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 has made an assessment of the potential impact of benefit claimants receiving over-payments on their mental health; and what steps his Department is taking to support claimants that need to re-pay over-payments.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Where overpayments occur, we have a duty to recover taxpayers’ money as quickly and efficiently as possible, without causing hardship to those making repayments. DWP remains committed to working with anyone who is struggling with repayments terms and encourage anyone who is experiencing such difficulty to contact DWP Debt Management to discuss their circumstances.
Claimants who do contact Debt Management, are routinely referred to the Money Advisor Network, who work in partnership with DWP to offer free independent and impartial money and debt advice. We also remain committed to His Majesty’s Treasury’s Beathing Space policy, which provides those with problem debt the right to legal protections from creditor action for a period of 60 days to enable them to receive debt advice and enter into an appropriate debt solution.
In exceptional circumstances, where there are specific and compelling grounds to do so, a waiver can be considered. Full details on this can be found at Chapter 8 of the Department’s Benefit Overpayment Recovery Guide: Benefit overpayment recovery guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Peter Grant (Scottish National Party - Glenrothes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of cases in which domestic abuse was disclosed were referred by the Child Maintenance Service to an Advanced Customer Support Senior Leader in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and recognises that domestic abuse often continues and can worsen after separation, which can have detrimental impacts on the welfare of children. CMS therefore continues to evolve and make positive changes to the way we deliver our service and to support our case workers.
We have measures in place to ensure victims and survivors of domestic abuse can access and use our services safely.
Of 29,000 new applications to the CMS in the quarter ending December 2023, 56% of applications were exempt from the application fee, largely on the grounds of domestic abuse.
The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the CMS. Latest statistics are available up to December 2023. Table 2 of the of the National tables provides the volume of applications and volume of those with an exemption due to domestic abuse for the period 2021-2023.
Quarter of Application | Application Fee Exemptions due to Domestic Abuse | Total Application Fee Exemptions | Percentage of Applications with an Exemption |
[note 1] | |||
Jan to Mar 2021 | 10,500 | 10,600 | 58% |
Apr to Jun 2021 | 11,800 | 11,900 | 60% |
Jul to Sep 2021 | 12,400 | 12,500 | 59% |
Oct to Dec 2021 | 11,600 | 11,600 | 60% |
Jan to Mar 2022 | 15,100 | 15,200 | 57% |
Apr to Jun 2022 | 17,300 | 17,500 | 55% |
Jul to Sep 2022 | 17,600 | 17,900 | 53% |
Oct to Dec 2022 | 14,700 | 14,900 | 55% |
Jan to Mar 2023 | 17,600 | 17,800 | 55% |
Apr to Jun 2023 | 17,800 | 18,100 | 56% |
Jul to Sep 2023 | 18,500 | 18,800 | 54% |
Furthermore, in October 2023 the CMS introduced regulations to completely remove the application fee for all families, this came into force on the 26 February 2024.
We are also trialling the use of a single, named case worker team to help ensure victims of domestic abuse are appropriately supported. Evaluation of the trial will inform the future service we offer to survivors of domestic abuse.
CMS have procedures to prevent unwanted contact between parents and provide advice on bank accounts with a centralised sort code so their location cannot be traced. Additionally, CMS can act as an intermediary in Direct Pay cases to facilitate the exchange of bank details, which helps to ensure no personal information is shared between parents.
Further changes, The Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 28 June 2023. On 8 May 2024, the Department published a public consultation, Improving the Collection and Transfer of Payments, which follows the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023. The consultation proposes to remove the Direct Pay service completely, which will go further than the measures set out in the Act and provide the same level of protection for all parents. The consultation closes 31st July 2024. The Government will then carefully consider the feedback and a response will be published. To find out more information go to: Child Maintenance: Improving the collection and transfer of payments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
We support our case workers to deliver our service by ensuring they receive appropriate training and have access to signposting and support that could be utilised to assist survivors of domestic abuse.
