Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of disabled households whose benefit payments will (a) increase and (b) decrease when moved from legacy benefits to universal credit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
No such estimate has been made. The Managed Migration Pilot remains suspended as the Department continues to focus on delivering its part of the Government’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. SDP transitional payments were available to eligible claimants who were previously entitled to the SDP as part of a legacy benefit and made a Universal Credit claim before the SDP Gateway came into effect on 16th January 2019. We have ensured that a transitional SDP element will be considered for those entitled to SDP who make a claim to Universal Credit following a change of circumstances on or after 27th January 2021.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work on 7 October 2019, Official Report, column 1480 that around 1 million disabled households will gain on average £100 a month on universal credit compared with legacy benefits, if she will publish the analysis supporting that statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department’s internal analysis was based on its INFORM volume forecast model and Policy Simulation Model. The underlying methodology was signed off by the Office for Budget Responsibility and set out in detail in the Welfare Trends Report 2018, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/welfare-trends-report-january-2018.
The Department will publish full analysis comparing the benefit entitlement of UC claimants and legacy claimants in due course.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish details of the Internal Process Reviews completed by her Department from April 2019 to November 2020.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Internal Process Reviews are internal retrospective investigations, focussed on organisational learning. They are internal reviews that check if process was followed, to encourage learning and to drive change through the Department. We have no plans to publish any Internal Process Reviews, but will continue to follow our duties under the Freedom of Information Act in line with the 2016 First Tier Tribunal ruling in relation to what information can lawfully be disclosed.
Our priority is that claimants get the benefits to which they are entitled promptly and receive a supportive and compassionate service. In the vast majority of cases this happens but when, sadly, there is a tragic case we take it very seriously and seek to learn any lessons as appropriate.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
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 changes in the level of the (a) number and (b) proportion of (i) disabled people, (ii) children, (iii) working age people and (iv) people of state pension age living in poverty since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Will Quince
HMT’s recent distributional analysis released in March 2021 showed that Government interventions in response to Covid-19 are supporting the poorest working households the most (excluding any earnings gains). The poorest 10% of working households had seen no loss to household income as of November 2020. This is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/966207/DA_Document_Budget_2021.pdf
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants for (a) universal credit, (b) employment and support allowance and (c) personal independence payments have ceased their claims between March 2020 to present.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The information requested for Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. However, the latest Universal Credit statistics: user engagement survey report does include a statement, in section 4, regarding the development of Universal Credit flows data, as part of the Universal Credit statistics release strategy.
The Department publishes ESA quarterly caseload figures and UC monthly caseload figures and these can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance for users is available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Table 1 below shows the number of claimants receiving PIP who ceased their PIP claim each month from March 2020 to October 2020, the latest data available, who were receiving PIP at the end of the previous month.
Table 1: Number of PIP claimants who ceased their PIP claim, March 2020 – October 2020
Month | Number of PIP claims that are ceased |
Mar-20 | 14,270 |
Apr-20 | 16,460 |
May-20 | 8,660 |
Jun-20 | 9,120 |
Jul-20 | 7,720 |
Aug-20 | 11,610 |
Sep-20 | 11,290 |
Oct-20 | 14,930 |
Source: PIP Atomic Data Store
Notes:
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received Access to Work funding in (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20 and (c) 2020-21.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The number of people who have received an Access to Work payment broken down by financial year up to 2019/20 is available in Table 6 of the Access to Work statistics publications.
The information requested for 2020/21 is intended for future release in the 2020/21 Official Statistics publication.
The latest Access to Work official statistics can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/access-to-work-statistics
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many new applications for Access to Work funding have been received by her Department from March 2020 to date.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The information requested on number of applications received is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
However, the Access to Work statistics includes how many applications result in provision being approved from 2007/08 to 2019/20. Please see Table 3 of the Access to Work statistics.
