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, pursuant to the Answer of 17 May 2018 to Question 143651 on State Retirement Pensions: Females, how much additional resource has been provided to the Independent Case Examiners Office for 2018/2019; what effect this additional resource is expected to have on waiting times for complaints to be completed; and what proportion of those who responded to the ICE customer survey whose complaint related to WASPI said that they were satisfied with the service they received.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Independent Case Examiner’s Office will receive funding for thirteen additional staff during the 2018/19 financial year. Decisions as to how those resources are deployed rest with the Independent Case Examiner’s Office. Given the range and compexity of the complaints examined by the Office and the demand led nature of the service it provides, it is not possible to provide reliable predictions on how this will impact on overall waiting times.
Responses to the ICE Customer Satisfaction survey are anonymised and as such its is not possible to determine what proportion of WASPI complainants were satisfied with the service provided by the ICE Office.
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 her Department will make an assessment of the financial effect of the three-month waiting period for personal independence payment on people who have received a cancer diagnosis.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Other than for those who are terminally ill, Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is assessed on the basis of the needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability rather than a diagnosis. The three month qualifying period is one of the tests that determines whether an individual meets that definition. Claims can be submitted during the qualifying period
PIP claimants who are terminally ill do not have to satisfy the three month qualifying period, have their claim fast tracked and are eligible for the enhanced rate daily living component from the date of claim.
Financial and practical support may be available during the qualifying period, for example Employment and Support Allowance, the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme or support provided by a Local Authority.
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 additional resources have not been provided to the Independent Case Examiner to ensure that complaints made by WASPI women and all others are allocated and processed in a timely manner; and if the Government will provide such resources.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Independent Case Examiners (ICE) Office provides a demand led service. The time it takes to allocate and process complaints varies depending on the volume of referrals received, the complexity of the cases on hand and the available investigative resource. The Office is currently experiencing high volumes of referrals as a direct result of the Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign. Its resources are reviewed on an annual basis and additional resource has been provided for the 2018/19 financial year. The ICE Office aims to provide the higest quality of service and despite current waiting times, 82% of those who responded to the ICE customer survey said they were satisfied with the service they received.
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 has made an assessment of the potential merits of requiring claims for a male-female couple to be paid into (a) the woman's bank account and (b) a joint bank account; and what representations her Department received from (i) NGOs and (ii) other organisations on that matter.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The law provides for the splitting of benefit payments where the Secretary of State considers it to be in the interests of the claimants or children for whom they are responsible. The Department does not receive representations routinely requesting that payment is split, but of course would readily consider any such requests.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 20 March 2018 to Question 132939, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of universal credit claims paid to couples with children who do do not receive split payments are paid to a (i) male and (ii) female claimant.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Breakdowns of individuals on Universal Credit by gender, and households in Universal Credit by family type are published, and can be found on Stat-Xplore at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk.
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
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 proportion of universal credit claims by heterosexual couples (a) with children and (b) without children who do not receive split payments are made to the female partner.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not available. The Department does not collect information on the sexual orientation of claimants.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 23 February 2018 to Question 128081, for what reason complaints from women born in the 1950s who are affected by changes in state pension age have not yet been allocated to an investigation case manager; what steps his Department is taking to ensure that those complaints are (a) allocated to an investigation case manager and (b) resolved in a timely manner; and how long the Department estimates it will take to (i) allocate, (ii) investigate and (iii) resolve those complaints.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Independent Case Examiner’s Office allocates complaints from women born in the 1950s affected by changes to State Pension age, to a dedicated team of investigation case managers, based on the date the complaint was accepted for examination. In the case of this group of complaints, investigations have to date been concluded within an average of 9.75 weeks of the investigation commencing, against a target of 20 weeks. We cannot provide reliable estimates of how long it will take to allocate and conclude investigations into those cases that are currently awaiting investigation.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2018 to Question 126941, on Social Security Benefits: Correspondence, if the Government will take steps to address the disparity whereby Capita may use second class post to send a seven-day notification of an assessment to a claimant while Maximus and Atos-operated bodies do not use second class.
Answered by Sarah Newton
It is departmental policy that claimants are given sufficient notice of any appointment to attend for an assessment. DWP do not specify what class of postage Assessment Providers must use. Every case returned by Capita where the claimant has not attended the PIP assessment is checked to ensure that they have had the full 7 days notice, ensuring that no one is penalised where this has not been the case.
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 her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a national interest-free credit scheme to provide universal credit claimants with short-term loans to obtain household essentials.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
DWP already has a well-established system of interest-free support available for people in need. Advances are available, where claimants can receive up to 100% of their indicative award at the start of their claim. Budgeting advances, which are designed to cover unexpected household expenses, are also available for claimants who have been in receipt of Universal Credit for six months.
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 the use of second-class letter deliveries posted seven days in advance fulfil the requirement of (a) Capita and (b) other companies to give one week’s notice of assessments to claimants.
Answered by Sarah Newton
It is departmental policy that claimants are given sufficient notification of any appointment to attend for an assessment. Capita are one of the providers of Personal Independence Payment assessment reports. Every case returned by Capita or other Assessment Providers where the claimant has not attended the PIP appointment are checked to ensure that they have had the full 7 days, ensuring that no one is penalised where this has not been the case. I have been informed by the Centre for Health and Disability Assessments and the Independent Assessment Services that they do not use 2nd class post when inviting claimants for assessment appointments. All providers also have the ability to change the appointment.