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 human resources information their Department shares with trade unions on a regular basis.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Senior Departmental officials meet with Departmental Trade Union Side to discuss resourcing issues including finance, demand, and recruitment.
As part of the annual delegated pay negotiations, the department provides the three trade unions that are recognised in DWP with detailed information on pay, including pay scales and where employees currently sit within these.
Individual Departmental Directors with responsibility for Service Delivery meet trade unions annually to discuss the resourcing position specific to their area of work. In addition, Departmental Directors meet trade unions regularly to update and share information on issues such as resources, staffing, workloads, performance, health and safety and wellbeing.
There is also a range of publicly available HR information published on 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, 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.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Monthly Universal Credit full service sanction rate statistics are published every three months on Stat-Xplore.
The information requested for part a) and b) is provided in the attached 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 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.
The Government recognises the importance of supporting the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. We seek to balance recovery of debt against not causing hardship for claimants and their families. Processes are in place to ensure deductions are manageable, and customers can contact DWP Debt Management if they are experiencing financial hardship, to discuss a reduction in their rate of repayment or a temporary suspension, depending on their financial circumstances.
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 analysis of Universal Credit claims with a deduction in May 2022 by Parliamentary Constituency in Great Britain (GB) is provided in the separate spreadsheet.
Points to note:
1. The number of claims per constituency in the table are rounded to the nearest hundred, total claims at GB level rounded to the nearest thousand. UC payments and total amounts of deductions are rounded to the nearest thousand pound. The sum of individual constituencies may not sum to the total figure due to rounding.
2. Deductions include advance repayments, third party deductions and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties which are reductions of benefit rather than deductions.
3. Amount of Universal Credit paid reflects the amount of money paid to claimants and their landlords as part of their award, including the amount which they would have been entitled to had it not been deducted. It does not include other payments such as advances and hardship payments.
4. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.
5. The' unknown' parliamentary constituency label relates to claims for which a constituency could not be determined due to incomplete postcode information.
6. Data for May 2022 has been provided in line with the latest available UC Household Statistics.
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 her Department's planned timetable is for all Personal Independence Payment applicants to have the choice of a recorded assessment.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The option for a claimant to request an audio recording of their Personal Independence Payment (PIP) telephone or face-to-face assessment is already available, and we are working closely with providers to add the functionality to video assessments. In addition to this, from January 2022, claimants can make their own recordings on a device of their choosing if they do not wish for the assessment to be recorded on their behalf.
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 her Department's timetable is for running another pilot of non-financial penalties in place of benefit sanctions.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have no plans to run another pilot at this time.
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 (a) shortest, (b) median and (c) longest waiting times are among Personal Independence Payment applicants who are awaiting an assessment as of 28 June 2022.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Time waiting for assessment is defined as the time from the date an application was referred to the provider from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to the date the assessment was completed and referred back to DWP. Where claimants are outstanding, the assessment is not yet complete.
Shortest waiting times:
Shortest waiting times relate to Special rules for Terminal Illness (SRTI) cases where claimants have a terminal diagnosis.
As of May 2022 (the latest available data), the average time for an SRTI case to be returned to DWP after referral to a provider (i.e., assessment is complete) was 1.61 working days.
Median waiting times:
Median waiting times for each stage of the claimant process can be found in published stats.
Median time waiting for an assessment as of April 2022 (the latest available data) was 12 weeks for new claims and 11 weeks for reassessments.
Longest waiting time:
Latest data from 20 June 2022 shows the oldest case was referred in July 2021.
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 people were awaiting an assessment for Personal Independence Payment in each of the last 12 months for which data are available.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The total number of claimants that were awaiting an assessment for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), in each of the last 12 months, is provided in the table below.
Month | People Awaiting Assessment |
Jun-21 | 220,840 |
Jul-21 | 235,790 |
Aug-21 | 266,650 |
Sep-21 | 279,600 |
Oct-21 | 295,570 |
Nov-21 | 294,750 |
Dec-21 | 311,870 |
Jan-22 | 313,420 |
Feb-22 | 312,480 |
Mar-22 | 311,390 |
Apr-22 | 317,220 |
May-22 | 312,470 |
Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
All of the above data is derived from contractual management information produced by the assessment providers.
Please note: the above data is derived from unpublished management information which is collected for internal departmental use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics Publication standards.
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 universal credit claims were subject to deductions in the most recent month for which data is available, broken down by parliamentary constituency; how much on average was deducted in each constituency; what the total sum was of deductions in each constituency; and what proportion of each of those sums was deducted to repay advance payments; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government recognises the importance of supporting the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. We seek to balance recovery of debt against not causing hardship for claimants and their families. Processes are in place to ensure deductions are manageable, and customers can contact DWP Debt Management if they are experiencing financial hardship, to discuss a reduction in their rate of repayment or a temporary suspension, depending on their financial circumstances.
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 February 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, what steps her Department is taking to ensure all Personal Independence Payment claimants are adequately informed of their rights of mandatory reconsideration when offering claimants an increased benefits award over the telephone after their appeal has been lodged.
Answered by Chloe Smith
If an appealed decision is revised, the claimant can immediately appeal that decision without first having to request a Mandatory Reconsideration. This is explained both in the phone call which is made when this option is discussed, and again in the decision notice should the claimant agree to the decision being revised.
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 Personal Independence Payment claimants have had their claim lapsed by her Department in Scotland.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The table below provides information on Personal Independence Payment appeal registrations and lapses for both the whole of Great Britain and for Scotland, between 1st April 2013 and 31st December 2021.
GB Appeals registered | GB Appeals lapsed | Scotland Appeals registered | Scotland Appeals lapsed |
604,080 | 112,100 (19% of GB appeals registered) | 72,590 | 12,270 (17% of Scotland appeals registered) |
Notes: