Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what additional financial support her Department is providing to claimants of universal credit whose partners are in receipt of the state pension during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Will Quince
Couples where one member is receiving state pension and the other is of working age, who are not already claiming Pension Credit and/or Housing Benefit for pensioners, will be supported through Universal Credit where eligible.
The Government has announced a suite of measures to support those facing the most financial disruption during the pandemic. This includes increasing the standard allowance in Universal Credit by £86.67 per month (equivalent to £20 per week), on top of the planned annual uprating. This means that claimants may be up to £1,040 per year better off, depending on their circumstances. We have also made a number of other changes such as increasing Local Housing Allowance rates for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants; putting an average of £600 into people’s pockets.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on unemployment in the UK.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The independent Office for National Statistics’ latest estimate of unemployment and employment can be found at;
Since the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic the Government has made an unprecedented effort to protect jobs and livelihoods – with the package of measures the Government has put in place for employers, employees and the self-employed being amongst the most generous in the world.
The Chancellor has announced an unprecedented series of measures to support businesses and their employees to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.
DWP is continuing to work with HMT and other Government departments to monitor the evolving economic and labour market situation to identify the most effective ways to help people stay in or close to work both now and in the future.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to implement a post covid-19 employment programme to address (a) youth unemployment and (b) long-term unemployment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is closely monitoring the evolving economic, labour market and public health situation to identify the most effective ways to help people stay in or close to work while considering the longer term labour market strategy.
We are engaging with a range of external organisations, and devolved and local partners, to better understand the impact of the pandemic, for example on particular places, sectors and groups.
This will ensure that the Department identifies the best measures to support economic recovery and that we put in place the best possible employment support offer.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing a restart programme for 19-25 year olds entering the job market in 2020.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Jobcentres have already started to re-engage with new and existing claimants and are signposting them to appropriate support to support people through the economic recovery post Covid-19.
DWP is also engaging with a number of external stakeholders including the Youth Employment Group (set up by the Prince’s Trust, Youth Employment UK, the Institute for Employment Studies, the Youth Futures Foundation and Impetus) as well as continuing to work across Whitehall to develop appropriate support aimed at young people.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the suspension of post-mortems on patients with suspected cases of industrial chest disease following the outbreak of covid-19 on the ability of the families of those patients to claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
.Where a posthumous claim is made for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, any relevant medical evidence will be considered to help determine eligibility for benefit. The dependants of the deceased may submit supporting evidence they feel is relevant, including medical evidence which suggests a diagnosis, even where this is not confirmed. In addition, healthcare professionals will contact the deceased’s GP or hospital specialist, to obtain further evidence if this is required, as part of their assessment of the claim.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants had their applications for universal credit (a) approved and (b) rejected in the (i) Sheffield City Region and (ii) Barnsley Central constituency since 1 March 2020.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not readily available at constituency level and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants had their applications for an advance on their first payment (a) approved and (b) rejected in the (i) Sheffield City Region and (ii) Barnsley Central constituency since 1 March 2020.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not readily available at constituency level and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has plans to publish guidance for people that have been made redundant as a result of covid-19 on the JobCentre Plus website in order to promote social distancing by reducing attendance at job centres.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All face to face appointments have been suspended so that jobcentres are closed to the public except for in exceptional circumstances to minimise risk to the public and staff. Gov.uk already contains information and guidance for people who are being made redundant. This information has been updated as appropriate to inform the public that face to face appointments are currently not required.
In addition, the pages that contain information about claiming benefits have been updated to say that customers do not need to attend interviews at the moment because of Covid-19, and that DWP will contact them should we require more information to enable us to process their claim.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the covid-19 outbreak, what plans her Department has to change the process of applying for universal credit for people who cannot apply online so that claimants do not have to take proof of identity into their local JobCentre.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department takes seriously the need to support claimants during the COVID-19 outbreak, and wants Universal Credit to be easy to access. It is designed to be a ‘digital-first’ service, ensuring we make best use of technology to deliver a modern and effective working-age welfare system. This allows our staff to concentrate on those people who require additional support through different channels.
Although the Department offers comprehensive support for claimants to use our digital service, there will be occasions when people are unable to make their claim online, so telephone applications can be accepted through the Freephone Universal Credit Helpline.
Jobcentres are currently closed to claimants, except for the most complex cases where help can only be delivered face-to-face. As a consequence, new Universal Credit claimants will have their identity verified by telephone through the use of biographical questions generated by information already held by the Department.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the amount payable in housing benefit and the housing element of universal credit decreasing when a non-dependent's earnings increase, what recent representations he has received on reducing the bracket for non-dependents' earnings.
Answered by Will Quince
There are no income bands and only one deduction rate applied to Universal Credit claimants who have non-dependents living in their household.
There have been no recent representations to reduce the income bands for non-dependents’ earnings for people receiving Housing Benefit.