Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much local housing allowance was paid in (a) Wales, (b) Neath Port Talbot and (c) Aberavon in each of the the last five years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Local Housing Allowance expenditure data for Housing Benefit is available by Region and Local Authority, but not at Parliamentary Constituency level. 2021/22 is the latest year where Local Housing Allowance expenditure information is available. The table below shows how much local housing allowance was paid in (a) Wales and (b) Neath Port Talbot in each of the last five years.
Housing Benefit Local Housing Allowance Expenditure |
|
|
|
|
|
£ million, cash | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
Wales | 260.3 | 223.8 | 173.2 | 150.1 | 127.3 |
Neath Port Talbot | 14.4 | 10.9 | 8.7 | 7.5 | 6.5 |
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to reduce the length of time to determine mandatory reconsiderations for carers allowance.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
A request for a Carer’s Allowance mandatory reconsideration is all part of a wider combined DWP Disputes Resolution Service and Retirement Services Directorate changes of circumstances process.
The DWP has successfully reduced the head of work for Carer’s Allowance change of circumstances, which includes requests for a mandatory reconsideration, over the course of the last six months.
The current average clearance time for processing a change of circumstances is 14.5 days and reducing steadily month-on-month, which will improve the time taken to process mandatory
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average length of time was to determine mandatory reconsiderations for carers allowance as of 1 March 2023.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
This information is only available at disproportionate cost to the Department for Work & Pensions as the department does not have a business requirement for this information to be retained.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit (a) underpayments and (b) overpayments were made due to errors by his Department in each year since 2019.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The department’s national statistics on ‘Fraud and Error in the Benefit System’ include estimates of UC official errors overpaid and underpaid. This is expressed in terms of both value, and as a percentage of cases with error.
To be clear, the percentages of cases with error reflects the average cases incorrect at one time, rather than the total number of errors over the whole year. We express this as a percentage, rather than as a whole number.
Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2021 to 2022 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Year | Estimated percentage of UC cases with underpayments caused by Official Error | Estimated UC expenditure underpaid due to Official Error | Estimated percentage of UC cases with overpayments caused by Official Error | Estimated UC expenditure overpaid due to Official Error |
2019/20 | 2.6% | 0.5% (£90 million) | 4.1% | 1.3% (£250 million) |
2020/21 | 1.7% | 0.4% (£140 million) | 2.2% | 0.9% (£330 million) |
2021/22 | 2.3% | 0.3% (£140 million) | 2.6% | 0.7% (£270 million) |
The DWP has taken significant steps to ensure the accuracy of benefit payments and the vast majority of benefit expenditure is paid correctly. Our Targeted Case Review initiative will review 2 million UC cases over the next 5 years, checking entitlement and helping ensure people are getting the right amount of benefit.
The department remains committed to working with anyone who is struggling with benefit debt deductions and encourages customers experiencing hardship to contact the DWP to discuss their repayment plan.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the value was of Universal Credit (a) underpayments and (b) overpayments made due to errors by his Department in each year since 2019.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The department’s national statistics on ‘Fraud and Error in the Benefit System’ include estimates of UC official errors overpaid and underpaid. This is expressed in terms of both value, and as a percentage of cases with error.
To be clear, the percentages of cases with error reflects the average cases incorrect at one time, rather than the total number of errors over the whole year. We express this as a percentage, rather than as a whole number.
Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2021 to 2022 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Year | Estimated percentage of UC cases with underpayments caused by Official Error | Estimated UC expenditure underpaid due to Official Error | Estimated percentage of UC cases with overpayments caused by Official Error | Estimated UC expenditure overpaid due to Official Error |
2019/20 | 2.6% | 0.5% (£90 million) | 4.1% | 1.3% (£250 million) |
2020/21 | 1.7% | 0.4% (£140 million) | 2.2% | 0.9% (£330 million) |
2021/22 | 2.3% | 0.3% (£140 million) | 2.6% | 0.7% (£270 million) |
The DWP has taken significant steps to ensure the accuracy of benefit payments and the vast majority of benefit expenditure is paid correctly. Our Targeted Case Review initiative will review 2 million UC cases over the next 5 years, checking entitlement and helping ensure people are getting the right amount of benefit.
