Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the decision of the Information Commissioner of 28 September 2022 on the publication of the Prime Minister’s Implementation Unit report in 2019 on the experiences of vulnerable people claiming Universal Credit, reference IC-145903-X8D9, if she will place a copy of the report in the House of Commons Library.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Department is currently reviewing the Information Commissioner’s decision.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of unemployed (a) Universal Credit and (b) Job Seekers Allowance claimants who would have moved into work between 31 January and 26 June 2022 without the Way to Work campaign.
Answered by Julie Marson
No estimate has been made of the number of unemployed Universal Credit and Job Seeker Allowance claimants would have moved into work between January and June 2022 in the absence of the Way to Work campaign.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Half a million benefit claimants get jobs in under 6 months, dated 30 June 2022, if she will publish the analysis her Department used to determine that it had delivered on its target to get 500,000 more people into work in less than six months.
Answered by Julie Marson
On 26 January 2022, the Government launched the Way to Work campaign to move 500,000 job-ready claimants into work by the end of June 2022. Using the strength of the jobs market and building on the success of Kickstart, the campaign saw us working closely with employers to help claimants into jobs quicker, whilst strengthening our core support for jobseekers.
Due to the nature of the campaign, the total number of unemployed Universal Credit and Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants who moved into work during the campaign period is the same as the number who moved into work through the Way to Work campaign.
As of 25 July, we estimate that 523,500 unemployed Universal Credit claimants and JSA claimants have moved into work during the Way to Work Campaign between 31 January and 26 June 2022.
This total figure is composed of our into work measure to 26 June for Universal Credit claimants (484,300) and the equivalent information for JSA claimants (39,200). We have included those claimants with a sanction in place that moved into work during the period of the campaign up to 26 June (25,600). Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics but is provided in the interests of transparency and timeliness.
A description of the data used to show that it had achieved this target has been published previously – most recently in the following response found here.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of unemployed Universal Credit and Job Seeker's Allowance claimants who moved into work between 31 January and 26 June 2022 (a) in total and (b) through the Way to Work campaign.
Answered by Julie Marson
On 26 January 2022, the Government launched the Way to Work campaign to move 500,000 job-ready claimants into work by the end of June 2022. Using the strength of the jobs market and building on the success of Kickstart, the campaign saw us working closely with employers to help claimants into jobs quicker, whilst strengthening our core support for jobseekers.
Due to the nature of the campaign, the total number of unemployed Universal Credit and Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants who moved into work during the campaign period is the same as the number who moved into work through the Way to Work campaign.
As of 25 July, we estimate that 523,500 unemployed Universal Credit claimants and JSA claimants have moved into work during the Way to Work Campaign between 31 January and 26 June 2022.
This total figure is composed of our into work measure to 26 June for Universal Credit claimants (484,300) and the equivalent information for JSA claimants (39,200). We have included those claimants with a sanction in place that moved into work during the period of the campaign up to 26 June (25,600). Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.
The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics but is provided in the interests of transparency and timeliness.
A description of the data used to show that it had achieved this target has been published previously – most recently in the following response found here.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) total number of claimants of out-of-work benefits and (b) gross off-flow of claimants from out-of-work benefits into employment was for each month from January 2013 for data is available.
Answered by Julie Marson
The total out-of-work benefit caseload is published on a quarterly basis from February 2013 to November 2021 in the Benefit Combinations statistics on the Stat-Xplore website:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance for users of Stat-Xplore is available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Monthly out-of-work benefit destinations are only available for Jobseeker's Allowance claimants and are published by Office for National Statistics. The statistics for January 2013 to June 2022 can be found on the NOMIS website:
Guidance for users can be found at:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether claimants moving to Universal Credit by managed migration will be able to choose to have their Housing Element paid directly to their landlord from day one of their claim.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Payments of housing costs can be made direct to landlords at any point during a Universal Credit claim where the claimant is vulnerable, has rent arrears or there is a risk of eviction. The need for such arrangement may be identified by DWP staff or requested by the claimant, their appointee, caseworker or landlord.
For those migrating to Universal Credit who had Housing Benefit paid direct to their landlord, the need for payment to landlord is always considered from the start of the Universal Credit claim.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total number of people claiming Universal Credit whose Transitional Protection was stopped entirely in 2021-22 was; and what the total value of Transitional Protection payments that were paid in that year was.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
All claimants will be assessed for transitional protection at the point the Department moves them over to Universal Credit from legacy benefits and paid this where appropriate. The vast majority will either be better off, or no worse off.
Transitional protection will be paid to eligible claimants who would see a lower entitlement on Universal Credit. The aim of this temporary payment is to maintain the same level of entitlement at the point of transition so that claimants will have time to adjust to the new benefit system. To align with the entitlement of Universal Credit claimants in similar circumstances who were not managed migrated, Transitional Protection will be reduced by the award of any new Universal Credit element or an increase in an existing Universal Credit element, other than the childcare costs element. It will end if the Universal Credit award is terminated, there is a change in a claimant’s single or couple status or if the claimant has a sustained drop in earnings. If a claimant’s Universal Credit ends due to earnings, transitional protection can be reapplied to their Universal Credit award if they return to Universal Credit within 4 months of their previous Universal Credit claim ending.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee on 29 June 2022, what safeguards she has put in place to ensure that people are not left without money if they do not make a claim for Universal Credit by the deadline provided in their migration notice.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
During the initial phase of discovery, the Department will not terminate any benefits if the claimant fails to claim within the three-month period. If these claimants have not been able to engage with the department, DWP will give a 1-month extension to the deadline outlined in their notice. In this time, we will undertake proactive engagement with the claimant to understand why they have not claimed and provide additional support where required.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests for (a) split payment, (b) more frequent payment and (c) managed payment of housing element for Universal Credit were (i) made and (ii) granted in each month from April 2019 to July 2022.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2022, whether an eligible claimant will retain their Transitional Protection if they make a claim for Universal Credit later than the deadline provided in their migration notice.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As set out in Regulation 46 of the Universal Credit (UC) (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014, claimants in receipt of a migration notice who make a claim to Universal Credit up to one month after their deadline date, will have their UC award backdated to that date and will remain eligible for Transitional Protection.