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Written Question
Social Security Benefits: Termination of Employment
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Naseby (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure that all those considering leaving work permanently are subject to ‘work search’ requirements before they receive benefits.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Welfare Reform Act 2012 and the Universal Credit regulations 2013/2015 determine the conditionality expectations that are relevant to individuals who are claiming Universal Credit.

For those who are expected to look for or prepare for work this will include up to 35 hours a week of work-related and work preparation activities, with an expectation that they take all reasonable actions to find work and move towards financial independence as quickly as possible. If they fail to comply and meet their agreed commitments without good reason a sanction may be applied.

If a claimant is found to have voluntarily left their employment without good reason, they will be sanctioned for a fixed period of at least 91 days.


Written Question
Poverty: Children
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Markham on 11 March (HL Deb col 1802), and taking account of the latest Households Below Average Income data, which shows a 300,000 increase in the number of children living in absolute poverty in the past year, what assessment they have made of the impact on health and well-being of the two-child limit for child benefit; and what assessment they have made of the strengths and weaknesses of using the measure of absolute poverty rather than relative poverty.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

It is not possible to produce a robust assessment of the impact of the two-child limit.

Child Benefit continues to be paid for all children in eligible families.

Relative poverty sets a threshold as a proportion of the UK median income and moves each year as average income changes.

Typically, a household is in relative poverty if its income is less than 60 per cent of the median household income.

Absolute poverty, by our definition, is a threshold as a proportion of the UK average income in a given year (2010/11) and moves each year in line with inflation.

This government prefers to look at Absolute poverty over Relative poverty as relative poverty can provide counter-intuitive results.

Relative poverty is likely to fall during recessions, due to falling median incomes. Under this measure, poverty can decrease even if people are getting poorer.

The absolute poverty line is fixed in real terms, so will only ever worsen if people are getting poorer, and only ever improve if people are getting richer.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the readiness criteria used for the managed migration to universal credit; and, if not, why.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Senior Responsible Owner for Universal Credit set out the criteria for the Public Accounts Committee at its hearing on March 11, 2024, Progress in implementing Universal Credit (HC 552) Question 26 committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/14467/pdf/

The formal assessments are published as part of the regular releases of Programme Board papers.


Written Question
State Retirement Pensions: Women
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide (1) an apology, and (2) compensation, to women born in the 1950s, as recommended by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in its report, Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues, published on 21 March.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are considering the Ombudsman’s report and will respond in due course.


Written Question
State Retirement Pensions: Women
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues, published on 21 March.

Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are considering the Ombudsman’s report and will respond in due course.


Written Question
Cancer: Children and Young People
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)

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 change to annual income that families experience as a result of (a) a child or young person receiving a cancer diagnosis and (b) their associated caring responsibilities.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

No such estimate has been made.


Written Question
Social Security Benefits: Disqualification
Tuesday 26th March 2024

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, what estimate he has made of how many of his Department's staff are involved in sanctions (a) referral, (b) decision making, (c) administration and (d) appeals.

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.


Written Question
Social Security Benefits
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)

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 total revenue accrued by the Exchequer since the introduction of the benefit cap; and how many and what proportion of households are impacted in (i) England, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Wales, (iv) Northern Ireland and (v) each parliamentary constituency in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Since the introduction of the benefit cap in April 2013 to November 2023 (the latest data available) an estimated £2.2 billion has been accrued in Housing Benefit (HB) and Universal Credit (UC) expenditure in Great Britain due to the benefit cap.

Official statistics on the number and proportion of working-age households in receipt of UC and HB who are capped up to November 2023 are available on Stat-Xplore for the requested geographies. Official Statistics on the total number of households in Great Britain on HB or UC for the same geographies are also available on Stat-Xplore up to November 2023. You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required.

Benefit cap statistics for Northern Ireland are published by the Department for Communities.

Notes:

Source: Benefit Cap Official Statistics up to Nov-23 published in Mar-24

  • Total savings are rounded to the nearest £100m
  • UC data is only available from October 2016 and for UC Full Service cases only
  • Figures do not include households capped in UC Live Service and so this figure will represent a small undercount of the total savings

Written Question
Employment Schemes: Advertising
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department has spent on advertising the Back to Work Plan since November 2023 by advertising method.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

To date, the Department has not spent anything on advertising the Back to Work Plan.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Armed Forces
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 13 March 2024, to Question 16599 on Universal Credit: Armed Forces, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of verifying the self-reported armed forces status of universal credit claimants.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department has no plans to change the self-reported armed forces status for universal credit claimants. Our general approach is to trust the information provided to us by individuals and it is unclear what benefits checking this information would bring, particularly as it may place additional burdens on the claimants and departments concerned.