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, what steps he has taken to inform recipients of the (a) limited capability for work-related activity element of Universal Credit and (b) Employment and Support Allowance support group of their potential entitlement to Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP Work Coaches and Disability Advisers can signpost and support claimants who may be eligible for other benefits. Signposting is also performed by Citizens Advice Bureau, Disability Groups, healthcare professionals and Welfare Rights organisations.
Information for those who want to know more about DWP benefits is also available on GOV.UK and via social media.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps the Government has taken to ensure that families living in poverty in the UK have sufficient (a) food (b) energy and (c) basic household goods.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to tackling poverty and supporting people on lower incomes. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children.
Working age benefits will increase by 6.7% from April 2024. We are also raising the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents in April 2024, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.
With over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting parents to move into and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risk of child poverty. The latest statistics show that, in 2021/22, children living in workless households were around 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those where all adults work.
Our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options to help people into work, including face-to-face time with Work Coaches and targeted employment support. We will also increase the National Living Wage by 9.8% to £11.44 for workers aged 21 years and over from this April - an annual increase in gross earnings of over £1800 for someone working full-time on the National Living Wage.
To further help parents on Universal Credit who are moving into work or increasing their hours, the Government is providing additional support with upfront childcare costs. We have also increased the childcare costs that parents on Universal Credit can claim back by nearly 50%, up to £951 a month for one child and £1,630 for two or more children.
As announced in Spring Budget, £500m of additional funding also enables the extension of the Household Support Fund, including funding for the Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means that Local Authorities in England will receive an additional £421m to support those in need locally through the Household Support Fund.
Asked by: Tahir Ali (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Cities Outlook 2024, published on 22 January 2024 by the Centre for Cities, what steps his Department is taking to reduce child poverty in Birmingham.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to reducing poverty, including child poverty, and supporting low-income families. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children.
Working age benefits will increase by 6.7% from April 2024, subject to Parliamentary approval, following a 10.1% increase in 2023/24. To further support low-income households, we are also raising the Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents in April 2024, benefiting 1.6 million low-income households.
With over 900,000 vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting parents to move into and progress in work. This approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risk of child poverty. The latest statistics show that children living in workless households were around 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those where all adults work.
To further support parents into work, we increased the Universal Credit childcare costs cap to £951 a month for one child and £1630 a month for two or more children in June 2023. We will also increase the National Living Wage by 9.8% to £11.44 for workers aged 21 years and over from this April - an annual increase in gross earnings of over £1800 for someone working full-time on the National Living Wage.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions Ministers from his Department have attended the Universal Credit Programme Board in each year since 1 January 2018.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In line with best practice in Government Projects, Ministers are not normally members of Project Boards for projects in the GMPP. This is because under the Ministerial Code, SROs have direct accountability for the delivery of their projects progress to Parliament. The Minister for Welfare Delivery attended the UC Programme Board once in 2020 and twice in 2021.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure the mental well-being of people affected by welfare sanctions.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Under Universal Credit, sanctions do not apply to all customers. Those with a health condition, illness or disability who are found to have ‘limited capability for work and work-related requirements’, are not subject to work-related conditions and will therefore not be sanctioned.
Those on work-related benefits are expected to take responsibility for meeting the conditionality requirements they have agreed with their work coach. Where a customer on a work-related benefit has a health condition, illness or a disability, work coaches have the discretion to tailor their requirements to what is reasonable and achievable taking into account the individual's condition. In some circumstances a customer’s work-related requirements maybe be lifted for a period if their ability to carry them out is disrupted due to their personal circumstances.
A sanction is only applied where an individual has failed to meet their agreed conditionality requirements without demonstrating good reason for doing so and in cases where vulnerabilities are known or suspected, a pre-referral quality check is undertaken prior to any sanction referral to ensure that it is appropriate in the circumstances. For customers who demonstrate that they cannot meet their immediate and most essential needs as a result of a sanction, we have a well-established system of hardship payments. These needs can include heating, food and hygiene.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
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 sanctions for (a) minor infringements of welfare rules and (b) being late for jobcentre meetings on the mental health of people sanctioned.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made of the potential mental health impact of sanctions for (a) minor infringements of welfare rules and (b) being late for jobcentre meetings.
Under Universal Credit, sanctions do not apply to all customers. Those with a health condition, illness or disability who are found to have ‘limited capability for work and work-related requirements’, are not subject to work-related conditions and will therefore not be sanctioned. Those on work-related benefits are expected to take responsibility for meeting the conditionality requirements they have agreed with their work coach to do so. Where a customer on a work-related benefit has a health condition, illness or a disability, work coaches have the discretion to tailor their requirements to what is reasonable and achievable taking into account the individual's condition. Additionally, in some circumstances a customer’s work-related requirements maybe be lifted for a period if their ability to carry them out is disrupted due to their personal circumstances.
A sanction is only applied where an individual has failed to meet their agreed conditionality requirements without demonstrating good reason for doing so and in the cases where vulnerabilities are known or suspected, a pre-referral quality check is undertaken prior to any sanction referral to ensure that it is appropriate in the circumstances. For minor conditionality failures, including failing to attend a mandatory appointment with a work coach an open-ended sanction is applied. Open-ended sanctions can be ended at any time by the customer simply re-engaging with their work coach and complying with the failed conditionality requirement.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether clause 128 and schedule 11 of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill would apply (a) only to recipients of Pension Credit and (b) to all recipients of the State Pension.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Fraud is a growing problem across the economy, accounting for over 40% of all crime and the welfare system is not immune to this. Although down by 10% in 2022-23, £8.3bn was overpaid in fraud and error last year in the benefit system and it is vital that the Government takes measures to see that fall further so the right support is provided to the right people.