The department remains committed to working with anyone who is struggling with benefit debt deductions and encourages customers experiencing hardship to contact the DWP to discuss their repayment plan.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing how postcodes are allocated to weather stations for the purpose of determining the temperature for cold weather payments.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Met Office review the Cold Weather Payment scheme each year to assess whether the linkages between postcode areas and weather stations remain the best available. The Met Office will be conducting their next review this summer once the current Cold Weather Payment season has ended.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
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 ensure those eligible for attendance allowance are receiving it.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The department does not hold information on the number of people eligible for Attendance Allowance and not claiming, as it is not possible to accurately estimate what care needs will arise from an illness or disability in each individual.
Information on the availability of Attendance Allowance is already widely available, including online on GOV.UK; from places such as Libraries and Doctors Surgeries; directly from Health Care Professionals who might be supporting those with care needs; and from a range of groups and charities who provide advice and support to elderly people with care needs. DWP continually seeks to improve the information it makes available so as to encourage people to claim Attendance Allowance where they may be entitled.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who are eligible for attendance allowance are not claiming that benefit.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The department does not hold information on the number of people eligible for Attendance Allowance and not claiming, as it is not possible to accurately estimate what care needs will arise from an illness or disability in each individual.
Information on the availability of Attendance Allowance is already widely available, including online on GOV.UK; from places such as Libraries and Doctors Surgeries; directly from Health Care Professionals who might be supporting those with care needs; and from a range of groups and charities who provide advice and support to elderly people with care needs. DWP continually seeks to improve the information it makes available so as to encourage people to claim Attendance Allowance where they may be entitled.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cold weather payments have been issued in the SA13 postcode in each since 2019.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Cold Weather Payment scheme is administered at weather station level rather than any other standard GB geography such as postcode or constituency level. The coverage area for each weather station is determined by the Met Office which assesses the most appropriate weather station for each postcode area. Cold weather payments are triggered when the average temperature recorded at the weather station has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0oC or below over seven consecutive days, during the Cold Weather season (November to March).
The Postcode SA13 falls under the weather station St. Athan. St. Athan also covers the following postcode areas, in Table 1, which include postcodes other than SA13.
Table 1 Postcode districts mapped to Weather Stations | |
Weather station | Postcode Districts Covered |
St. Athan | CF3, CF5, CF10-11, CF14-15, CF23-24, CF31-36, CF61-64, CF71-72, NP10, NP18-20, SA10-13. |
Qualifying individuals living in these postcode districts will have received a payment in respect of a seven- day period of Cold Weather.
From 2019/20 up to the current season, 2022/23, there have been 0 Cold Weather Payment triggers for St. Athan weather station. Thus, 0 payments have been made to postcodes within St. Athan weather station since 2019, as outlined in Table 2.
Table 2 Number of payments made to postcodes covering St. Athan weather station | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
Number of Payments made | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
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 introducing an identity scheme for people with hidden disabilities.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government has no plans to introduce a new national disability identity card. We are aware that some disabled people are actively against having to carry a card which confirms their impairment. Other people who may meet the criteria for the Equality Act 2010 definition of disability do not identify as disabled, yet may require reasonable adjustments.
The Equality Act requires service providers to make adjustments to their practices, policies and procedures for all people who meet its definition of a disabled person, where reasonable.
There are however a number of optional schemes and cards in the UK that have been created to meet particular needs and which give people the choice to use them if they wish, such as the Hidden Disability Sunflower Scheme which discreetly identifies where additional support may be needed and is gaining widespread recognition, and Nimbus Disability’s Access Card which can help when communicating with a business about the types of support or reasonable adjustments that might be needed to access their services.