Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the average amount a working person saved for their pension by the time they retired in 2022.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Individuals save in a variety of ways and draw on a range of assets with which to fund their retirement, including personal and workplace pensions. Therefore, we are unable to provide a single estimate.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
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 single largest cause of sickness-related economic inactivity.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There are often multiple and complex reasons why a person is economically inactive due to long-term sickness. They are also likely to face several barriers in returning to the labour market. For example, they are:
Source: Employment of disabled people 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are waiting for a Work Capability Assessment in (a) Ilford North constituency and (b) the London Borough of Redbridge as of 14 December 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time was for a Work Capability Assessment in (a) Ilford North constituency and (b) the London Borough of Redbridge in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
DWP publishes Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Work Capability Assessment (WCA) national processing times for initial claims on GOV.UK, which can be found here. We are currently unable to provide Universal Credit (UC) WCA statistics as these could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of people eligible for but not claiming Pension Credit in (a) Ilford North constituency and (b) the London Borough of Redbridge.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Estimates for Pension Credit take-up are only available at the Great Britain level. The latest statistics (2019/20) are in the publication:
Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK
Pension Credit provides vital financial support to pensioners on a low income. In Ilford North some 2,300 pensioners and 6,200 in the London Borough of Redbridge already receive Pension Credit, but we want all those who are eligible to claim it. That’s why the Department launched a £1.2m nationwide communications campaign in April to raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up. The campaign included:
This month we undertook a further burst of communications activity, including press and radio advertising and social media to highlight to pensioners that if they applied for Pension Credit by 18 December, it would not be too late to qualify for a £324 Cost of Living Payment – subject to Pension Credit backdating rules.
On 7 December, around 40 MPs attended a Pension Credit event at Portcullis House which I hosted. I was pleased to hear about the work that a number of MPs are already doing to help their constituents make a claim and also that others pledged to help promote Pension Credit.
In the new year, DWP will write to over 11 million pensioners to notify them of the up-rating of their State Pensions. As last year, a leaflet accompanying the notification includes information promoting Pension Credit. This has been updated to include a more prominent ‘call to action’ using the Pension Credit campaign messaging to encourage eligible pensioners to make a claim.
Further spend of £1.8m has been approved for marketing activity until the end of this financial year.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are claiming Pension Credit in (a) Ilford North constituency and (b) the London Borough of Redbridge.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Estimates for Pension Credit take-up are only available at the Great Britain level. The latest statistics (2019/20) are in the publication:
Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK
Pension Credit provides vital financial support to pensioners on a low income. In Ilford North some 2,300 pensioners and 6,200 in the London Borough of Redbridge already receive Pension Credit, but we want all those who are eligible to claim it. That’s why the Department launched a £1.2m nationwide communications campaign in April to raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up. The campaign included:
This month we undertook a further burst of communications activity, including press and radio advertising and social media to highlight to pensioners that if they applied for Pension Credit by 18 December, it would not be too late to qualify for a £324 Cost of Living Payment – subject to Pension Credit backdating rules.
On 7 December, around 40 MPs attended a Pension Credit event at Portcullis House which I hosted. I was pleased to hear about the work that a number of MPs are already doing to help their constituents make a claim and also that others pledged to help promote Pension Credit.
In the new year, DWP will write to over 11 million pensioners to notify them of the up-rating of their State Pensions. As last year, a leaflet accompanying the notification includes information promoting Pension Credit. This has been updated to include a more prominent ‘call to action’ using the Pension Credit campaign messaging to encourage eligible pensioners to make a claim.
Further spend of £1.8m has been approved for marketing activity until the end of this financial year.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to improve take-up of Pension Credit in Ilford North constituency.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Estimates for Pension Credit take-up are only available at the Great Britain level. The latest statistics (2019/20) are in the publication:
Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK
Pension Credit provides vital financial support to pensioners on a low income. In Ilford North some 2,300 pensioners and 6,200 in the London Borough of Redbridge already receive Pension Credit, but we want all those who are eligible to claim it. That’s why the Department launched a £1.2m nationwide communications campaign in April to raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up. The campaign included:
This month we undertook a further burst of communications activity, including press and radio advertising and social media to highlight to pensioners that if they applied for Pension Credit by 18 December, it would not be too late to qualify for a £324 Cost of Living Payment – subject to Pension Credit backdating rules.
On 7 December, around 40 MPs attended a Pension Credit event at Portcullis House which I hosted. I was pleased to hear about the work that a number of MPs are already doing to help their constituents make a claim and also that others pledged to help promote Pension Credit.
In the new year, DWP will write to over 11 million pensioners to notify them of the up-rating of their State Pensions. As last year, a leaflet accompanying the notification includes information promoting Pension Credit. This has been updated to include a more prominent ‘call to action’ using the Pension Credit campaign messaging to encourage eligible pensioners to make a claim.
Further spend of £1.8m has been approved for marketing activity until the end of this financial year.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the expected time for a decision to be made by the National Special Payments Team is; and what the average time taken for those decisions is.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
DWP makes special payments to people who have incurred additional costs, losses and/or suffered other non-financial (personal) impacts, as a direct consequence of our maladministration. This is a discretionary scheme, but we routinely consider a special payment if our service has adversely affected a customer.
The vast majority of payments are made locally by a complaint resolution manager once they have investigated a customer’s issue. The role of the National Special Payment team is to consider the more complex cases which, by the nature of the complaint, may mean it takes longer to make the award. Throughout the award process we remain in contact with the customer providing them with regular updates.
The aim is always that Special Payment decisions should culminate in timely and appropriate redress for our customers and our expectation is that each case will be responded to within a reasonable timeframe. This will differ depending on the complexity of the case and the reason for the referral to the National Special Payments team. As such, the department does not have formal clearance measures; however, currently, across all referrals, the average clearance time is 9 days.
If there are any cases you are aware of, please let us have the details and we will look into these.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department reimbursed the London Borough of Redbridge for housing benefit spent on supported exempt accommodation in 2021-22.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Providing the requested is not available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much was spent on housing benefit for supported exempt accommodation in Ilford North constituency in 2021-22.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Providing the requested is not available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.