The DWP third-party data gathering measure, contained in the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, will give the department better access to relevant data which will help us identify fraud and error in the system. We expect this to save up to £600m in the next five years.
The proposed powers cover all DWP benefits, grants and other DWP payments as set out in paragraph 16 of the schedule. This is to ensure that, where fraud and error arises, the Department has the power to address it. The power does not, however, give DWP access to millions of pensioners’ bank accounts, either those claiming the State Pension or Pension Credit. What this power does is require third parties to look within their own data and provide relevant information to DWP that may signal where some DWP claimants may not meet the eligibility criteria for the benefit they are receiving. This data may signal fraud or error and require a further review by DWP – through business-as-usual processes - to determine whether wrongful payments are being made. No personal information will be shared by DWP with third parties and only the minimum amount of information on those in receipt of DWP payments will be provided by banks to the Department to enable us to make further enquiries.
In 2022/33, £100m was overpaid in the State Pension and £330m was overpaid in the Pension Credit. This compares to over £5,540m that was overpaid in Universal Credit. Only those people flagged as potentially being ineligible for the support they are receiving would be flagged through this measure and we are clear we will focus the powers in areas where there is a significant and pressing fraud and error challenge. In the first instance, we will be focusing the use of this power within Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance and Pension Credit
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, what estimate he has made of the number of claimants who would be within the scope of Clause 128 and Schedule 11 of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill; and how many receive (a) the state pension, (b) Personal Independence Payment and (c) child benefit as the only relevant benefit.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Fraud is a growing problem across the economy, accounting for over 40% of all crime in 2022. This problem exists in the welfare system too, with fraud becoming increasingly sophisticated and on a scale not seen in the past. The introduction of the third party data measure is key to helping DWP tackle and reduce fraud and error which amounted to £8.3bn last year (2022-23).
The legislation is clear that the proposed power can only be used to help establish eligibility for DWP benefits that are being paid to individuals. This power requires third parties to look within their own data and provide relevant information to DWP that may signal where DWP claimants do not meet the eligibility criteria for the benefit they are receiving. This data may signal fraud or error and require a further review by DWP – through business-as-usual processes - to determine whether wrongful payments are being made. Only minimal information will ever be shared by designated third parties with DWP where there is a three-way relationship - between DWP, the claimant and the third party - to enable us to make further enquiries. No personal information will be shared by DWP with third parties.
DWP cannot exercise this power in relation to Child Benefit, because Child Benefit is not a DWP payment as the legislation sets out. Last year, DWP administered payments of £230.5 billion through the welfare system and we know the vast majority of these claims are paid correctly and accurately. Our measure will only impact a minority of people who are potentially receiving more money than they are eligible to receive.
As the Regulatory Impact Assessment sets out, the initial use of this power will be focused on identification of potential capital and abroad fraud and error in Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit and Housing Benefit (passported from Pension Credit) cases. Failure to declare or under-declaring capital is consistently in the top causes of Fraud and Error and cost £894m million in Universal Credit overpayments, £138m in Pension Credit and £167m in ESA in 2022-23. The current powers DWP has are limited and leave the Department unable to address this challenge at scale. The third-party data gathering measure will enable DWP to better access relevant data which will help identify fraud and error in the system.
As trends in fraud and error change, it is right we have the ability, in the future, to exercise this power across all benefits and payments that are administered by DWP.
Affirmative regulations, and a statutory Code of Practice, will need to be brought forward before the Department can use these powers to define the specific data holder in scope and to outline other elements relating to the use of the power.
Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the (a) annual saving to the Legal Aid fund of removing passporting through the means test for those earning more than £500 per month who are in receipt of Universal Credit and (b) additional annual cost to the Legal Aid fund of passporting homeowners in receipt of Universal Credit through the capital assessment part of the means test.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The new legal aid means test will comprise a wide range of closely inter-related policy elements to be delivered simultaneously. This includes introducing a £500 monthly earnings threshold for UC recipients who are currently passported through the income assessment for civil legal aid, as well as limiting the passporting of UC recipients through the civil legal aid capital assessment solely to those who are non-home owners. Taking all these policy elements into account, will lead to additional spending in steady state for civil legal aid of up to £24 million per year. Whilst not all policy elements apply equally to the criminal legal aid scheme, the comparable impact on annual steady state spending for criminal legal aid rises up to £5 million. These ranges assume that all recipients of legacy welfare benefits have been transitioned onto UC. Legal Aid Means Test Review - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people on Universal Credit have been sanctioned while awaiting a work capability assessment; and of those, how many have been subsequently assessed as having (a) limited capability for work and (b) limited capability for work related activity in each of the last 12 months for which data is available; and if he will make it his policy not to subject people awaiting (i) a work capability assessment and (ii) the outcome of work capability assessment to conditionality.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Conditionality supported by sanctions has been a longstanding feature of welfare benefit entitlements in the UK since the formation of the welfare state. Access to earnings replacement benefits, for example, is traditionally conditional on recipients being involuntarily unemployed and subject to reasonable work-related requirements.
We will not expect a claimant to take up a job while they have suitable medical evidence, until the outcome of a Work Capability Assessment (WCA). Any work-related requirements are agreed in discussion between the work coach and claimant. These should always be tailored to reflect the impact of the claimant’s health condition, disability, and wider circumstances, ensuring they are realistic and achievable
We exempt people with more serious medical conditions and disabilities, and those who are terminally ill, from any form of conditionality and sanctions. This includes those who have been found to have Limited Capability for Work or Work-Related Activity following their WCA.
In particular circumstances, work coaches can exempt claimants from usual availability and work search requirements for a temporary period by applying discretionary or compulsory easements. These circumstances include temporary periods of sickness.