Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has any plans to (a) change the rules on the state pension age for women and (b) compensate those affected by the change in rules.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Successive Governments have made necessary decisions to equalise and increase the State Pension age. State Pension age reform has focused on maintaining the right balance between sustainability of State Pension, equality and fairness between generations in the face of demographic change.
Even after equalising women’s State Pension age with men’s, women will spend more than 2 years longer on average in receipt of their state pension because of their longer life expectancy. If we had not equalised State Pension age, women would be expected to spend on average over 40 per cent of their adult lives in retirement.
During the passage of the Pensions Act 2011, the Government listened to the concerns of those affected and this is why we introduced a concession worth over £1 billion in order to limit the impact on those women who would be most affected by the changes. This concession reduced the proposed increase in State Pension age for over 450,000 men and women, and means that no woman will see her pension age change by more than 18 months, relative to the 1995 Act timetable.
For people who simply can’t work, our welfare system will continue to provide a strong safety net, as it does for people of all ages now. Any women experiencing hardship, including problems such as unemployment, disability, and coping with caring responsibilities, can already claim support from the welfare system. The Government is committed to supporting the vulnerable and spends over £50 billion a year on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions. The new State Pension is more generous for many women. Over three million women stand to gain an average of £550 extra per year by 2030 as a result of recent State Pension reforms.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to ensure maximum uptake of pension credits in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency.
Answered by Guy Opperman
It is important to highlight that there are over 1.6 million people already claiming some £5.4 billion in Pension Credit but the Government wants to ensure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled. In Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk there are around 2,600 pensioners already claiming Pension Credit.
On a national basis the DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances. The DWP uses a wide range of channels to communicate information about benefits to potential customers; including information on https://gov.uk/, in leaflets and by telephone. DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres including visiting officers are able to provide help and advice about entitlement to benefits, as are staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit.
Potential customers can use the Pension Credit Calculator https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator to check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive. People wishing to claim Pension Credit can do so by calling the Freephone number 0800 99 1234.
We welcome and encourage initiatives to promote take up of Pension Credit by local organisations who may often be best placed to understand the local circumstances and needs in the community. To help facilitate this, we have developed the Pension Credit toolkit, as an on-line tool for agencies and welfare rights organisations to use in order to encourage Pension Credit take-up. It can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit
The toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. The toolkit also provides links to information about disability and carers benefits.
Most recently we have provided to relevant stakeholders a fact sheet about Pension Credit and the changes introduced on 15 May for mixed age couples to ensure that accurate information is available in the places where people are most likely to seek information.
Asked by: John Lamont (Conservative - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make automatic payment of the housing cost element of universal credit directly to the landlord.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit payments are designed to mirror the world of work, with monthly payments reflecting the way many working people are paid. This model of monthly payments allows claimants to take responsibility for budgeting their own income and helps prepare them for getting back to work.
Many claimants are capable of managing their own financial affairs and for these claimants a Managed Payment to Landlords (MPTL) is not appropriate.
A claimant’s personal circumstances could change in a way which means that they need additional support at any stage of a claim, not just at the start. As such, we make sure that managed payments to landlords (MPTL) are available to Universal Credit claimants when appropriate, either from the start of their claim or at whatever point in which they need help.
A MPTL can be requested by the claimant, their representative or their landlord and will be considered on a case by case basis and requests for MPTLs are dealt with as a priority. Landlords who are given access to the Landlord Portal are also given Trusted Partner status which allows them to make recommendations on whether an MPTL should be put in place. All MPTL recommendations from Trusted Partners will be implemented in good faith by DWP.