Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the levels of child poverty in Bristol North West in the context of the decision to uprate universal credit by 3.1 per cent.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No assessment has been made.
The latest statistics on the number and proportion of children who are in low income families by local area, covering the six years, 2014/15 to 2019/20, can be found in the annual publication: Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).
This Government is committed to reducing child poverty and supporting all low-income families, and believes work is the best route out of poverty. In 2019/20, children in households where all adults were in work were around six times less likely to be in absolute poverty (before housing costs) than children in a household where nobody works.
We are giving the lowest earners a pay rise by increasing the National Living Wage by 6.6% to £9.50 from April 2022, and making permanent changes to Universal Credit, worth £1000 a year on average, to two million in-work claimants.
To support low income families further, we have increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers to £4.25, helping eligible low income households buy basic foods like milk, fruit and vitamins. We are also investing over £200m a year from 2022, to continue our Holiday Activities and Food programme which is already providing enriching activities and healthy meals to children in all English Local Authorities. The Chancellor has extended the Household Support Fund to £1 billion to help vulnerable families.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's rationale is for the decision to uprate universal credit by September 2021's three per cent Consumer Price Index (CPI) benchmark when CPI is expected to exceed six per cent at the point that policy is implemented.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Secretary of State undertakes an annual review of benefits and pensions. CPI in the year to September (published by the Office for National Statistics in October) is the latest figure the Secretary of State can use to allow sufficient time for the required legislative and operational changes to be made before new rates can be introduced at the start of the new financial year.
All benefit up-rating since April 1987 has been based on the increase in the relevant price inflation index in the 12 months to the previous September, as happens now. Using the same benchmark every year ensures consistency over time, allowing uprating to balance out over a number of years.
For up-rating 2022/23 the Secretary of State announced the outcome of her annual review to Parliament on 25 November 2021 and from April 2022 benefits and pensions will increase by 3.1%.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance was provided by her Department to personal independence payment recipients who were at risk of losing their entitlement but unable to return to the UK during the periods of national lockdown in 2020 and 2021.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Claimants who were abroad and could not return to Great Britain due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 epidemic were advised that they could continue to be paid for as long as those restrictions remained in place. Once travel restrictions were lifted, claimants were expected to return to Great Britain if they wished to continue to receive payments.
A digital scan was run to identify claimants who had notified the Department they would be abroad on or after 2nd November 2019, identifying 409 claimants. The claims identified were extended to ensure they did not fall out of payment. Regular tracking of cases was undertaken to check if and when customers had returned to the country. Claims were ended when claimants stated they did not intend to return, and in three cases payment was stopped as no acceptable reason was provided for failure to return.
These numbers exclude claimants who failed to inform us that they had left the country because there was no information on the system to track, however guidance stated that once claimants did inform us, payment could be made as long as travel restrictions remained in place.
The numbers also exclude individual cases where claimants chose to travel after travel restrictions were lifted, and cases where the daily living component of PIP can remain in payment in the European Economic Area or Switzerland where a relevant EU Regulation applies and they can demonstrate a genuine link to the United Kingdom social security system.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Personal Independence Payment recipients had their entitlement withdrawn as a result of being stranded in another country during periods of lockdown in the UK in 2020 and 2021.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Claimants who were abroad and could not return to Great Britain due to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 epidemic were advised that they could continue to be paid for as long as those restrictions remained in place. Once travel restrictions were lifted, claimants were expected to return to Great Britain if they wished to continue to receive payments.
A digital scan was run to identify claimants who had notified the Department they would be abroad on or after 2nd November 2019, identifying 409 claimants. The claims identified were extended to ensure they did not fall out of payment. Regular tracking of cases was undertaken to check if and when customers had returned to the country. Claims were ended when claimants stated they did not intend to return, and in three cases payment was stopped as no acceptable reason was provided for failure to return.
These numbers exclude claimants who failed to inform us that they had left the country because there was no information on the system to track, however guidance stated that once claimants did inform us, payment could be made as long as travel restrictions remained in place.
The numbers also exclude individual cases where claimants chose to travel after travel restrictions were lifted, and cases where the daily living component of PIP can remain in payment in the European Economic Area or Switzerland where a relevant EU Regulation applies and they can demonstrate a genuine link to the United Kingdom social security system.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the costs of uprating universal credit in line with the rate of inflation.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
UC standard allowances will be up-rated in April-22 in line with the September-21 CPI figure of 3.1%. A full list of how each UC element will be uprated can be found at: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9439/CBP-9439.pdf.
In 2022/23 spend on UC will be around £1.1bn higher because of the uprating of the UC standard allowances and various UC elements.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
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 effect of a rise in inflation on levels of child poverty in (a) Bristol North West constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon. Member to my response to Parliamentary Question 126529 answered 25th February 2022.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
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 impact on the finances of (a) employment and support allowance and (b) personal independence payment claimants who have to wait until tribunal in order to receive their correct benefits award.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Department understands the potential effect of waiting for a tribunal hearing which is why our aim is to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey. Recent improvements to our decision-making processes mean that Decision Makers can better gather relevant additional evidence. This helps to ensure that people get the support they are entitled to as quickly as possible, without the need for a tribunal appeal.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that claimants receive the correct benefit award after their assessment without requiring a mandatory reconsideration or tribunal.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Department’s aim is to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey. We have made improvements to our decision-making processes to ensure that people get the support they are entitled to as quickly as possible, because decision makers can better gather relevant additional evidence earlier in the process.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has of the cost to her Department of mandatory reconsiderations for (a) employment and support allowance and (b) personal independence payment benefits claims in (i) 2019-20 and (ii) 2020-21.
Answered by Chloe Smith
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 2nd February 2022 to question number 108447.
Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department had made of the physical and mental health pressures that medical reassessments for welfare support place on claimants who are recovering from strokes.
Answered by Chloe Smith
As set out in answer UIN102750, benefits are designed to support an individual’s needs arising from a range of disabilities or ill health, including strokes.
The Department aims to continually improve the assessment process for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) through customer insight, stakeholder engagement and qualitative research. For people with the highest level of support and with severe and lifelong health conditions which will not improve or will deteriorate, new guidance was introduced in August 2018 for both new claims and award reviews to ensure they receive an ongoing award of PIP, with a light-touch review at the 10-year point. Since 2019 ongoing awards with a light-touch review at the 10-year point are also applied to most awards for people over State Pension age.
We published ‘Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper’ in July 2021 and asked for views on how we might improve health assessments considering a number of options. The consultation closed on 11 October 2021 and we will set out next steps in a White Paper later this year.
We are now exploring how to test a new Severe Disability Group (SDG) so those with severe and lifelong conditions can benefit from a simplified process to access ESA/UC and PIP without ever needing to complete a detailed application form or go through a face to face assessment/reassessment.