Asked by: Jonathan Reynolds (Labour (Co-op) - Stalybridge and Hyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions her Department has had with representatives of trade unions on the reintroduction of a full sanction and conditionality regime for claimants of jobseeker's allowance; and what the timeframe is for recommencing that regime.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department re-introduced Claimant Commitments for New Style and Legacy claims from 3 August 2020. We are reintroducing Claimant Commitments for existing claims on a phased approach as capacity allows.
We expect claimants on work-related benefits to undertake certain activities in return for financial support through the benefit system. These requirements are agreed and tailored to help the claimant prepare for, look for and move into work.
Work Coaches will ensure that commitments made by claimants are reasonable. They will also allow claimants to continue to adhere to local and national public health advice in regards to Covid-19, whilst also doing what they can to engage with the labour market.
No consultation was required as there was no change in policy.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will use Budget 2021 to end the sanctions system under universal credit, jobseeker's allowance and employment and support allowance.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Chancellor will provide an update on the Budget on 3 March.
Sanctions are a core element of the conditionality approach to helping people back into work, and DWP work coaches will ensure that they are only ever used in a proportionate, reasonable way. In universal credit, jobseeker's allowance and new style employment and support allowance, sanctions are only considered where a claimant has not undertaken a work-related requirement as agreed in their Claimant Commitment without good reason. A personalised, tailored Claimant Commitment is agreed between the work coach and the claimant. They will only set reasonable requirements, based on the claimant’s circumstances and the local/national health guidelines – and no claimant can or will be sanctioned without a Claimant Commitment in place.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will bring forward proposals to extend jobseeker's allowance eligibility beyond 182 days for unemployed people who are ineligible to receive universal credit or other covid-19-specific benefits.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the honourable member to the answer given to PQ 119284.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people in receipt of (a) the carer element of universal credit, (b) the carer addition and (c) the carer premium.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The available information on the number of households with a carer entitlement on Universal Credit, currently for August 2020, is published and can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
The latest available statistics on the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support and Housing Benefit claimants in receipt of the carer premium, and the number of Pension Credit claimants in receipt of the carer addition are shown in the following table.
Number of Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support and Housing Benefit claimants in receipt of the carer premium and the number of Pension Credit claimants in receipt of the carer addition, Great Britain, Feb 20, May 20 and Aug 20
Benefit | Latest Quarter available | Number of recipients |
Jobseeker's Allowance | Feb-20 | 1,600 |
Income Support | May-20 | 200,000 |
Pension Credit | May-20 | 134,800 |
Housing Benefit | Aug-20 | 152,080 |
Source: DWP Quarterly Statistical Enquiry 5% data and 100% Work, Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) and DWP Single Housing Benefit Extract
Notes
The information requested is not readily available for Employment and Support Allowance claimants and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are in receipt of payment of (a) the carer element of universal credit, (b) carer addition and (c) the carer premium as at 10 December 2020.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The available information on the number of households with a carer entitlement on Universal Credit, currently for August 2020, is published and can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
The latest available statistics on the number of Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support and Housing Benefit claimants in receipt of the carer premium, and the number of Pension Credit claimants in receipt of the carer addition are shown in the following table.
Number of Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support and Housing Benefit claimants in receipt of the carer premium and the number of Pension Credit claimants in receipt of the carer addition, Great Britain, Feb 20, May 20 and Aug 20
Benefit | Latest Quarter available | Number of recipients |
Jobseeker's Allowance | Feb-20 | 1,600 |
Income Support | May-20 | 200,000 |
Pension Credit | May-20 | 134,800 |
Housing Benefit | Aug-20 | 152,080 |
Source: DWP Quarterly Statistical Enquiry 5% data and 100% Work, Pensions Longitudinal Study (WPLS) and DWP Single Housing Benefit Extract
Notes
The information requested is not readily available for Employment and Support Allowance claimants and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the value was of unclaimed job seeker's allowance in (a) Greater Manchester and (b) Manchester Gorton constituency in the last 12 months for which data are available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The information requested is not available. On 29th October 2020 the Department for Work and Pensions published the report “Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2018 to 2019”. This provided figures on the value of some unclaimed benefits in Great Britain. Estimates are not available for other DWP benefits, including Sure Start Maternity Grant and Universal Credit, and sub-national figures are not published because of small sample sizes.
