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, if she will make an estimate of the total change in the amount deducted from the housing benefit of claimants in Glasgow East constituency as a result of the removal of the spare room subsidy between February 2014 and the most recent month for which figures are available.
Answered by Will Quince
The removal of the spare room subsidy (RSRS) policy has resulted in £9m of Housing Benefit deductions in Glasgow East since May 2013. A breakdown by financial year is provided in the table below:
Total Estimated Housing Benefit RSRS Deductions in Glasgow East, 2013/14 to 2018/19 (£m pa)
2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 |
1.3 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.7 |
Figures for 2013/14 cover from May 2013 onwards.
Figures do not include claimants on Universal Credit (UC) with a removal of the spare room subsidy (RSRS) deduction as these data are not currently available.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many advance benefit payments have been made to people in Glasgow in each month between April 2019 to August 2019; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit new claim advances provide access to a payment for those in financial need, which can be accessed urgently, until their first UC payment is due. Claimants can access up to 100% of the total expected monthly award, for which they can pay back over a period of up to 12 months.
For Glasgow City local authority:
The Department has taken a number of steps to ensure that advances meet the needs of claimants and that recovery arrangements are personalised and reasonable. The maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed 40 per cent of the Universal Credit standard allowance and does not reduce other components of an award, such as money paid for children, housing or when someone is caring for a severely disabled person. From October 2019 this will be reduced to 30 per cent and from October 2021 we are increasing the maximum recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months.
Notes:
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants have been sanctioned in universal credit at (a) Shettleston and (b) Laurieston Jobcentres in each of the last 12 months; and for what reasons.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Universal Credit sanctions statistics by Jobcentre Plus Office and referral reasons are published and can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance for users is available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Sanctions are only used in a minority of cases, and that is only when people fail to meet their agreed conditionality requirements without good reason. A Decision Maker will take into account all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or caring responsibilities and any evidence of good reason they have provided, before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many advance benefit payments have been made to people in Glasgow in each month from September 2018 to March 2019.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The following table shows the number of UC Full Service advance payments made in each month in Glasgow since September 2018 for which data is available.
Advance Created | Total Advances |
|
|
|
|
Sep-18 | 110 |
|
|
|
|
Oct-18 | 720 |
|
|
|
|
Nov-18 | 1880 |
|
|
|
|
Dec-18 | 2270 |
|
|
|
|
Jan-19 | 3350 |
|
|
|
|
Feb-19 | 3400 |
|
|
|
|
Notes:
The Figures reflect that Universal Credit full service began rollout across Glasgow from September 2018, with the final site rolling out in November 2018. Nationally around 60% of new claims receive an advance.
Figures are rounded to the nearest 10
Data is included for Advances paid to UC Full Service Claims made in the constituencies Glasgow North, Glasgow North West, Glasgow North East, Glasgow East, Glasgow Central, Glasgow South, Glasgow South West
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many new claims for universal credit have been made in each month since September 2018 for (a) Glasgow and (b) Glasgow South West.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Statistics on Universal Credit claims by postcode can be found under the ‘Claims to Universal Credit’ dataset available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Statistics of those in receipt of UC by parliamentary constituency is also available on Stat-Xplore.
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many advance payments have been paid to universal claimants resident in the Glasgow South West constituency; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Universal Credit Live Service rolled out across Glasgow in June 2015. Universal Credit full service began to rollout across Glasgow from September 2018, with the final site rolling out in November 2018. The most recent available data for, Universal Credit Live Service and Universal Credit Full service combined, shows that since rollout, 3800 advance payments have been made to claimants in Glasgow South West. Nationally, for Universal Credit Full Service, around 60% of new claims receive an advance.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many advance benefit payments have been made to people in Glasgow South West in each month since September 2018.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The below table shows the number of advance payments that have been made to claimants in Glasgow South West from September 2018-December 2018, the most recent data we have available.
Month | Number of Advances |
Sep-18 | 40 |
Oct-18 | 380 |
Nov-18 | 540 |
Dec-18 | 370 |
Universal Credit full service began to rollout across Glasgow from September 2018, with the final site rolling out in November 2018. Nationally around 60% of new claims receive an advance.
Notes
1. Figures relate only to Universal Credit full service
2. The number of advances is rounded to the nearest 10
3. If a claimant has applied for more than one advance, each one is counted separately in these figures.
4. Universal Credit full service rolled out across Glasgow between September 2018 and November 2018.
Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when employment support allowance claimants in receipt of the severe disability premium residing in Glasgow North constituency will be migrated to universal credit.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Since 16 January 2019 claimants who are in receipt of the Severe Disability Premium or who have been entitled to an award of an existing benefit that included SDP in the previous month, and who have continued to meet the SDP eligibility conditions, have been prevented from moving onto Universal Credit if they experience a change in circumstances. Instead, these claimants will continue to claim legacy benefits until DWP move them onto UC where transitional protection will be available, thereby safeguarding their existing benefit entitlement.
We will begin to pilot the processes for moving claimants on to Universal credit in July 2019 on a small scale. We will report on our findings from the pilot before bringing forward legislation to scale up the process from November 2020 and complete by the end of 2023.
The Department is currently working with key stakeholders to determine the approach to the pilot and subsequent expansion, including which areas are involved and at what stage.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims have been made for universal credit hardship payment in Glasgow South West constituency to date.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
As Universal Credit hardship payments are included in Annually Managed Expenditure there is no separate funding allocated to them.
The information requested about the number of claims to hardship in the Glasgow South constituency is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding her Departments has allocated to universal credit hardship payments.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
As Universal Credit hardship payments are included in Annually Managed Expenditure there is no separate funding allocated to them.
The information requested about the number of claims to hardship in the Glasgow South constituency is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.