000 responses to the consultation, which demonstrates the depth of feeling about the previous Government’s proposals. I can confirm that responses to the set of proposals on the reform of Personal Independence Payment were mixed and for some proposals consistently negative.
We do not intend to publish a response to the previous Government’s consultation. We will be considering our own plans for social security in due course and will fulfil our continued commitment to work with disabled people so that their views and voices are at the heart of all that we do.
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, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the earnings threshold for claiming Carer's Allowance on levels of employment amongst unpaid carers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises the challenges unpaid carers are facing and is determined to provide them with the help and support they need and deserve. It is looking closely at how the benefit system currently does this.
The Secretary of State undertakes a statutory annual review of benefit and pensions, and the level of the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit will be considered as a part of this review.
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, if she make an assessment of the potential impact of the ineligibility for the Carer's Allowance of people in education for more than 21 hours a week on levels of poverty amongst young carers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government recognises and appreciates the vital contribution made by all unpaid carers.
It is a general principle that people in full-time education should be supported by the educational maintenance system, rather than the social security benefit system. That is why full-time students are usually precluded from entitlement to income-related and income-maintenance benefits, including Carer’s Allowance. Part-time students may be able to claim Carer’s Allowance though. This reflects long-standing principles of the benefit system, and we have no plans to change these rules.
Department for Work and Pensions officials work very closely with their Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care counterparts to ensure that young carers get the help and support they need.
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, with reference to her Department's guidance on Universal Credit and earnings, updated on 13 May 2024, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of changes to Universal Credit payments in an assessment period with two paydays, for claimants who are paid four-weekly, on levels of (a) poverty, (b) debt and (c) food bank usage among such claimants.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No impact assessment has been made on changes to the Universal Credit assessment periods or payment structures. However, the Government is committed to reviewing Universal Credit so that it makes work pay and tackles poverty.
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, if she will make an estimate the number of pensioners who will see a reduction in their disposable income as a result of her proposed reforms to Winter Fuel Payments by (a) household type, (b) age and (c) region and; what the average loss is.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The estimated number of pensioners who will see a reduction in their disposable income as a result of proposed reforms to winter fuel payments by age and region, for Great Britain are shown in below tables (1+2). This analysis is not available by household type and average loss.
This is the number of pensioners that will no longer receive Winter Fuel Payment as they do not claim Pension Credit. Therefore, we are assuming these people will see a reduction in their disposable income as they will no longer be receiving Winter Fuel Payments. These are based on the 22/23 Winter Fuel Payment statistics and Feb-24 Pension Credit statistics (sources shown below).
This estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of Pension Credit recipients for each region and age group from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients for each region and age group. Please note that the Pension Credit data that is used should be based on the 2010 Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, not 2024, in order to be comparable with the Winter Fuel Payments statistics.
In addition to that, the above figures do not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up we might see as a result of the Pension Credit Awareness Campaign. We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies or local authorities.
Also, the published Pension Credit figures refer to households, so the number of individuals will be higher (i.e., taking account of households where it is a couple claiming Pension Credit).
Furthermore, Pension Credit claimants are the majority of those that will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments, not all. There are other pensioners who are eligible for Winter Fuel Payments (as they claim other means tested benefits) but they are not considered in these figures as it is not possible to do so.
Source:
The Winter Fuel Payments statistics are published here:
Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Pension Credit data is published here: Pension Credit – Data from May 2018
Table 1:
Region (Great Britain) | WFP claimants pre-policy change not claiming Pension Credit [an estimate of those who will no longer receive WFP] |
North East | 432,162 |
North West | 1,123,461 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 857,346 |
East Midlands | 800,580 |
West Midlands | 914,627 |
East of England | 1,062,241 |
London | 778,851 |
South East | 1,550,446 |
South West | 1,090,058 |
Wales | 539,092 |
Scotland | 866,295 |
Table 2:
Age group (Great Britain) | WFP claimants pre-policy change not claiming Pension Credit [an estimate of those who will no longer receive WFP] |
Up to 69 | 2,369,989 |
70-74 | 2,708,756 |
75-79 | 2,275,970 |
80 and over | 2,659,950 |
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 her Department plans to reduce the (a) number and (b) size of Carer's Allowance overpayments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise the challenges carers are facing and we are determined to provide unpaid carers with the support they need and deserve.
With respect to overpayments of Carer’s Allowance, we are moving quickly to understand exactly what has gone wrong so we can set out our plan to put things right.
Claimants have a responsibility to report change of circumstances as they happen. Customers taking action as soon as possible, to let the department know of a change will reduce the number and size of overpayments.
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 her Department plans to review the (a) level, (b) eligibility criteria and (c) processes of Carer's Allowance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State undertakes a statutory annual review of benefit and pensions, and the value of Carer’s Allowance is protected by up-rating it each year in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI).
This government will keep eligibility criteria and processes of Carer’s Allowance under review, to see if it is meeting its objectives.
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, with reference to her Department's strategy entitled Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System: Going Further, updated on 13 May 2024, whether she plans to continue the roll out of alerts telling carers that they have a possible overpayment of Carer's Allowance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is currently assessing the results of a recent trial that issued an SMS message to prompt Carer’s Allowance recipients, to remind them to contact the department to report a change of earning. Changes of circumstances can be reported through Gov.uk, telephony and post.
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 steps he is taking to ensure that people over the age of 50 receive adequate support through the Back to Work Plan.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The Government offers comprehensive support for eligible older jobseekers across the UK through the 50 Plus Choices Offer. This includes the provision of over 70 50plus Champions who play a key role in supporting delivery of a comprehensive package of support across the country.
The 2.5 billion Back to Work Plan, announced in the Autumn Statement 2023 includes measures to support all customers, including the over 50s, to find a job, progress in work and thrive in the labour market.
Through this Plan, the Government is boosting four key programmes, NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support, Restart and Universal Support – to benefit up to 1.1 million people over the next five years and help those with mental or physical health conditions stay in or find work.
On 7 May, we announced that 15 areas across England will be piloting a new health support service as part of the Government’s plan to help people with health conditions back to work.