Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is her Department's policy not to permit job centre staff to issue food bank referral forms to benefit claimants.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Jobcentre managers have discretion to work with a wide range of external partners, including food banks, where they are invited to do so. The Department has long-standing guidance in place which allows staff to signpost customers in writing to a food bank where they have expressed an interest in using one and if all sources of statutory support have been exhausted. We are also exploring how we can build on current good practice to make it as easy as possible for food banks to identify and refer back to the local Jobcentre any customers who may, for a variety of reasons, not be receiving the full formal support to which they are entitled.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what proportion of (a) employment support allowance mandatory reconsiderations and (b) personal independence payment mandatory reconsiderations her Department has contacted a claimant's GP or specialist to request medical evidence in the last 12 months; and what guidance his Department provides on when it is appropriate to contact a claimant's GP or specialist.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The information requested is not recorded centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The guidance for both benefits tells claimants that when making their claim they should provide the evidence that they already hold and that they should not request additional evidence for which they may need to pay, for example from their GP. If further medical evidence is required this will be requested by the Assessment Provider at no cost to the claimant. At Mandatory Reconsideration the guidance encourages claimants to share any new medical evidence they may have received since their original claim. The instructions in relation to claims and Mandatory Reconsideration are clearly signposted for both benefits.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to accept recommendations made by the Ombudsman's investigation into complaints regarding WASPI.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The process of any Ombudsman investigation is effectively unchanged since their creation by the Labour Government in 1967.
The Ombudsman is currently considering whether to investigate, and if so, the scope of that investigation. Should he decide to investigate, the DWP will co-operate in full with that process.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance her Department provides to (a) departmental staff and (b) employees of (i) Capita and (ii) Maximus on when to contact a claimant's healthcare provider to request medical evidence.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The department has clearly set out the requirements for when DWP and/or the Assessment Providers should request further medical evidence.
DWP/Assessment Provider Health Professional will consider obtaining further evidence if there is a significant gap in the available information, there is doubt about the level of function or if it is required in order to provide robust advice. There does not need to be independent corroborating evidence if the available information is comprehensive, clearly outlines the extent and nature of any functional problems and, above all, is consistent with the claimed condition(s).
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason universal credit excludes a housing (a) benefit and (b) costs element for people living in temporary or hostel accommodation; and what assessment he has made of the effect of that policy on the standard of living of people in that accommodation.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Since April 2018, people who are living in temporary accommodation but claiming Universal Credit, have their housing costs met through Housing Benefit. It is a statutory duty for local authorities to provide temporary accommodation to certain groups of vulnerable people and this change ensures local authority funding for vital emergency housing services continues.
For people living in hostels and other types of supported accommodation, following the consultations held on achieving a sustainable funding provision for this sector, we announced in August that we will maintain Housing Benefit for all supported housing groups including hostels. This decision reflects the needs of those vulnerable groups of people and the Government’s commitment to protect them.
In terms of the effect of the above policies on the standard of living of people in that accommodation, no such assessment has been made.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
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 merits of allocating funding to enable the work allowance threshold for universal credit to be set at its pre-2015 level.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The 2015 Summer Budget announced a measure to reduce and simplify work allowances, supporting the Government’s intention to move from a low wage, high tax society to a high wage, low tax society. This measure protects those on the very lowest income, while ensuring that incentives to progress in work remain and are improved for those taken off the benefits system altogether.
Work allowances for 2018-19 rose in line with the Consumer Price Index (3%).
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times her Department has contacted the doctor or healthcare worker of a benefits claimant to request medical evidence for their claim in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Where further medical evidence is required, it will be requested directly from a Doctor or Healthcare worker. In the majority of cases, further medical evidence will be requested by a Health Professional who is directly involved with the case. DWP do not hold this level of Management Information across all benefits.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on households with disabled children which (a) already receive the disabled child premium and (b) have not yet claimed that premium.
Answered by Sarah Newton
In formulating Universal Credit policy for support for families with disabled children the Government’s aim was to simplify previous provision and align the lower disabled child addition with that for adults. This was in order to ensure that, for this group, the extra amounts that are payable for disability were aligned when the young person claims benefit in their own right. The Government also took the opportunity to refocus resources on the most severely disabled children and adults and extended eligibility for the higher rate to children who are registered blind.
The Government is committed to supporting disabled people, improving the quality of life of those facing disadvantage and tackling poverty by addressing the causes driving it. We recognise that there can be extra costs associated with disability. Universal Credit provides additional support for disabled adults and disabled children.
No one, including households with disabled children, will have a reduced benefit entitlement at the point that they move over to Universal Credit as a result of managed migration.
Universal Credit claimants who are responsible for a child or a qualifying young person may be entitled to a Disabled Child Addition for each eligible child. This continues to be available for all eligible children, regardless of the total number of children in the household.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the child disability addition of universal credit is £29.10 per week and not at the rate of the existing disabled child premium of £62.86 per week.
Answered by Sarah Newton
In formulating Universal Credit policy for support for families with disabled children the Government’s aim was to simplify previous provision and align the lower disabled child addition with that for adults. This was in order to ensure that, for this group, the extra amounts that are payable for disability were aligned when the young person claims benefit in their own right. The Government also took the opportunity to refocus resources on the most severely disabled children and adults and extended eligibility for the higher rate to children who are registered blind.
The Government is committed to supporting disabled people, improving the quality of life of those facing disadvantage and tackling poverty by addressing the causes driving it. We recognise that there can be extra costs associated with disability. Universal Credit provides additional support for disabled adults and disabled children.
No one, including households with disabled children, will have a reduced benefit entitlement at the point that they move over to Universal Credit as a result of managed migration.
Universal Credit claimants who are responsible for a child or a qualifying young person may be entitled to a Disabled Child Addition for each eligible child. This continues to be available for all eligible children, regardless of the total number of children in the household.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the savings to be accrued to the public purse from the replacement of working tax credits with universal credit for new claimants in each of the next five years.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
It is not possible to separate out Working Tax Credits from savings accrued from all the legacy benefits that Universal Credit replaces. The overall impact on the public purse is set out in the answer to Question 156437 on 26 June 2018.