Through extensive Stakeholder engagement CMS reviewed their domestic abuse training in 2021. Training was delivered to all case workers to ensure they are equipped to recognise coercive and controlling behaviour and appropriately signpost parents in vulnerable situations. All caseworkers have access to the District Provision Toolkit which contains the most up to date information for signposting to help and support for domestic abuse across England, Scotland, and Wales.
A Domestic Abuse Plan was developed which outlines key steps for caseworkers to follow to ensure victims of domestic abuse are supported. This includes advice on contacting the police if the parent is in immediate danger or calling the police on behalf of the parent if requested to do so. Additionally, the plan directs case workers to consider a referral to an Advanced Customer Support Senior Leader if a customer requires further support.
The number of ACSSL cases that have been referred by CMS colleagues, where the referral has been categorised as ‘domestic abuse’ are as follows:
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023* |
ACSSL Referrals from CMS colleagues categorised as domestic abuse | 3 | 3 | 1 |
It should be noted that disclosure of domestic abuse does not automatically require an Advanced Customer Support Senior Leader (ACSSL) to become involved in supporting a case. Additionally domestic abuse may be reported at any stage of case, we do not gather data on all cases therefore the information requested on the proportion of referrals is not held, however given ACSSL referrals are very low this is also likely to be very low.
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his planned timetable is for laying secondary legislation to implement the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates 2 service types: Direct Pay and Collect and Pay. In Direct Pay cases, the CMS provides a maintenance calculation and issues a payment schedule, but the payments are arranged privately between the receiving parent and the paying parent. In Collect and Pay, the CMS collects the maintenance from the paying parent and transfers it to the receiving parent.
Since Direct Pay was introduced, the CMS has made several improvements to how the service operates. The importance of full and on-time maintenance payments is emphasised in all cases and the CMS will notify parents at the start of every case, and at each annual review, what to do if their arrangement breaks down.
The CMS also sends SMS messages to all receiving parents using the Direct Pay service to remind them to contact the CMS if their maintenance arrangement is not working. My Child Maintenance Case, which is a parent’s online service account with the CMS, also reminds parents to check their bank account for receipt of direct payments and encourages digital reporting of any missed payments.
If a Direct Pay arrangement breaks down, the case will be moved to Collect and Pay where the CMS collects the money from the paying parent and transfers it to the receiving parent. Further enforcement action can also be taken if parents continue to fail to pay.
Government takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and recognises that domestic abuse often continues and can worsen after separation, which can have detrimental impacts on the welfare of children.
The CMS has procedures in place to ensure victims and survivors of domestic abuse can use its services safely. Of 29,000 new applications to the CMS in the quarter ending December 2023, 56% of applications were exempt from the application fee, largely on the grounds of domestic abuse.
The CMS recognises that domestic abuse can take many forms including physical, emotional, or financial abuse, violent or threatening behaviour and coercive control and has procedures in place to ensure domestic abuse cases are handled appropriately.
For parents using the Direct Pay service, the CMS can act as an intermediary to facilitate the exchange of bank details to help ensure there is no unwanted contact between parents and can provide information on how to set up bank accounts with a centralised sort code, which reduces the risk of a parent’s location being traced. CMS caseworkers will also signpost, where needed, to suitable domestic abuse organisations, if domestic abuse is raised or suspected.
The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the CMS. Latest statistics are available up to December 2023, with statistics for the number of child maintenance cases moved from collect and pay to direct pay shown in ‘Table 4: Service Type Changes, Great Britain, October 2015 to December 2023’ of the National tables.
The information requested in relation to how many child maintenance cases were moved from collect and pay to direct pay where the child maintenance service was aware of domestic abuse in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023, is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 28 June 2023 following a Private Members Bill that had full Government support. We announced a consultation early 2024 to seek views on how the CMS collects and transfers maintenance.
On 8 May, the Department published a public consultation, Improving the Collection and Transfer of Payments, which follows the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023 receiving Royal Assent. The consultation proposes to remove the Direct Pay service completely, which will go further than the measures set out in the Act and provide the same level of protection for all parents.
