Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the birthday date for qualification for winter fuel allowance is planned to be for (a) men and (b) women in each of the next 15 years.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
To receive a winter fuel payment a claimant has to have attained women’s State Pension age in or before the qualifying week which is the week beginning on the third Monday of September in that year.
The attached link provides details of the relevant dates as women’s State Pension age increases until equalisation with men’s State Pension age in November 2018.
Following equalisation entitlement to a winter fuel payment will be determined by having reached State Pension age in or before the September qualifying week.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/310231/spa-timetable.pdf.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria are used to set the birthday dates for winter fuel allowance allocation.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
To receive a winter fuel payment a claimant has to have attained women’s State Pension age in or before the qualifying week which is the week beginning on the third Monday of September in that year.
The attached link provides details of the relevant dates as women’s State Pension age increases until equalisation with men’s State Pension age in November 2018.
Following equalisation entitlement to a winter fuel payment will be determined by having reached State Pension age in or before the September qualifying week.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/310231/spa-timetable.pdf.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in each parliamentary constituency who have been reassessed for personal independence payments or disability living allowance have lost the higher rate mobility allowance.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) claims in payment, registrations, clearances and awards for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of disability living allowance (DLA)) are published on Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics. In particular, breakdowns of reassessed claims in payment by type and rate of awards, at Great Britain, Regional, Parliamentary Constituency and Local Authority level, can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.
The Department does not have verified data on the number of PIP claimants who lost the higher rate mobility allowance as a result of the move to PIP. We intend to provide more detailed breakdowns of DLA to PIP reassessment outcomes in due course. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in each parliamentary constituency who have been reassessed for personal independence payments or disability living allowance have lost the higher rate mobility allowance.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) claims in payment, registrations, clearances and awards for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of disability living allowance (DLA)) are published on Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics. In particular, breakdowns of reassessed claims in payment by type and rate of awards, at Great Britain, Regional, Parliamentary Constituency and Local Authority level, can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.
The Department does not have verified data on the number of PIP claimants who lost the higher rate mobility allowance as a result of the move to PIP. We intend to provide more detailed breakdowns of DLA to PIP reassessment outcomes in due course. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will raise the threshold for carer's allowance to take into account increases in the national minimum wage.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The earnings limit for Carer’s Allowance which is not linked to the number of hours worked is currently £110 per week (net of certain expenses). It was increased to £110 in April 2015 – an increase of nearly 8%, which far outstripped the growth in earnings.
The Government keeps the earnings limit under review and keeps under consideration whether an increase in the threshold is warranted and affordable.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is possible for prisoners to start their universal credit application so that it is processed and ready to be applied when they are released.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
Prisoners are supported and advised whilst in prison on which benefits they can claim and how to make a claim and we are developing arrangements to enable them to make advance claims to Universal Credit.
Appropriate support measures for prison leavers with mental health issues will be considered following the initial claim interview.
Universal Credit is assessed and paid calendar monthly in arrears. Prison leavers will receive payment within the timescale of 5 weeks from the date of claim.
Prison leavers who are in financial need can apply for an advance payment of up to 50% of their total Universal Credit award following their initial interview.
The information requested in relation to the timescales for applications is not readily available for publication. To quality assure this information according to the standards of the UK Statistics Authority would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there are special procedures for universal credit applications for prisoners with mental health issues.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
Prisoners are supported and advised whilst in prison on which benefits they can claim and how to make a claim and we are developing arrangements to enable them to make advance claims to Universal Credit.
Appropriate support measures for prison leavers with mental health issues will be considered following the initial claim interview.
Universal Credit is assessed and paid calendar monthly in arrears. Prison leavers will receive payment within the timescale of 5 weeks from the date of claim.
Prison leavers who are in financial need can apply for an advance payment of up to 50% of their total Universal Credit award following their initial interview.
The information requested in relation to the timescales for applications is not readily available for publication. To quality assure this information according to the standards of the UK Statistics Authority would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the target timescale is for people leaving prison from application to receipt for universal credit; and how many and what proportion of applications take longer than that timescale.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
Prisoners are supported and advised whilst in prison on which benefits they can claim and how to make a claim and we are developing arrangements to enable them to make advance claims to Universal Credit.
Appropriate support measures for prison leavers with mental health issues will be considered following the initial claim interview.
Universal Credit is assessed and paid calendar monthly in arrears. Prison leavers will receive payment within the timescale of 5 weeks from the date of claim.
Prison leavers who are in financial need can apply for an advance payment of up to 50% of their total Universal Credit award following their initial interview.
The information requested in relation to the timescales for applications is not readily available for publication. To quality assure this information according to the standards of the UK Statistics Authority would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who had an employment and support allowance award terminated during the mandatory reconsideration process subsequently claimed jobseeker's allowance in (a) 2012 and (b) 2013.
Answered by Mike Penning
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Hart of Tenby (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of time taken to complete the employment and support allowance mandatory reconsideration process was in (a) 2012 and (b) 2013.
Answered by Mike Penning
Mandatory reconsideration was introduced for Employment and Support Allowance for decisions notified from 28 October 2013. The Department is collecting information to understand how it is operating from the point of its introduction, including the time taken from an application for reconsideration of an ESA decision to a decision being made on the case.
At present, this data is not sufficiently robust and reliable to make available.