Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much has been claimed in (a) short-term benefit advances and (b) hardship payments in each of the last 12 months.
The Secretary of State announced on 8 December 2014 that DWP would do more to raise the awareness of Short Term Benefit Advances and as well as more information now on Gov.UK there will be posters and leaflets in all Jobcentres by the end of March.
a) The expenditure for Short Term Benefit Advances (STBAs) from April-14 to Feb-15 was £4,081,891. The monthly breakdown is shown below.
Apr-14 | 336,308 |
May-14 | 342,712 |
Jun-14 | 330,150 |
July-14 | 325,489 |
Aug-14 | 315,890 |
Sept-14 | 333,871 |
Oct-14 | 326,289 |
Nov-14 | 360,114 |
Dec-14 | 460,951 |
Jan-15 | 488,975 |
Feb-15 | 461,141 |
Total | 4,081,891 |
b) The DWP intends to publish figures on the number of hardship applications and awards in May 2015. The date of publication will be announced shortly.
Notes
STBA expenditure includes Carer’s Allowance, ESA, IB, JSA, IS, Pension Credit, State Pension.
Source
Benefit Expenditure Business Information (BexBI).The information in BExBI is sourced from the combined payment and accounting tool, Central Payment System (CPS).