Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to amend the length of the benefit cap grace period.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The benefit cap restores fairness between those receiving out-of-work benefits and taxpayers. Universal Credit claimants may benefit from a nine-month grace period where their benefit will not be capped if they have a sustained work record with monthly earnings of at least £604 for the past year. Households can still receive benefits up to the equivalent gross earnings of around £24,000, or around £28,000 in London.
i. As at August 2020, there were 160,300 Universal Credit households with a grace period due to end in December 2020. The grace period is applied irrespective of whether or not the household has sufficient benefit income to be in scope for the cap. This ensures that a claimant will benefit from the grace period exemption should any change of circumstances bring them into the scope of the cap during that period. This does not necessarily mean that all of these claimants will actually be capped in December when their grace period ends.
ii. As at May 2020, 19,100 new Universal Credit claimants whose claims started since 23 March 2020 inclusive had been affected by the benefit cap.
iii. Information relating to Universal Credit claimants who started a claim in March 2020 and have been exempt from the benefit cap due to the nine-month grace period is not readily available; to provide it would incur disproportionate costs. The Department is not required to calculate the level of benefit payment that takes a claimant above the benefit cap threshold while a claimant is in the nine-month grace period because the claimant is exempt from the benefit cap during this time.
There are currently no plans to change the benefit cap grace period. The benefit cap provides fairness for hard-working taxpaying households, whilst providing a reasonable safety net of support for the most vulnerable. Whilst this means that some claimants will have a limit on the total amount of benefits they can receive, there are a range of exemptions for when the cap should not be applied including exemptions for the most vulnerable claimants who are entitled to disability benefits and carer benefits
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to increase the rate of (a) jobseekers' allowance and (b) employment and support allowance in line with the increase in universal credit; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government introduced a package of temporary welfare measures worth around £9.3 billion this year to help with the financial consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This included the £20 weekly increase to the Universal Credit Standard Allowance rates as a temporary measure for the 20/21 tax year. There are no plans to extend this to legacy benefits.
The Government will update Parliament accordingly on any future decisions on benefit spending.
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, whether there is an easement in place for people who fail to (a) attend and (b) participate in a telephone assessment for (i) employment and support allowance and (ii) universal credit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our priorities are people’s safety and ensuring that they receive the support they are entitled to. We will contact anyone who has not engaged in a telephone Work Capability Assessment arranged since 2 November 2020 to establish if they have a good reason for not attending or participating. Claimants will be given the opportunity to explain why they did not, or could not attend or participate in the telephone assessment and where good cause is provided and accepted, support will continue
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 changes her Department have made to its policies on easements related to telephone assessments since such assessments were introduced in March 2020.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our priorities are people’s safety and ensuring that they receive the support they are entitled to. We will be contacting anyone who did not engage in a telephone appointment for a Work Capability Assessment arranged since 2 November 2020, to establish if they have a good reason for not attending or participating. Claimants will be given the opportunity to explain why they did not, or could not attend or participate in the telephone assessment and where good cause is provided and accepted, they will be given a further opportunity to take part in an assessment.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to apply the temporary £20 weekly uplift to universal credit to (a) existing legacy benefits and (b) job seekers' allowance.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government introduced a package of temporary welfare measures worth around £9.3 billion this year to help with the financial consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This included the £20 weekly increase to the Universal Credit Standard Allowance rates as a temporary measure for the 20/21 tax year. There are no plans to extend this to legacy benefits.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on (a) single parent families, (b) low-income workers, and (c) young people, and (2) the adequacy of the support provided to those groups through the welfare system to address COVID-19 issues.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
This Government has taken unprecedented action to support people financially and protect jobs, with over 9.5 million people being supported through the furlough scheme alone since the start of the pandemic. We have injected £9.3 billion of additional support to the welfare system including increases to the Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit standard allowances that will benefit four million of the most vulnerable households by up to £1040 this financial year, as well as permanent uplifts to the Local Housing Allowance rates to cover the lowest 30 per cent of market rents.
A direct assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on specific groups has not been undertaken. However, HM Treasury’s distributional analysis of COVID-19’s impact on working households published in July, showed that the actions this Government has taken to date have supported poorest working households the most, with those in the bottom ten per cent seeing no income reduction.
Our long-term ambition remains to build an economy that will support work, and ensure everyone has the opportunity to enter and progress in work where possible. Our £30 billion Plan for Jobs is the first step on the ladder to achieving this, as well as new schemes such as Kickstart, Job Entry Targeted Support and Job Finding Support.
Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the £20 per week increase in the standard rate of Universal Credit to people remaining on legacy benefits such as Jobseeker's Allowance and Income Support.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The Government introduced a package of temporary welfare measures worth around £9.3 billion this year to help with the financial consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This included the £20 weekly increase to the Universal Credit Standard Allowance rates as a temporary measure for the 20/21 tax year.
We are continuing to work with the Treasury on the best ways to support those receiving benefits.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the Government's plans are for how shielding people can access benefits after the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme ends.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Those who receive a notification that they need to shield will remain eligible for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) from their employer, and New Style Employment and Support Allowance, subject to the wider eligibility criteria. Where an individual’s income is reduced while off work sick and they require further financial support, for example where they are not eligible for SSP, they may be able to claim Universal Credit, depending on their personal circumstances.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
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 potential merits of reforming the welfare system in response to the (a) economic and (b) social challenges arising as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Will Quince
No such assessment has been made of reforming the Welfare system.
Universal Credit has stood up to the challenge of the COVID-19, whereas the previous legacy benefit system would have buckled under the pressure. Millions more are able to access welfare which is fairer and more generous than the legacy benefit system. It is a modern, flexible, personalised benefit responding effectively to economic conditions. It replaces six outdated and complex benefits with one – helping to simplify the benefits system, providing support in times of need and making work pay.
Asked by: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Bow)
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 families who will be newly subject to the benefit cap after the end of the current grace period.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information relating to households who will be newly affected by the Benefit Cap at the end of their current grace period is not readily available, and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.