Asked by: Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is (1) the number of people, and (2) the percentage of the total workforce, registered as unemployed in the (a) Bolsover, (b) Redcar, (c) Darlington, (d) Blyth, (e) Wolverhampton North East, (f) Bury South, (g) Bolton North East, (h) Heywood and Middleton, and (i) Ashfield, Parliamentary constituencies.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Estimates of the level and rate of unemployment are compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS). The LFS provides national and regional unemployment estimates whilst the APS, which boosts the sample of the LFS, allows more local analysis.
Estimates are based on a sample of cases and therefore subject to sampling uncertainty. Unemployment estimates at geographies below regions, such as local authorities and parliamentary constituencies, can be more statistically uncertain. The confidence intervals given in Table 2 in the Annex reflect the level of uncertainty around the rates given, with confidence intervals (and therefore uncertainty in the figure) generally increasing as the underlying sample size decreases.
The Annex sets out the constituency level information asked for. All estimates of unemployment and the claimant count used the Annex are also publicly available on the NOMIS website (https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/).
Table 1 of the Annex gives the latest figures from the LFS on the unemployment levels and rates for the relevant regions for the named constituencies.
Table 2 of the Annex gives the latest estimate from the APS on the levels and rates of unemployment for the named constituencies. These figures, where available, should be treated as indicative, rather than precise, due to the heightened level of sample variability of estimates at this level of geography due to the small sample of people the estimate is based upon. Where the sample is too small to derive an estimate, figures are not given. The rates given express the proportion of the economically active population (those in work plus those seeking and available to work) who are unemployed, in line with the International Labour Organization definition of unemployment.
Table 3 of the Annex gives the latest figures on the Claimant Count for the named constituencies. The Claimant Count is based on administrative data and can be broken down robustly to constituency level, and as such, there are no confidence intervals around the figures. The Claimant Count is the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance plus those who claim Universal Credit who are out of work. The rates given express the number of claimants as a percentage of the population aged 16-64.
Asked by: Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is (1) the number of people, and (2) the percentage of the total workforce, registered as unemployed in the (a) Rother Valley, (b) Newcastle-under-Lyme, (c) Leigh, (d) Don Valley, (e) Wakefield, (f) Bishop Auckland, (g) Sedgefield, (h) North West Durham, (i) Bassetlaw, and (j) Great Grimsby, Parliamentary constituencies.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Estimates of the level and rate of unemployment are compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS). The LFS provides national and regional unemployment estimates whilst the APS, which boosts the sample of the LFS, allows more local analysis.
Estimates are based on a sample of cases and therefore subject to sampling uncertainty. Unemployment estimates at geographies below regions, such as local authorities and parliamentary constituencies, can be more statistically uncertain. The confidence intervals given in Table 2 in the Annex reflect the level of uncertainty around the rates given, with confidence intervals (and therefore uncertainty in the figure) generally increasing as the underlying sample size decreases.
The Annex sets out the constituency level information asked for. All estimates of unemployment and the claimant count used the Annex are also publicly available on the NOMIS website (https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/).
Table 1 of the Annex gives the latest figures from the LFS on the unemployment levels and rates for the relevant regions for the named constituencies.
Table 2 of the Annex gives the latest estimate from the APS on the levels and rates of unemployment for the named constituencies. These figures, where available, should be treated as indicative, rather than precise, due to the heightened level of sample variability of estimates at this level of geography due to the small sample of people the estimate is based upon. Where the sample is too small to derive an estimate, figures are not given. The rates given express the proportion of the economically active population (those in work plus those seeking and available to work) who are unemployed, in line with the International Labour Organization definition of unemployment.
Table 3 of the Annex gives the latest figures on the Claimant Count for the named constituencies. The Claimant Count is based on administrative data and can be broken down robustly to constituency level, and as such, there are no confidence intervals around the figures. The Claimant Count is the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance plus those who claim Universal Credit who are out of work. The rates given express the number of claimants as a percentage of the population aged 16-64.