The consultation closes 31st July 2024. The Government will then carefully consider the feedback and a response will be published.
To find out more information go to: Child Maintenance: Improving the collection and transfer of payments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many child maintenance cases were moved from collect and pay to direct pay where the child maintenance service was aware of domestic abuse in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates 2 service types: Direct Pay and Collect and Pay. In Direct Pay cases, the CMS provides a maintenance calculation and issues a payment schedule, but the payments are arranged privately between the receiving parent and the paying parent. In Collect and Pay, the CMS collects the maintenance from the paying parent and transfers it to the receiving parent.
Since Direct Pay was introduced, the CMS has made several improvements to how the service operates. The importance of full and on-time maintenance payments is emphasised in all cases and the CMS will notify parents at the start of every case, and at each annual review, what to do if their arrangement breaks down.
The CMS also sends SMS messages to all receiving parents using the Direct Pay service to remind them to contact the CMS if their maintenance arrangement is not working. My Child Maintenance Case, which is a parent’s online service account with the CMS, also reminds parents to check their bank account for receipt of direct payments and encourages digital reporting of any missed payments.
If a Direct Pay arrangement breaks down, the case will be moved to Collect and Pay where the CMS collects the money from the paying parent and transfers it to the receiving parent. Further enforcement action can also be taken if parents continue to fail to pay.
Government takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and recognises that domestic abuse often continues and can worsen after separation, which can have detrimental impacts on the welfare of children.
The CMS has procedures in place to ensure victims and survivors of domestic abuse can use its services safely. Of 29,000 new applications to the CMS in the quarter ending December 2023, 56% of applications were exempt from the application fee, largely on the grounds of domestic abuse.
The CMS recognises that domestic abuse can take many forms including physical, emotional, or financial abuse, violent or threatening behaviour and coercive control and has procedures in place to ensure domestic abuse cases are handled appropriately.
For parents using the Direct Pay service, the CMS can act as an intermediary to facilitate the exchange of bank details to help ensure there is no unwanted contact between parents and can provide information on how to set up bank accounts with a centralised sort code, which reduces the risk of a parent’s location being traced. CMS caseworkers will also signpost, where needed, to suitable domestic abuse organisations, if domestic abuse is raised or suspected.
The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the CMS. Latest statistics are available up to December 2023, with statistics for the number of child maintenance cases moved from collect and pay to direct pay shown in ‘Table 4: Service Type Changes, Great Britain, October 2015 to December 2023’ of the National tables.
The information requested in relation to how many child maintenance cases were moved from collect and pay to direct pay where the child maintenance service was aware of domestic abuse in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023, is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 28 June 2023 following a Private Members Bill that had full Government support. We announced a consultation early 2024 to seek views on how the CMS collects and transfers maintenance.
On 8 May, the Department published a public consultation, Improving the Collection and Transfer of Payments, which follows the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023 receiving Royal Assent. The consultation proposes to remove the Direct Pay service completely, which will go further than the measures set out in the Act and provide the same level of protection for all parents.
The consultation closes 31st July 2024. The Government will then carefully consider the feedback and a response will be published.
To find out more information go to: Child Maintenance: Improving the collection and transfer of payments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Ashley Dalton (Labour - West Lancashire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many child maintenance cases were moved from collect and pay to direct pay in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates 2 service types: Direct Pay and Collect and Pay. In Direct Pay cases, the CMS provides a maintenance calculation and issues a payment schedule, but the payments are arranged privately between the receiving parent and the paying parent. In Collect and Pay, the CMS collects the maintenance from the paying parent and transfers it to the receiving parent.
Since Direct Pay was introduced, the CMS has made several improvements to how the service operates. The importance of full and on-time maintenance payments is emphasised in all cases and the CMS will notify parents at the start of every case, and at each annual review, what to do if their arrangement breaks down.
