Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will extend the provisions of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) (SDP Gateway) Amendment Regulations 2019 to claimants in receipt of (a) disability premiums and (b) enhanced disability premiums.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions)(SDP Gateway) Amendment Regulations 2019 prevents legacy claimants who are in receipt of the Severe Disability Premium from moving to Universal Credit if they experience a change in circumstances, until they are moved by the Department. This ensures that these claimants will not be moved onto Universal Credit until transitional protections are available.
The SDP group has very specific characteristics including substantial care needs, with most having severe disabilities that would limit their ability to work quite significantly. They are also likely to see the greatest financial impact were they to move to Universal Credit following a change in their circumstances.
Universal Credit does not replicate the Severe Disability Premium and other disability premiums, which has allowed us to target additional support to a wider group and create a more streamlined system. The Universal Credit rate for the most severely disabled people, the limited capability for work and work related activity (LCWRA) addition is £328.32 per month, much higher than the equivalent rate for the Employment and Support Allowance support group which is £163.15 per month, and will result in many more people being better off on Universal Credit.
The draft Universal Credit (Managed Migration Pilot and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019 provide for transitional protections for claimants who are moved onto Universal Credit by the Department, without experiencing a change in circumstances, ensuring no-one loses out at the point of transition.
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: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2019 to Written Question 208905, Universal Credit: Disability, how many people in receipt of severe disability premium will receive back payments following their natural migration to universal credit.
Answered by Sarah Newton
It is not possible to confirm exactly how many people in receipt of the severe disability premium (SDP) will receive back payments following their natural migration to Universal Credit, since each case must be individually assessed to determine whether SDP eligibility would have continued following the end of their claim to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA) or Income Support (IS).
To the end of November 2018 there were 13,400 claimants of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) in receipt of the severe disability premium (SDP) who had migrated to Universal Credit (UC). This migration to UC does not guarantee that claimants are eligible for transitional protection or back payments.
Not all of ESA claimants with SDP who migrated to UC will have had an ongoing entitlement to SDP following the end of their ESA claim, and there will be some additional ESA claimants with SDP who migrated to UC and who may not be included in these figures owing to ongoing Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) and Appeal activity.
I have explained in response to a point-of-order that information on claimants of Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA) and Income Support (IS) in receipt of SDP who have migrated to UC would incur a disproportionate cost in response to a Parliamentary Question. The Department will explore the scope of an updated ad hoc statistical release for the ESA SDP data which represents the large majority of the SDP claimants.
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.
Asked by: Gordon Henderson (Conservative - Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when employment and support allowance claimants in receipt of the severe disability premium will be able to migrate to universal credit without losing that additional entitlement.
Answered by Sarah Newton
I refer the honourable member to the answer the Minister for Employment gave on 30 January 2019 to Question 211077: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2019-01-22/211077/
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people with multiple sclerosis are in receipt of (a) income-related employment support allowance and (b) severe disability premium.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur 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, how many recipients of (a) employment support allowance, (b) job seeker's allowance and (c) income support received the severe disability premium on (i) 31 December 2016, (ii) 31 December 2017 and (iii) 31 December 2018.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The number of recipients of Employment and Support Allowance receiving the severe disability premium is shown in the table below:
| Recipients of ESA receiving SDP |
31 December 2016 | 451,000 |
31 December 2017 | 512,000 |
The data for recipients of Employment and Support Allowance on 31 December 2018 has not previously been published and is due to be published later in 2019.
The information required to answer your question with regards to Jobseekers Allowance and Income Support is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost - data on recipients of Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support receiving the severe disability premium is only readily available for the quarters ending November 2016, November 2017 and November 2018 and can be found here:
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of disabled people who previously received a disability premium that have been migrated onto universal credit without transitional protections.
Answered by Sarah Newton
We are not currently migrating any claimants from legacy benefits to Universal Credit. Claimants only move from existing benefits to Universal Credit through natural migration when they experience a significant change in their circumstances that triggers a new claim to benefit. Their entitlement is then calculated on the rules of their new benefit. This is a long-established principle which we maintain for Universal Credit.
Subject to Parliamentary approval of the Managed Migration regulations, we will be spending £3.1 billion on transitional protections to ensure that no one loses out at the point of transition. This includes those currently receiving Severe Disability Premium (SDP). These regulations will prevent these claimants from moving over before the managed migration process, and provide financial protection for those who have already moved over.
We do not hold data on all disabled people receiving all disability premiums that have moved onto Universal Credit; however, published data shows that of the 42,000 people who were on Employment Support Allowance (ESA) and started a claim on Universal Credit Full Service within one month of closing their claim between May 2015 and February 2018, 15,000 were on ESA (Income Related) with Enhanced Disability Premium (EDP) and/or SDP. Of those, 1,000 were in receipt of SDP only, 11,000 in receipt of EDP only and 3,000 in receipt of EDP and SDP.