Asked by: Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is (1) the number of people, and (2) the percentage of the total workforce, registered as unemployed in the (a) Richmond (Yorkshire), (b) Uxbridge and Ruislip, (c) Esher and Walton, (d) Witham, (e) Surrey Heath, (f) Swindon South, (g) Wyre and Preston, (h) West Suffolk, (i) Reading West, and (j) South West Norfolk, Parliamentary constituencies.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Estimates of the level and rate of unemployment are compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS). The LFS provides national and regional unemployment estimates whilst the APS, which boosts the sample of the LFS, allows more local analysis.
Estimates are based on a sample of cases and therefore subject to sampling uncertainty. Unemployment estimates at geographies below regions, such as local authorities and parliamentary constituencies, can be more statistically uncertain. The confidence intervals given in Table 2 in the Annex reflect the level of uncertainty around the rates given, with confidence intervals (and therefore uncertainty in the figure) generally increasing as the underlying sample size decreases.
The Annex sets out the constituency level information asked for. All estimates of unemployment and the claimant count used the Annex are also publicly available on the NOMIS website (https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/).
Table 1 of the Annex gives the latest figures from the LFS on the unemployment levels and rates for the relevant regions for the named constituencies.
Table 2 of the Annex gives the latest estimate from the APS on the levels and rates of unemployment for the named constituencies. These figures, where available, should be treated as indicative, rather than precise, due to the heightened level of sample variability of estimates at this level of geography due to the small sample of people the estimate is based upon. Where the sample is too small to derive an estimate, figures are not given. The rates given express the proportion of the economically active population (those in work plus those seeking and available to work) who are unemployed, in line with the International Labour Organization definition of unemployment.
Table 3 of the Annex gives the latest figures on the Claimant Count for the named constituencies. The Claimant Count is based on administrative data and can be broken down robustly to constituency level, and as such, there are no confidence intervals around the figures. The Claimant Count is the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance plus those who claim Universal Credit who are out of work. The rates given express the number of claimants as a percentage of the population aged 16-64.
Asked by: Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is (1) the number of people, and (2) the percentage of the total workforce, registered as unemployed in the (a) Suffolk Coastal, (b) South Staffordshire, (c) Cambourne and Redruth, (d) Newark, (e) Welwyn Hatfield, (f) Great Yarmouth, (g) Hertsmere, (h) Berwick-upon-Tweed, (i) Cannock Chase, and (j) Wolverhampton South West, Parliamentary constituencies.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
Estimates of the level and rate of unemployment are compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using the Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS). The LFS provides national and regional unemployment estimates whilst the APS, which boosts the sample of the LFS, allows more local analysis.
Estimates are based on a sample of cases and therefore subject to sampling uncertainty. Unemployment estimates at geographies below regions, such as local authorities and parliamentary constituencies, can be more statistically uncertain. The confidence intervals given in Table 2 in the Annex reflect the level of uncertainty around the rates given, with confidence intervals (and therefore uncertainty in the figure) generally increasing as the underlying sample size decreases.
The Annex sets out the constituency level information asked for. All estimates of unemployment and the claimant count used the Annex are also publicly available on the NOMIS website (https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/).
Table 1 of the Annex gives the latest figures from the LFS on the unemployment levels and rates for the relevant regions for the named constituencies.
Table 2 of the Annex gives the latest estimate from the APS on the levels and rates of unemployment for the named constituencies. These figures, where available, should be treated as indicative, rather than precise, due to the heightened level of sample variability of estimates at this level of geography due to the small sample of people the estimate is based upon. Where the sample is too small to derive an estimate, figures are not given. The rates given express the proportion of the economically active population (those in work plus those seeking and available to work) who are unemployed, in line with the International Labour Organization definition of unemployment.
Table 3 of the Annex gives the latest figures on the Claimant Count for the named constituencies. The Claimant Count is based on administrative data and can be broken down robustly to constituency level, and as such, there are no confidence intervals around the figures. The Claimant Count is the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance plus those who claim Universal Credit who are out of work. The rates given express the number of claimants as a percentage of the population aged 16-64.