The latest Access to Work statistics can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/access-to-work-statistics-april-2007-to-march-2020
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
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 adequacy of the 0.5 per cent increase in legacy benefits in meeting the costs incurred by claimants as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In April 2020, legacy benefits were increased by £600m (1.7%), and, as part of the Government’s annual up-rating exercise, we will ensure that benefits retain their value against prices by raising benefits by a further £100m (0.5%) from April, in line with CPI
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
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 extent of the financial effect of the covid-19 outbreak on disabled people.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This Government is committed to supporting disabled people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and has delivered an unprecedented package of support, injecting billions into the welfare system. We continue to monitor the impact on disabled people using existing and new data sources, whilst ensuring that they are able to access the support they need.
We are ensuring that disabled people continue to have access to disability benefits and other financial support, the food and essential goods that they need, as well as accessible communications and guidance during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Government continues to support disabled employees to access assistive technology and other forms of support they need to remain in work.
Access to Work prioritises applications from disabled people who have a job to start within 4 weeks of their application. Recognising the impact of COVID-19 has had on disabled people, Access to Work has expanded the prioritisation to include those in the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable group, keyworkers and introduced a new more flexible package of support to enable flex to work from more than one location, the workplace and home.
The disability benefits are not means–tested, non-contributory and thus paid regardless of any income or savings. They are also tax-free and worth up to £151.40 a week. PIP and DLA were not subject to the benefits freeze and were most recently uprated by 1.7 per cent from 6 April 2020.
The Government has introduced temporary measures to support those hardest hit, including the furlough scheme, self-employed income support scheme, and the £20 UC uplift. We spend over £55 billion a year on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions – This is around 2.6% of GDP. We have (up until the 20/21 year):
o Increased Employment and Support Allowance for people with the greatest needs – with the Support Group rate up by around £870 per year since 2010.
o Increased the higher rate of Attendance Allowance for people over State Pension Age who need someone to care for them – meaning around an additional £923 a year for disabled people since 2010.
o Increased Carer’s Allowance for those people who care for someone – meaning nearly an additional £700 a year for carers since 2010.
o Increased the rate of DLA paid to the most disabled children by over £130 a month since 2010, and spending more than ever on DLA for disabled children.
o Increased the enhanced rates of PIP which helps people meet the on-going costs of their disability – up by over £880 a year since its introduction in 2013.
o And there is a higher proportion of people on the top rates of Personal Independence Payment than there were on DLA – 33 per cent vs 15 per cent.
Asked by: Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of (a) universal credit, (b) employment and support allowance and (c) personal independence payments have died between March 2020 and March 2021.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
(a)Universal Credit can be claimed by a range of working age people, some of whom have health conditions or disabilities, which may be degenerative or life limiting. The decision to claim Universal Credit can be prompted by a range of a factors, including when someone is terminally ill, so mortality figures should not be viewed in isolation.
Between 1st March 2020 and 30th November 2020, 12,600 or 0.2 per cent of Universal Credit claimants died. The number of people who received Universal Credit at any point during this period was 6.2million.
(b) The information requested for Employment and Support Allowance is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
(c)Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is claimed by people with a range of health conditions and disabilities, many of which are degenerative or life limiting and the Department treats the death of any claimant sympathetically. The cause of death of claimants on PIP is not collated centrally by the Department. The decision to claim PIP can be prompted by a range of a factors, including when someone is terminally ill, so mortality figures should not be viewed in isolation.
Table 1 below shows the number of claimants receiving PIP who died each month from March 2020 to October 2020, the latest data available, who were receiving PIP at the end of the previous month. Note that the numbers of PIP claimant deaths in March and April 2020 here differ to those presented previously in PQ 59467, due to a methodological update.
Table 1: Number of PIP claimants with entitlement who died each month from March 2020 – October 2020
Month | Number of PIP Claimant Deaths |
Mar-20 | 6,120 |
Apr-20 | 7,540 |
May-20 | 5,650 |
Jun-20 | 4,960 |
Jul-20 | 4,820 |
Aug-20 | 5,050 |
Sep-20 | 5,010 |
Oct-20 | 5,700 |
Source: PIP ADS and Customer Information System
Notes:
Under the Social Security (Notification of Deaths) Regulations 2012 and s125 of Social Security Administration Act 1992 date of death is provided to the Department for all registered deaths. Additionally, next of kin also provide information on the date of death of an individual and this information is used appropriately in the administration of Departmental benefits.