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, how many benefit claims were subject to sanctions in the last three months for which data is available by constituency; and how much was the (a) total and (b) average sum of benefit income lost by claimants due to sanctions in each constituency in that period.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Sanctions are only ever applied when a claimant fails to meet their agreed conditionality requirements without good reason.
Statistics are published regularly showing the number of Universal Credit full service claimants with a payment that has been reduced due to a sanction. These can be found in the UC sanction rates dataset on Stat-Xplore and are available by Westminster parliamentary constituency, monthly from April 2019 to February 2023.
The additional information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
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, whether an Access to Work scheme has been implemented in their Department.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Access to Work is a demand-led, personalised discretionary grant, which contributes to the disability-related extra costs of working faced by disabled people, and those with a health condition in the workplace that are beyond standard reasonable adjustments. It does not replace an employer’s duty under the Equality Act to make reasonable adjustments.
In 2006, the DWP took over responsibility for providing adjustments that would previously have been funded through Access to Work, for civil servants working in their department. This removed the need for DWP staff to apply for Access to Work. In April 2022, all Government departments followed suit and assumed responsibility for providing such adjustments for their staff.
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, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications of the Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling in the 2017 case of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council v Willetts & Ors for the calculation of holiday pay entitlement for staff in her Department; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP is committed to making statutory holiday payments in respect of relevant overtime payments to colleagues and significant work is being undertaken to implement a solution to include relevant overtime payments in holiday pay calculations for affected staff.
We are working at pace with our payroll provider and other partners and whilst progress is being made, I acknowledge this is taking longer than expected and understand that the delay is causing concern. We will confirm to colleagues when it is able to implement the anticipated changes. Finally, I would like to reassure you that the Department is doing all that it can to implement a solution as soon as is practicable.
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, how many and what proportion of Universal Credit claims were subject to deductions in the most recent month for which data is available, broken down by parliamentary constituency; how much was the (a) total and (b) average sum of deductions in each constituency; and what proportion of those sums was deducted to repay advance payments.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since April 2021, we have reduced the normal maximum rate of deductions in Universal Credit from 40% to 25% of a claimant’s Standard Allowance. These positive measures were put in place to support claimants to manage financial difficulties.
Advances are a claimant’s benefit entitlement paid early, allowing claimants to access 100% of their estimated Universal Credit payment upfront. They ensure nobody has to wait for a payment in Universal Credit, and those who need it are able to receive financial support as soon as possible. Claimants can receive up to 100% of their estimated Universal Credit award if required, resulting in 25 payments over a 24-month period. This is not a debt.
The requested analysis of Universal Credit claims with a deduction in November 2022 by parliamentary constituency in Great Britain (GB) is provided in the separate spreadsheet.
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, how many staff in his Department investigate benefit fraud; what recent estimate he has made of the cost of that fraud to the public purse; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
As of the end of April 2023, DWP has 1,111 full time equivalent (FTE) employees involved in investigating benefit fraud. This number does not include our compliance staff, who carry out robust and challenging interviews to ensure benefit claimants receive their correct entitlement.
For the financial year 2022/23, DWP estimated that the monetary value of benefit overpayments due to fraud stood at £6.4bn.
Fraud and error in the benefit system Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
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 the ten largest monthly deductions taken from Universal Credit payments were in the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Tables 1 & 2, in the attached spreadsheet, provide figures for the average monthly third-party deduction and the average monthly council tax deduction for the period December-21 to November-22.
Data for the ten largest monthly deductions taken from Universal Credit payments is not readily available and to provide this would incur disproportionate cost.
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, in the last 12 months for which data is available, what was the average monthly deduction taken from Universal Credit payments specifically for Council Tax purposes.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Tables 1 & 2, in the attached spreadsheet, provide figures for the average monthly third-party deduction and the average monthly council tax deduction for the period December-21 to November-22.
Data for the ten largest monthly deductions taken from Universal Credit payments is not readily available and to provide this would incur disproportionate cost.
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 the average monthly third party deduction taken from Universal Credit payments was in the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Tables 1 & 2, in the attached spreadsheet, provide figures for the average monthly third-party deduction and the average monthly council tax deduction for the period December-21 to November-22.
Data for the ten largest monthly deductions taken from Universal Credit payments is not readily available and to provide this would incur disproportionate cost.
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 assessment he has made of trends in the level of reporting of accidents owing to changes in the default preferences under the SOARS reporting system; and what assessment he has made of the impact of those trends on the Department's compliance with Regulation 4(a) of the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations in regard to safety representatives examining the causes of accidents in the workplace.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There have been no changes to the default preferences. The process remains that TUH&S representatives should receive a copy of all accident reports, these can be anonymised if the individual reporting requests it.
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, whether his Department consulted (a) health and safety representatives and (b) trade unions on the decision made by Sodexo to change the default setting on the SOARS accident reporting system to one where staff have to opt in to send details of any accident to local health and safety representatives.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There have been no changes to the default preferences. The process remains that TUH&S representatives should receive a copy of all accident reports, these can be anonymised if the individual reporting requests it.