Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the number of people who were claiming (a) Employment Support Allowance and (b) out of work Universal Credit where their main disabling condition was (i) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, (ii) anxiety and depression and (iii) autistic spectrum disorders, in each month since November 2008.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On Employment Support Allowance and out of work Universal Credit, the information requested is not readily available due to how the medical condition is recorded so to collate and provide it would incur disproportionate cost. However, Monthly statistics on the outcomes of Employment and Support Allowance work capability assessments are available by primary high-level medical condition on Stat-Xplore. The latest statistics are available by date of decision from November 2008 to September 2023, or date of claim start from October 2008 to June 2023. Statistics on the outcomes of Universal Credit work capability assessments (UC WCA) are available by high-level medical condition for the period from January 2022 to November 2023 in Table 7 of the latest UC WCA data tables.
On Disability Living Allowance (DLA), the information requested is in the attached document.
Points to note:
The latest available data on Personal Independence Payment claims can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. The volume of PIP claimants with certain conditions can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement’ dataset by going to ‘Disability’ and selecting the relevant conditions. To show the data since April 2013, select all months and then ‘Add to Column/Row’.
The data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer systems. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics. PIP was first introduced in April 2013, so there is no data available before this point.
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here. An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claimants have been identified as (a) serving and (b) having served in the armed forces for the latest assessment period.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) started collecting data on the Armed Forces status of Universal Credit (UC) claimants in Great Britain (GB) in April 2021. At first only new claimants were asked about their Armed Forces status. From June 2021 onwards, other UC claimants reporting changes in their work and earnings have also been able to report their status. From July 2021 onwards, UC agents have also been able to record claimants’ Armed Forces status if they are told about this via other means such as journal messages, face-to-face meetings or by telephone.
Data coverage continues to improve over time and by March 2024 data was held on the armed forces status of approximately 73% of the GB UC caseload (see table below). It should be noted that Armed forces status is self-reported by claimants and is not verified by the Ministry of Defence or Office for Veterans’ Affairs. A claimant’s status can be recorded as “currently serving”, “served in the past”, “not served” or “prefer not to say”. Data is not collected on the specific branch of the Armed Forces that claimants are serving in or have served in in the past.
Data is not held on the total number of UC claimants who are currently serving in the Armed Forces or who have served in the past, but data is held on those who have identified themselves so far.
The way the data is collected means the claimants for whom an Armed Forces status is recorded may not be representative of the UC caseload as a whole. This means it is not yet possible to produce reliable estimates of the overall number or proportion of UC claimants who are currently serving in the Armed Forces or who have served in the past.
Increases in the numbers of claimants with a recorded status of “currently serving” or “served in the past” do not necessarily mean the overall numbers of claimants who are currently serving or have served in the past have increased and may reflect increases in the number of claimants for whom data is held as data coverage improves over time.
The table below shows how the proportion of the GB UC caseload with a recorded Armed Forces status has changed over time. It also shows how many claimants on the caseload had a recorded status of each type.
GB UC caseload by recorded Armed Forces status
UC caseload month | Proportion of caseload with a recorded status | Currently serving | Served in the past | Not served | Prefer not to say | No recorded status | ||
July 2022 | 51% | 3,000 | 39,000 | 2,800,000 | 21,000 | 2,800,000 | ||
August 2022 | 53% | 3,200 | 40,000 | 2,900,000 | 22,000 | 2,700,000 | ||
September 2022 | 54% | 3,200 | 41,000 | 3,000,000 | 22,000 | 2,600,000 | ||
October 2022 | 56% | 3,300 | 43,000 | 3,100,000 | 23,000 | 2,500,000 | ||
November 2022 | 57% | 3,300 | 44,000 | 3,200,000 | 24,000 | 2,500,000 | ||
December 2022 | 58% | 3,400 | 45,000 | 3,300,000 | 25,000 | 2,400,000 | ||
January 2023 | 59% | 3,500 | 46,000 | 3,400,000 | 25,000 | 2,300,000 | ||
February 2023 | 61% | 3,500 | 48,000 | 3,500,000 | 26,000 | 2,300,000 | ||
March 2023 | 62% | 3,600 | 48,000 | 3,500,000 | 27,000 | 2,200,000 | ||
April 2023 | 63% | 3,700 | 50,000 | 3,600,000 | 28,000 | 2,200,000 | ||
May 2023 | 64% | 3,800 | 50,000 | 3,700,000 | 28,000 | 2,100,000 | ||
June 2023 | 65% | 3,900 | 51,000 | 3,800,000 | 29,000 | 2,100,000 | ||
July 2023 | 66% | 4,000 | 52,000 | 3,900,000 | 30,000 | 2,100,000 | ||
August 2023 | 66% | 4,000 | 53,000 | 3,900,000 | 30,000 | 2,000,000 | ||
September 2023 | 67% | 4,000 | 54,000 | 4,000,000 | 30,000 | 2,000,000 | ||
October 2023 | 68% | 3,900 | 54,000 | 4,100,000 | 30,000 | 2,000,000 | ||
November 2023 | 69% | 3,900 | 55,000 | 4,200,000 | 31,000 | 1,900,000 | ||
December 2023 | 70% | 3,900 | 57,000 | 4,300,000 | 31,000 | 1,900,000 | ||
January 2024 | 71% | 3,900 | 58,000 | 4,400,000 | 32,000 | 1,900,000 | ||
February 2024 | 72% | 4,000 | 59,000 | 4,500,000 | 32,000 | 1,800,000 | ||
March 2024 (provisional) | 73% | 4,200 | 62,000 | 4,700,000 | 33,000 | 1,800,000 | ||
Notes:
1. Figures are for Great Britain. Data is not collected on the Armed Forces status of UC claimants in Northern Ireland.
2. Figures in the table have been rounded according to the Department’s Official Statistics rounding policy.
3. In line with the latest published People on UC official statistics, provisional figures relating to March 2024 are provided. These figures will be subject to revision in subsequent releases.