The CMS also sends SMS messages to all receiving parents using the Direct Pay service to remind them to contact the CMS if their maintenance arrangement is not working. My Child Maintenance Case, which is a parent’s online service account with the CMS, also reminds parents to check their bank account for receipt of direct payments and encourages digital reporting of any missed payments.
If a Direct Pay arrangement breaks down, the case will be moved to Collect and Pay where the CMS collects the money from the paying parent and transfers it to the receiving parent. Further enforcement action can also be taken if parents continue to fail to pay.
Government takes the issue of domestic abuse extremely seriously and recognises that domestic abuse often continues and can worsen after separation, which can have detrimental impacts on the welfare of children.
The CMS has procedures in place to ensure victims and survivors of domestic abuse can use its services safely. Of 29,000 new applications to the CMS in the quarter ending December 2023, 56% of applications were exempt from the application fee, largely on the grounds of domestic abuse.
The CMS recognises that domestic abuse can take many forms including physical, emotional, or financial abuse, violent or threatening behaviour and coercive control and has procedures in place to ensure domestic abuse cases are handled appropriately.
For parents using the Direct Pay service, the CMS can act as an intermediary to facilitate the exchange of bank details to help ensure there is no unwanted contact between parents and can provide information on how to set up bank accounts with a centralised sort code, which reduces the risk of a parent’s location being traced. CMS caseworkers will also signpost, where needed, to suitable domestic abuse organisations, if domestic abuse is raised or suspected.
The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the CMS. Latest statistics are available up to December 2023, with statistics for the number of child maintenance cases moved from collect and pay to direct pay shown in ‘Table 4: Service Type Changes, Great Britain, October 2015 to December 2023’ of the National tables.
The information requested in relation to how many child maintenance cases were moved from collect and pay to direct pay where the child maintenance service was aware of domestic abuse in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023, is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 28 June 2023 following a Private Members Bill that had full Government support. We announced a consultation early 2024 to seek views on how the CMS collects and transfers maintenance.
On 8 May, the Department published a public consultation, Improving the Collection and Transfer of Payments, which follows the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023 receiving Royal Assent. The consultation proposes to remove the Direct Pay service completely, which will go further than the measures set out in the Act and provide the same level of protection for all parents.
The consultation closes 31st July 2024. The Government will then carefully consider the feedback and a response will be published.
To find out more information go to: Child Maintenance: Improving the collection and transfer of payments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of implementing a Parkinson's Passport that would give automatic access to clearly defined benefits.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is currently exploring the feasibility of this, and the other asks within the charter.
The Department for Work and Pensions offers Personal Independence Payments (PIP) to individuals with health conditions or disabilities. However, there is currently no automatic entitlement to PIP in relation to specific health conditions, except in cases of people nearing the end of life, specifically the last year of life. The Government understands that there are people with severe and lifelong health conditions which will not improve. Guidance ensures that those on the highest level of support, whose needs will not improve, receive an ongoing award with a light-touch review at the 10-year point.
The primary focus of the Department for Transport’s Blue Badge scheme is to help those with the greatest mobility needs. Eligibility is not based on the type of disability. There are several automatic qualifying criteria for a Blue Badge, such as being in receipt of PIP because you cannot walk more than 50 metres. People who do not automatically qualify for a Blue Badge may still be eligible for a badge through further assessment.
With regards to free prescriptions, approximately 89% of prescription items are currently dispensed free of charge, and there is a wide range of exemptions from prescription charges already in place. People with Parkinson’s disease who are 60 years old or over are entitled to free prescriptions. For those that have to pay for prescriptions, the cost can be capped by purchasing a pre-payment certificate, which can be paid for in instalments. Additionally, the NHS Low Income Scheme can provide help with health costs on an income-related basis.
Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether provisions have been made for employees of The Bodyshop who were made redundant.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
I understand this will be a concerning time for those impacted. The Department for Work and Pensions’ Rapid Response Service is a service designed to give support and advice to employers and their employees when faced with redundancy.
