Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to extend Cost of Living Payments beyond the Spring.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are currently no plans to extend the Cost of Living Payments beyond the Spring. Cost of Living payments enabled us to target further support during the rising cost of living pressures. Delivering lump sum payments got support faster to those who needed it, reflecting our commitment to providing direct and timely relief to those who need it most. The rate of inflation has slowed, and we have been able to implement uprating to other benefits in the meantime to reflect increased costs. This includes increasing benefits and the state pension by 10.1% in April 2023 in line with inflation. The Secretary of State has completed his annual statutory review of pensions and benefits and his decisions were announced to Parliament on 22 November. From April 2024, Universal Credit amounts will be up-rated by 6.7%.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to amend the eligibility criteria for Cost of Living Payments so that people on (a) Housing Benefit and (b) Council Tax Reduction qualify.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are currently no plans to amend eligibility criteria for Cost of Living Payments. Housing Benefit is not an income-replacement benefit; it is intended to cover only housing costs. Therefore, Housing Benefit is not a qualifying means-tested benefit for the Cost of Living Payment. Those with the lowest incomes may also be in receipt of a qualifying means-tested benefit alongside Housing Benefit to cover their other living costs, which could make them eligible for a Cost of Living Payment.
Eligibility for Council Tax Reduction is determined by local councils and is not a national policy. The eligibility for this support is dependent on a number of factors including where you live and your household income. Low-income households may also be in receipt of a qualifying, income-related means-tested benefit alongside Council Tax Reduction, which could make them eligible for a Cost of Living Payment.
Independent, free and anonymous benefit calculators are available here and can help individuals to see which benefits they may be entitled to.
For those who require additional support the Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable a further extension to the Household Support Fund in England. In England, this will run from 1 April to 31 March 2024, backed by £842m.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to increase the proportion of eligible people claiming Pension Credit.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We continue to maximise opportunities to raise awareness of Pension Credit which provides vital financial support to households on a low income. Our Pension Credit Communications campaign, ongoing since April 2022, has included advertising on national TV, newspapers, broadcast radio, on social media and via internet search engines as well as on screens in Post Offices and GP surgeries. We have also used sponsored advertising on targeted websites that pensioners, their family, and friends are likely to visit.
Our campaign messaging has highlighted that Pension Credit is a passport to a range of other help and benefits – including up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments.
The latest available figures show that there were more households receiving Pension Credit in May 2023 than in May 2022 – at the beginning of the campaign.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the number of care leavers aged between 17 and 21 who received Universal Credit in each of the last five years in (a) Knowsley and (b) England.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not available.
DWP started routinely collecting data on care leavers claiming UC in February 2022. All new claimants are now given the option of reporting their care leaver status, and Work Coaches can record existing claimants’ care leaver status if they are they are told about this.
This data is being monitored for data quality and does not yet meet the quality assurance standards for official statistics: the data coverage is still very limited and the claimants we have data on are not representative of the UC caseload. Therefore, no figures are available.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with (a) arthritis and (b) a musculoskeletal condition claimed support through Access to Work in 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested about the number of people with arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions that claimed support through Access to Work is not readily available and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support people with arthritis to remain in part time work in line with their condition in the context of Universal Credit threshold changes.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Administrative Earnings Threshold (AET) determines the level of Work Coach support that Universal Credit claimants receive. The purpose of raising the AET was to ensure that more UC claimants on low incomes are provided with regular Work Coach support to help them grow their earnings.
Any work-related requirements are agreed in discussion between the Work Coach and the claimant. These should always be tailored and personalised to reflect the claimant’s health condition, disability, caring responsibilities, and circumstances (including whether they are currently working), ensuring that any requirements are realistic and achievable.
Where someone is currently working, work-related activities are expected to focus on helping that person to increase their earnings and move into better paid quality jobs.
In order to provide support to disabled people and people with health conditions, including people with arthritis, to start, stay, and succeed in work, the Government delivers an extensive programme of specialist initiatives. Support to remain in work includes:
o Employment Advice in NHS Talking Therapies, which combines psychological treatment and employment support for people with mental health conditions; and
o The Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) programme, a Supported Employment model (place, train and maintain) delivered in health settings, aimed at people with physical or common mental health disabilities to support them to access paid jobs in the open labour market.
Building on our existing programme, we announced a wide-reaching package at the Spring Budget to support disabled people and people with health conditions to work.
New investment broadens access to additional Work Coach support for disabled people and people with health conditions, introduces a new supported employment programme (Universal Support) and focuses on providing faster access to joined-up work and health support, including for mental health and musculoskeletal conditions, the two leading causes of economic inactivity due to long term sickness.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January to Question 117888 on State Retirement Pensions: Females, if he will meet with the hon. Member for Knowsley, Dr Scutt and a representative group of women affected by state pension changes to discuss the matter of settlements.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has not completed his investigation into communication of changes to women’s state pension. It would be inappropriate to discuss this matter whilst it is ongoing. Section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 states that Ombudsman investigations “shall be conducted in private”.
The Department is cooperating fully with the PHSO in their investigation.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Cost of Living Payments for disabled people not on means-tested benefits and who have higher energy usage.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
I refer the Hon and Rt Hon Members to the answer I gave on 13 December 2022 to Question UIN 106507.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending eligibility for part of the Cost of Living Payment to people on means-tested benefits in winter 2022-23.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such assessment has been made. We will be bringing forward legislation for the 23/24 Cost of Living Payments in due course.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
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 impact of the recent incident on UK pensions living in Canada where their state pensions were suspended.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We understand that some customers in Canada did not receive life certificate forms sent to them by the Department. Our outbound postal supplier has confirmed that the life certificates were issued and dispatched from the UK.
In line with the process for all overseas state pension recipients, the Department suspended payment for those customers who did not return their form within the 16-week window. After being alerted to the failure to deliver within Canada, we reinstated all suspended payments and issued any arrears owed.
We have also extended the time period for Canadian customers to return their life certificate forms, having confirmed that certificates are now being delivered.