Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what information is provided to newly unemployed people about the availability of new style jobseeker's allowance (JSA); and what is their estimate of the number of newly unemployed people who are not entitled to universal credit and who have not received new style JSA despite meeting the contributory conditions.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the benefits system continues to recognise polygamy in social security regulations and, if so, why.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Polygamous marriages are illegal in the UK

Universal Credit does not recognise polygamous households in the benefit system. Any adults living in the household would each have to claim as a single person on the basis of their own circumstances.

Benefits such as Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and Housing Benefit do recognise a small number of polygamous marriages which took place in a jurisdiction where polygamy is permitted. This number is very small and declining, since the Immigration Act 1988, it has not been possible for people polygamously married overseas to bring second wives to the UK through the spouse visa route.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what percentage of new Jobseeker’s Allowance claims have been completed within the planned processing timescales by (a) nation and (b) region in each year since 2010.

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

Table 1 - Percentage of new claims that have been completed within the planned processing timescales by benefit.

Comments to note:

• Data has been provided for the years 2016-17 to 2023-24 (UC 2018-19 to 2023-24). Previous years requested are not retained centrally and the breakdown by nation and region for services except UC would only be available at a disproportionate cost.

• In the spirit of answering the question we have provided table 1 above.

Service Performance Context:

Jobseekers Allowance

• From the start of the pandemic until April 2021, JSA claims were subject to easements that meant face-to-face appointment was removed. In April 2021, Claimant Commitments and regular face to face engagement requirements were reintroduced.

Employment and Support Allowance

• ESA 2019-20 to 2023-24, the new claim process for New Style Employment and Support Allowance (NSESA) changed. In April 2020 a digital claim was introduced during Covid. Prior to this, as part of the new claim process, a period up to 10 days at beginning was never measured. With the re-designed process all time is included, so it is not possible to make a like-for-like comparison with the new claim process before April 2020.

State Pension

• Performance was severely impacted due to the need to repivot resource to other areas, such as Universal Credit, during the global pandemic. In 2021/22, resource was re-deployed to work through the backlogs. Investment in digital services in this area has also aided recovery leading to significant performance improvements in 2023/24.

Pension Credit

• 2019/20 was impacted by substantial spikes in claims following the BBC decision to remove free TV licences. Uptake in Pension Credit has been encouraged through campaigns and again led to unprecedented claims being received when entitlement was linked to additional Cost of Living payments. This created backlogs and impacted payment timeliness as these were recovered.

Disability Living Allowance (Child)

• Disability Living Allowance ceased in 2013 and is no longer an active benefit, it was replaced by Personal Independence Payment. Disability Living Allowance for Children continues to accept new claims and as such we have responded in respect of this benefit.
• Demand for Child DLA has increased in recent years and is significantly higher than pre-pandemic volumes.
• During 2020-21 we deferred case renewal activity to focus on processing new claims. Since then the service has had to service both high new claims volumes and the deferred renewal work which has led to longer processing times.
• We have increased the numbers of staff working on Child DLA to respond to increase new claims volumes, and clear cases in date order to ensure fair customer service.

Personal Independence Payment

• PIP performance represents a significant recovery compared to prior periods and the lowest average journey time recorded since 2018 (see published statistics)
• PIP New Claims demand is significantly higher than pre-Covid levels, despite the devolution of Scottish claims during this period.

Child Maintenance Service

• Child Maintenance Service application volumes have been sharply increasing with CMS receiving more than 50% more in 2023/24 than in 2021/22. This dip in performance over this time can largely be explained by this. More recently, the removal of the Application fee has also resulted in higher volumes.

Universal Credit

• Data has been provided for the years 2018-19 to 2023-24. Detailed data by local areas is available via Stat Xplore within the Universal Credit Published Statistics (Universal Credit statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)). Previous years requested are not retained centrally or published and the breakdown by nation and region would only be available at a disproportionate cost.

• The 2023-24 figures for UC are not available until May as per the Statistics Release schedule.

• Planned timescales for all benefits are listed in table 2 below.

Table 2: Planned Timescales for new claims (current methodology)

Notes: The planned timescales detailed above relate to those used for the 23/24 financial year. The timescales and methodologies to calculate them have changed over time to reflect new processes, technology and demands on our services.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people under the age of 25 have claimed jobseeker's allowance for more than (a) one and (b) two years in each year since 2019 in Midlothian constituency.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Statistics for the number of people on jobseeker's allowance by age, duration of claim and parliamentary constituency, are published every three months on Stat-Xplore, and are currently available to August 2023.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.

Found: Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit or Support (or any equivalent) and income -based Jobseeker's

Found: Allowance, Income Support and Incapacity Benefit.

Found: reviewed in previous years are Employment and Support Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Jobseeker's

Found: The benefits reviewed in previous years are Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance Jobseeker's Allowance

Found: The benefits reviewed in previous years are Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Jobseeker's Allowance

Found: new PIP claims who are in receipt of Universal Credit (UC), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Jobseeker's

Found: Contributory Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) claims are included

Found: Premium or extra amount for severe disability The Severe Disability Premium (with Income Support , Jobseeker's

Found: elsewhere (list not exhaustive) can claim, and may be eligible for Universal Credit and/or New Style Jobseeker's

Found: Universal Credit or th e following qualifying benefits for at least 6 months: o Income Support o Jobseeker's

Found: See New Style Jobseeker's Allowance Only claims and New Style Employment and Support Allowance Only

Found: The contribution conditions for New Style ESA are similar to those that apply to New Style Jobseeker's

Found: guidance can be found here for New Style Employment and Support Allowance only claims and New Style Jobseeker's

Found: Effect of New Style Jobseeker's Allowance on Universal Credit To avoid duplication of benefit payments

Found: New Style Jobseeker's Allowance only claims Contents Introduction Claimants who work and