This is published here:
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, what funding the Government has allocated for transitional payments for people moving onto universal credit; and by what process claimants will receive such payments.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We recently laid the draft Universal Credit (Managed Migration) Regulations 2018 in Parliament. These will introduce a transitional payment to those eligible claimants who were in receipt of the Severe Disability Premium whilst on an existing benefit and who have already moved to Universal Credit.
As announced in the 2018 Autumn Budget, the income related elements of Employment and Support Allowance and Jobseeker’s Allowance, and Income Support will continue for two weeks after a claim for Universal Credit has been made from July 2020. Claimants will therefore receive one two week run-on payment when being migrated to Universal Credit. Both of these measures are subject to parliamentary approval. These payments are in addition to the 2 week run-on of Housing Benefit, which we introduced in April 2018.
The Government has also committed to ensuring that claimants who are moved onto Universal Credit as part of the managed migration process see no decrease in their benefit entitlement, providing their circumstances remain the same.
The Government will be spending over £3bn on transitional protection over the next 10 years to ensure that claimants who are migrated onto Universal Credit as part of the managed migration process do not experience a financial loss at the point of transition.
Transitional protection will be calculated based on the claimant’s circumstances on the last day of their entitlement to existing benefits. To do this we will make a comparison between the total amount of all relevant existing benefits to which the claimant was entitled at this point and the total amount of Universal Credit to which the claimant would be entitled as calculated based on the same set of circumstances. If the entitlement to the existing benefits is the greater amount then the difference will be awarded as a Transitional Element. When awarded, this Transitional Element will be taken into account with any other applicable Elements to determine a claimant’s Universal Credit award in each Assessment Period.
Asked by: Baroness Thomas of Winchester (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how the additional funding announced in the Budget will be used to support disabled claimants in their transition to Universal Credit.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
At Autumn Budget 2018 we announced that payment of income related legacy benefits (Income Support, income related Employment and Support Allowance and income based Jobseeker’s Allowance) will continue for two weeks after a claim for Universal Credit has been made. This change will support vulnerable claimants financially when moving to Universal Credit. From April 2019, the amount people with disabilities (and also households with children) can earn before their Universal Credit award begins to be withdrawn – the Work Allowance – will be increased by £1000, meaning they can keep an extra £630 per year.
Earlier this year we announced transitional payments for former recipients of Severe Disability Premium (SDP), and protections for those who are receiving SDP as part of their existing benefit entitlement. Claimants will now only move to Universal Credit under managed migration with transitional protection. Those who have already moved to Universal Credit will receive transitional protection back-dated to the start of their Universal Credit claim and will also receive on-going monthly payments. The regulations that include these provisions are currently before Parliament for scrutiny and approval. Universal Credit provides a higher level of support for the most severely disabled people than the benefit it replaces, worth up to £328.32 per month.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of measures related to universal credit announced in Budget 2018 on disabled people who are (a) in work and (b) out of work.
Answered by Sarah Newton
We will spend over £50 billion in 2018/19 on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions.
In the budget we have announced that work allowance rates will be increased by £1000 from April 2019 and uprated in line with inflation thereafter. Raising the current work allowances will direct additional funding to working disabled people by allowing them to keep more of their earnings before the earnings taper is applied. By increasing the work allowances many disabled families on UC will be £630 better off, in a package worth £1.7bn in 2023/24.
It has also been announced that income related legacy benefits, Income Support (IS), Income Related Employment and Support Allowance and Income Based Jobseeker’s Allowance will continue for two weeks after a claim for Universal Credit has been made. This change will particularly support vulnerable claimants who may have been on benefits for some time, have little or no savings to fall back on and currently rely on regular payments at shorter intervals.
We have also previously announced that transitional payments for former recipients of Severe Disability Premium (SDP) and protection for those who are receiving SDP as part of their existing benefit entitlement. These claimants will now only move to UC with transitional protection. Those who have already moved to UC will be considered for a lump sum payment that will be back-dated to the start of their UC claim, and will receive ongoing monthly payments.
These regulations provide transitional support to recipients of the SDP while removing the complexity of dealing with different rules for seven different disability additions. 500,000 vulnerable people receive the SDP alongside their benefit awards. All of these people will ultimately move to UC and benefit from this enhanced support.
Not replicating the Severe Disability Premium in UC means the government can target additional support to a wider group. UC provides a higher level of support for the most severely disabled people than the benefit it replaces, worth up to £328.32 per month.