The range of support may include:
Employees may be entitled to statutory redundancy pay, compensatory notice pay and holiday pay from the Insolvency Service. Further information may be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-body-shop-in-administration-information-for-employees-and-creditors.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people pay the full child maintenance costs for which they are liable.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has a range of enforcement powers at its disposal to ensure parents meet their financial obligations to their children.
These include deductions directly from earnings and bank accounts, using Enforcement Agents (previously known as bailiffs) to take control of goods, forcing the sale of property, removal of driving licence or UK passport or even commitment to prison.
The Child Support (Enforcement) Act received Royal Assent in 2023. This creates a primary power to replace court-based liability orders with administrative orders, which should significantly speed up this key enforcement process.
We have concluded a public consultation to support regulations to implement administrative liability orders. The Government published their response on 12 February 2024.
Secondary legislation is now being developed, which, once implemented, will reduce the process from 22 weeks to as low as 6 weeks. This will be brought forward as soon as possible.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the percentage of areas where there is a shortage of childcare facilities and providers to provide their commitment of free childcare hours.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There were 15,100 more childcare places in 2023 than the previous year, with 12,900 paid staff added to the same period according to the department’s latest Childcare and early years provider survey (2023).
To support providers to expand their provision further, the department is investing over £400 million of additional funding to uplift the hourly rate for the entitlements next year. This investment consists of £67 million in new funding to reflect the latest National Living Wage increase, an additional £57 million to support providers in respect of teachers’ pay and pensions, and the £288 million for the existing entitlements in 2024/25 announced in the Spring Budget in March 2023. It also builds on the £204 million of additional investment to increase funding rates this year. To further support the sector delivering the expansion of childcare support, the government is confirming that the hourly rate providers are paid to deliver the free hours offers will increase in line with the metric used at Spring Budget 2023 for the next two years. This reflects that workforce costs are the most significant costs for childcare providers and represents an estimated additional £500 million of investment over two years. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of children aged 3 and 4 are registered for a 30-hour place, saving eligible working parents up to £6,900 per child per year, helping even more working parents and making a real difference to the lives of those families.
Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare, including supporting them through our childcare delivery support contract where appropriate.
The government has allocated £100 million in capital funding to local authorities to support the expansion of childcare places and the supply of wraparound care. The funding is anticipated to deliver thousands of new places across the country.
On top of the department’s funding reforms, it is also providing significant support for local authorities to deliver the early years expansion from April, such as:
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what additional support they are providing to enable local authorities and childcare providers to meet demand arising from their commitment to provide free childcare hours.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There were 15,100 more childcare places in 2023 than the previous year, with 12,900 paid staff added to the same period according to the department’s latest Childcare and early years provider survey (2023).
To support providers to expand their provision further, the department is investing over £400 million of additional funding to uplift the hourly rate for the entitlements next year. This investment consists of £67 million in new funding to reflect the latest National Living Wage increase, an additional £57 million to support providers in respect of teachers’ pay and pensions, and the £288 million for the existing entitlements in 2024/25 announced in the Spring Budget in March 2023. It also builds on the £204 million of additional investment to increase funding rates this year. To further support the sector delivering the expansion of childcare support, the government is confirming that the hourly rate providers are paid to deliver the free hours offers will increase in line with the metric used at Spring Budget 2023 for the next two years. This reflects that workforce costs are the most significant costs for childcare providers and represents an estimated additional £500 million of investment over two years. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of children aged 3 and 4 are registered for a 30-hour place, saving eligible working parents up to £6,900 per child per year, helping even more working parents and making a real difference to the lives of those families.
Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare, including supporting them through our childcare delivery support contract where appropriate.
The government has allocated £100 million in capital funding to local authorities to support the expansion of childcare places and the supply of wraparound care. The funding is anticipated to deliver thousands of new places across the country.
On top of the department’s funding reforms, it is also providing significant support for local authorities to deliver the early years expansion from April, such as: