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Written Question
Household Support Fund: Greater Manchester
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of how many families have received funding from the Household Support Fund in (a) Manchester, Gorton constituency and (b) Greater Manchester since October 2021.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

There have been four Household Support Fund (HSF) schemes to date, with the current iteration running until the end of March 2024. Management Information (MI) was published for HSF1-3 following the completion of each scheme and can be found here.

Household Support Fund 3 management information:1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)

Household Support Fund 2 management information: 1 April to 30 September 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)

Household Support Fund management information: 6 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The latest MI covering HSF3 was published in August 2023. We will similarly look to publish MI for the entirety of HSF4 following scheme completion and subject to quality assurance processes. An evaluation of the current HSF4 scheme is underway. This will seek to understand the delivery and impacts of scheme funding.

The number of awards is reported by Authorities, and so data at a constituency level is not available. A total of 1.8m HSF awards were provided to residents in the Local Authorities that make up Greater Manchester (Manchester, Stockport, Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton, Wigan, Salford and Trafford) during HSF1-3,including 420,000 in Manchester City Council. The number of awards, as reported by Authorities, may not represent the number of people helped as some may have received multiple awards.

No assessment has been made of the impact of the Household Support Fund on child poverty. The HSF is an intentionally flexible scheme designed to enable Local Authorities to respond to local need. Local Authorities are encouraged through our scheme guidance to consider the needs of households including families with children of all ages.

A total of £80.7m has been spent in the Local Authorities that make up Greater Manchester during HSF1-3 of which an average 69% has been spent on families with children. This includes 19.4m spent in the Manchester Local Authority of which 52% has been spent on families with children. Overall, Greater Manchester has been allocated £134.6m over all 4 rounds of the Household Support Fund including £32.3m for the Manchester Local Authority. Information regarding HSF4 funding allocations can be found here.


Written Question
Household Support Fund: Manchester Gorton
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Household Support Fund on levels of child poverty in Manchester, Gorton constituency since October 2021.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

There have been four Household Support Fund (HSF) schemes to date, with the current iteration running until the end of March 2024. Management Information (MI) was published for HSF1-3 following the completion of each scheme and can be found here.

Household Support Fund 3 management information:1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)

Household Support Fund 2 management information: 1 April to 30 September 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)

Household Support Fund management information: 6 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The latest MI covering HSF3 was published in August 2023. We will similarly look to publish MI for the entirety of HSF4 following scheme completion and subject to quality assurance processes. An evaluation of the current HSF4 scheme is underway. This will seek to understand the delivery and impacts of scheme funding.

The number of awards is reported by Authorities, and so data at a constituency level is not available. A total of 1.8m HSF awards were provided to residents in the Local Authorities that make up Greater Manchester (Manchester, Stockport, Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton, Wigan, Salford and Trafford) during HSF1-3,including 420,000 in Manchester City Council. The number of awards, as reported by Authorities, may not represent the number of people helped as some may have received multiple awards.

No assessment has been made of the impact of the Household Support Fund on child poverty. The HSF is an intentionally flexible scheme designed to enable Local Authorities to respond to local need. Local Authorities are encouraged through our scheme guidance to consider the needs of households including families with children of all ages.

A total of £80.7m has been spent in the Local Authorities that make up Greater Manchester during HSF1-3 of which an average 69% has been spent on families with children. This includes 19.4m spent in the Manchester Local Authority of which 52% has been spent on families with children. Overall, Greater Manchester has been allocated £134.6m over all 4 rounds of the Household Support Fund including £32.3m for the Manchester Local Authority. Information regarding HSF4 funding allocations can be found here.


Written Question
Household Support Fund: Greater Manchester
Monday 15th January 2024

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many awards have been made through the Household Support Fund in (a) Manchester, Gorton constituency and (b) Greater Manchester since October 2021.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

There have been four Household Support Fund (HSF) schemes to date, with the current iteration running until the end of March 2024. Management Information (MI) was published for HSF1-3 following the completion of each scheme and can be found here.

Household Support Fund 3 management information:1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)

Household Support Fund 2 management information: 1 April to 30 September 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)

Household Support Fund management information: 6 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The latest MI covering HSF3 was published in August 2023. We will similarly look to publish MI for the entirety of HSF4 following scheme completion and subject to quality assurance processes. An evaluation of the current HSF4 scheme is underway. This will seek to understand the delivery and impacts of scheme funding.

The number of awards is reported by Authorities, and so data at a constituency level is not available. A total of 1.8m HSF awards were provided to residents in the Local Authorities that make up Greater Manchester (Manchester, Stockport, Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton, Wigan, Salford and Trafford) during HSF1-3,including 420,000 in Manchester City Council. The number of awards, as reported by Authorities, may not represent the number of people helped as some may have received multiple awards.

No assessment has been made of the impact of the Household Support Fund on child poverty. The HSF is an intentionally flexible scheme designed to enable Local Authorities to respond to local need. Local Authorities are encouraged through our scheme guidance to consider the needs of households including families with children of all ages.

A total of £80.7m has been spent in the Local Authorities that make up Greater Manchester during HSF1-3 of which an average 69% has been spent on families with children. This includes 19.4m spent in the Manchester Local Authority of which 52% has been spent on families with children. Overall, Greater Manchester has been allocated £134.6m over all 4 rounds of the Household Support Fund including £32.3m for the Manchester Local Authority. Information regarding HSF4 funding allocations can be found here.


Written Question
Poverty: Children
Wednesday 29th November 2023

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

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 reduce child poverty in Manchester, Gorton constituency.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government is committed to reducing poverty, including child poverty, and supporting low-income families. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and children.

From April 2023, we uprated benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1% and, subject to Parliamentary approval, working-age benefits will rise by 6.7% from April 2024, in line with inflation.

In 2021/22 there were 1.7 million fewer people in absolute poverty after housing costs than in 2009/10, including 400,000 fewer children.

With almost one million job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting people, including parents, to move into and progress in work. This approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. The latest statistics show that in 2021/22 children living in workless households were 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty, after housing costs, than those where all adults work.

To help people into work, our core Jobcentre offer provides a range of options, including face-to-face time with work coaches and interview assistance. In addition, there is specific support targeted towards young people, people aged 50 plus and job seekers with disabilities or health issues.

In addition, the voluntary in-work progression offer started to roll-out in April 2022. It is now available in all Jobcentres across Great Britain. We estimate that around 1.2m low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid work.

To further support parents into work, on 28th June 2023, the maximum monthly amounts that a parent can be reimbursed for their childcare increased by 47%, from £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children to £950.92 and £1,630.15 respectively. Importantly, we can now also provide even more help with upfront childcare costs when parents move into work or increase their hours.

To support those who are in work, on 1 April 2024, the Government will increase the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 years and over by 9.8% to £11.44 representing an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW.

This government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living which is why we are providing total support of £104bn over 2022-25 to help households and individuals.

Included within this, to support low-income households with increasing rent costs, the government will raise Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents in April 2024. This will benefit 1.6 million low-income households, who will be around £800 a year better off on average in 2024-25.


Written Question
Children: Maintenance
Monday 3rd July 2023

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many paying parents had child maintenance arrears of more than (a) £1,000, (b) £5,000 and (c) £10,000 in each financial year since 2009-10.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service does not currently hold the information requested. The number of paying parents with arrears as of the 31st of March each year between 2018 and 2023 has been provided.

Number of Paying Parents

Arrears

Mar-18

Mar-19

Mar-20

Mar-21

Mar-22

Mar-23

More than £1,000 but less than or equal to £5,000

45,800

56,800

65,200

68,600

76,800

85,200

More than £5,000 but less than or equal to £10,000

6,500

10,300

13,600

15,900

18,100

20,600

More than £10,000

1,300

2,600

4,300

6,000

7,500

9,200

Source: Child Maintenance Service Administrative Data

  1. All figures are rounded to the nearest 100. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
  2. The figures supplied are derived from unpublished information and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.


Written Question
Children: Maintenance
Monday 3rd July 2023

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

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 amount in child maintenance payments (a) not paid by paying parents and (b) not received by receiving parents when the paying parent's income has been misreported in each financial year since 2009-10.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service does not hold the information to fully respond to the request.

The Department publishes quarterly Child Maintenance Service (CMS) statistics, with the latest statistics available to the end of December 2022 here. Table 6 of the National Tables provides the total amount of uncollected child maintenance from March 2015 – December 2022.


Written Question
Children: Maintenance
Monday 3rd July 2023

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

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 help ensure that paying parents report their income (a) promptly and (b) accurately to the Child Maintenance Service.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

As a principal part of the service design the Department uses data from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and its own benefits data to assess 91% of Paying Parents earned income and benefit status, which are key parts of the maintenance calculation.

Additionally, the Child Maintenance service allows both paying and receiving parents to request a change to the assessment if they believe that the paying parent’s income has changed by more than 25% compared to the most recent figures provided by HMRC. This can be done online, over the telephone or in writing. Customer communications highlight the obligations of parents to provide information and the consequences of failure to comply or misrepresentation.

Where a paying parent receives unearned income which can be legally considered in assessing child maintenance either parent can request a variation to the normal maintenance calculation. Cases involving suspected misrepresentation or fraudulent behaviour can be looked into by the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU). This is a specialist team which can request information from financial institutions to check the accuracy of information the CMS is given.


Written Question
Universal Credit: Cold Weather Payments
Tuesday 24th January 2023

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing people in receipt of Universal Credit who work but have limited capacity to work to be eligible for the Cold Weather Payment.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Cold Weather Payments make an important contribution towards the additional heating costs incurred during periods of exceptionally cold weather, between 1st of November and the 31st of March each year. There are no plans to change eligibility.


Written Question
Cold Weather Payments
Thursday 15th December 2022

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

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 increasing the Cold Weather Payment in line with inflation.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The current Cold Weather Payment scheme represents a contribution towards additional heating costs, paid at the time of need.

The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The government’s Energy Price Guarantee will save a typical British household around £900 this winter, based on what energy price would have been under the current price cap – reducing bills by roughly a third. This is in addition to the over £37bn of cost of living support announced earlier this year which includes the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.


Written Question
Cold Weather Payments
Wednesday 14th December 2022

Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)

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 impact of maximum waiting times to receive the Cold Weather Payment on people with pay-as-you-go energy meters.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

The Cold Weather Payment scheme ensures that vulnerable claimants on qualifying benefits automatically receive a payment of £25 for every 7-day period of exceptionally cold weather. It is paid within 14 working days of a trigger. Issuing payments automatically without the need to claim provides certainty to claimants and minimises delays.