4. These figures are based on the Official Statistics UC caseload definition. Some previous figures have used an alternative caseload definition based on assessment period end dates.
5. Further information on the caseload definition used for the UC official statistics can be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of Personal Independence Payments on trends in the number of claimants (a) in and (b) seeking employment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On the number and proportion of PIP claimants in employment, I refer the honourable member to the answer given on the 2nd of May to PQ 24056.
The Department has made no assessment of the potential impact of Personal Independence Payments on trends in the number of claimants (a) in and (b) seeking employment.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is designed to help with the extra costs arising from long-term ill health and disability, and is paid regardless of income and irrespective of whether someone is in work. PIP can also be paid in addition to other benefits the individual may receive, for example Universal Credit or Employment and Support Allowance, and can provide a passport to additional support through premiums or additional amounts.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is providing additional support to carers to help with rising costs of living.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The current rate of Carer’s Allowance is £81.90. Since 2010 it has increased from £53.90 to £81.90 a week, providing just under an additional £1500 a year for carers through Carer’s Allowance.
In addition to Carer’s Allowance, carers on low incomes can claim income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit. These benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the carer element and the additional amount for carers respectively. Currently, the Universal Credit carer element is £198.31 per monthly assessment period. The additional amount for carers in Pension Credit is £45.60 a week.
Since 2022, the Government has demonstrated its commitment to supporting the most vulnerable by providing one of the largest support packages in Europe. The Government has provided support from 2022-23 to 2024-2025 to help households with the cost of living totalling £108 billion.
This includes up-rating working age benefits by 6.7% and raising the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.
Since October 2022, CPI has already more than halved. This is stabilising the financial situation for many families, and the OBR expects that by Quarter 4 2024 (October-December) CPI will have fallen to 1.4%.
In the meantime, some people will need further, targeted help to get back to a stable financial position.
The Government is providing an additional £500m to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund. The funding will be available to Local Authorities in England from 1 April 2024 and will run until 30 September 2024.
Carer’s Allowance is a devolved benefit in Scotland.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department takes to ensure that single household payments of Universal Credit are paid into the main caregiver’s account.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A prompt on the online Universal Credit application form, suggests that the customer uses the bank, building society or credit union account details for the carer who spends the most time looking after the children.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he is taking steps to ensure that single claimants with long-term disabilities receive the same benefits under Universal Credit as under the legacy system.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Credit provides more generous support for disabled people than it does for people in similar circumstances who are not disabled.
Based on the outcome of a work capability assessment, it may be decided that a claimant has limited capability for work and work-related activity, and may be awarded an additional amount of benefit, currently £416.19 per calendar month from (2024/25 rates).
Additionally, where it is decided that claimants have limited capability for work or limited capability for work and work-related activity, they are eligible for a work allowance.
The Government has given a commitment that no eligible claimants who are invited to move to Universal Credit (UC), from legacy benefits, by the Department for Work and Pensions, and whose circumstances remain the same, will have a lower entitlement to UC than they had entitlement to their legacy benefits at the point of moving. Where necessary, eligible claimants will be awarded Transitional Protection (TP) in the form of a Transitional Element (TE) to ensure this commitment is met.
Severe disability premium (SDP) transitional payments are available to claimants who became entitled to Universal Credit (UC) within a month of being entitled to severe disability premium (SDP) within a legacy benefit. In a case where the legacy benefit had terminated within that month the claimant must have continued to satisfy the eligibility conditions for SDP up to and including the first day of their UC award. The relevant legacy benefits are:
New regulations came into force on 14th February 2024 and provide newly eligible claimants additional transitional protection where they are entitled to the transitional SDP element.
The claimants must also have been previously entitled to other disability premia in the month preceding their claim to UC, and continue to satisfy the eligibility conditions up to and including the first day of their UC award, to one or more of the following:
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests for split payments of Universal Credit his Department (a) received and (b) granted in each year from 2016.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an estimate of the number of complaints his Department has received from universal credit claimants in Midlothian constituency since 2013.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking (a) separately and (b) with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to make an estimate of how much (i) housing benefit and (ii) housing element of Universal Credit is paid towards service charges of social housing tenants.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold the data requested.
(i) It is not possible to identify Housing expenditure specifically related to eligible service charges for social housing tenants in our administrative data. We only hold data on the total Housing Benefit awards and expenditure.
(ii) For Universal Credit, it is not possible to split UC housing expenditure into expenditure on eligible service charges specifically.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of staff working on fraud and error in his Department work on (a) preventing fraud and error upfront and (b) detecting fraud and error after it has happened.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Tackling loss is a key priority for DWP and every member of staff undertakes mandatory annual fraud and error training.
Outside of this, we secured an additional £900 million in recent Spending Rounds which enabled us to enhance both our fraud and error prevention and detection capabilities. This includes our Targeted Case Review team which will review millions of Universal Credit claims for incorrectness.
As of the 31st March, our Targeted Case Review team currently has 3,100 Full Time equivalent agents reviewing Universal Credit claims.
As of the 31st March, our Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt Directorate (which includes National Insurance allocation and Debt Management functions) has 8,700 Full Time Equivalent employees, of which 1,400 are working directly on the prevention of fraud and error, with 1,700 working on detection of fraud and error after it has happened.
To note - all figures have been rounded.