Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to increase Employment and Support Allowance during the covid-19 outbreak.

We currently have no plans to increase Employment and Support Allowance above its current rates.

We have announced a suite of measures that can be quickly and effectively operationalised to benefit those facing the most financial disruption, such as increasing the standard rate in Universal Credit by £86.67 per month (equivalent to £20 per week) on top of the planned annual uprating. This additional increase means claimants will be up to £1040 better off. We estimate 2.5m households on UC will benefit straight away, as well as new claimants who become unemployed or whose earnings or work hours decrease because of the outbreak. The Universal Credit IT system is significantly more flexible than our legacy systems and uses different technology from other DWP systems. The Department is experiencing significant increased demand and the Government has to prioritise the safety and stability of the benefits system overall.

We have also made a number of changes to legacy benefits like Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including increases in entitlement. These new measures include:

• Providing more support for benefit claimants in the Private Rented Sector by increasing Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile, helping to alleviate affordability challenges. Those receiving Housing Benefit and legacy benefits will benefit from this increase.

• Treating all ESA claimants who satisfy the conditions of entitlement and are suffering from COVID-19 or who are required to self-isolate in line with government guidance, including vulnerable individuals who have been advised by the NHS to ‘shield’ (stay at home for at least 12 weeks) because they are at high risk of severe illness, as having limited capability for work, without the requirement to undergo a Work Capability Assessment,

• Removing waiting days for ESA, so it will be payable from day one of the claim, subject to the claimant satisfying the normal conditions of entitlement; and,

• Allowing disabled and sick claimants who cannot attend a reassessment for Personal Independence Payments, Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit to continue to receive their payments while their assessment is rearranged.