Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the reasons were for the decision that the voucher scheme would give universal credit claimants £100 a time rather than the monthly paid benefit payable under the simple payment method.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The simple payment service is being replaced by a new payment service. Customers can still receive payment at a PayPoint outlet but payment will be limited to £100 per transaction. Customers with higher than £100 entitlement can make multiple transactions at the same PayPoint outlet on the same day, subject to funds available from that outlet. The Department continues to encourage and support benefit customers, where possible, to receive payment via a bank, building society or a credit union account which does not have a similar restriction.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an estimate of the number of homeless people in full-service universal credit areas (a) before and (b) after the roll-out of universal credit.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Department has not made an estimate of the number of homeless people in full service areas. We do not hold data on homelessness at a postcode or Jobcentre Plus level, which would be necessary to inform such an estimate. Data on homelessness by local authority level is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/homelessness-statistics.
However, DWP have played an active role in developing the Homelessness Case Level Information Collection tool and is committed to continually supporting the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to improve its data collection system for statistical and research purposes. More information on this is available at https://gss.civilservice.gov.uk/statistics/working-with-users/dclg-homelessness-statistics-user-forum/.
In addition, from October 2018, Jobcentres across England will have a legal duty to refer homeless people, and those at risk of becoming homeless, to a local authority housing team of the claimant’s choice. This duty will help claimants access homelessness services as soon as possible, allowing local authorities to focus on prevention.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons the level of reported sanctions is higher in universal credit areas than in areas which provide on existing benefits.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
There are differences between sanctions policy in Universal Credit and other benefits. It is for this reason that the sanction rate in Universal Credit cannot be compared with the sanction rate in, for example, JSA.
For instance, under JSA if a claimant fails to attend a Work Coach meeting, after 5 days without making contact they would have their claim closed.
Under Universal Credit, if a claimant fails to attend a meeting with their Work Coach, their case is referred to a Decision Maker and they may be sanctioned if they are unable to provide good reason for not meeting the terms of their Claimant Commitment. However their claim remains open, as a claimant may have additional elements to their claim that they rely on, such as those for housing or children. If they are sanctioned, an amount equal to their standard allowance is reduced, but they continue to receive an award for any other elements they might be entitled to, subject to earnings and other deductions. Accordingly, the number of sanctions are higher in Universal Credit.
The policy intent behind this difference is not to sanction more people but to ensure that all payment is not terminated, and that other elements continue to be paid while we investigate the reason for the loss of contact with the claimant.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the implication for her policies are of the High Court ruling of 21 December 2017, RF v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Answered by Sarah Newton
I refer the Hon. Member to the statement made by myself, Official Report, 30 January 2018, Column 704.
The Department for Work and Pensions will not be appealing this judgment. The Department will therefore implement the Upper Tribunal judgment in MH.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints ATOS and Capita received on the quality of written medical reports after personal independence payments assessments in 2016-2017.
Answered by Sarah Newton
From January 2016 to December 2017 Independent Assessment Services (formally Atos Healthcare) and Capita completed a combined total of 2.1 million PIP assessments. The total number of complaints relating to the quality of the written assessment reports equates to less than 1% of the total number of completed assessments, as set out in the table below.
Year | IAS Number of complaints received | Capita Number of complaints received |
2016 | 1934 | 522 |
2017 | 2750 | 251 |
Total | 4684 | 773 |
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time is for claimants calling the universal credit helpline.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Internal management information data indicates that between April and December 2017, the average speed of answer across all Universal Credit helplines was 4 minutes and 45 seconds.
The Department operates a virtual telephony platform, which enables it to manage fluctuating call demands by increasing or decreasing the number of agents it uses to handle calls.
Each week, the Department matches the required capacity and resources to its telephony forecast to ensure it meets demand and delivers a good service across all channels. This capacity is designed to scale up in line with new claims as the service expands further this year.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support people who are affected by the gap between receiving existing benefit payments and receiving their first instalment of universal credit.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
In order to manage this transition, claimants migrating from legacy benefits will be offered a Universal Credit Benefit Transfer Advance.
This is a one-off recoverable advance of 100 per cent of a claimant’s expected Universal Credit entitlement. Claimants are not required to demonstrate financial need in order to receive the advance and it is recovered in equal instalments, interest-free, over a period of up to twelve months through deductions in the claimant’s monthly award. Exceptionally, this period can also be extended by up to three months.
From April 2018, all claimants already receiving Housing Benefit will also receive two weeks worth of additional Housing Benefit payments at the beginning of their Universal Credit claim. This is in addition to their Universal Credit support for housing costs.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons a claimant's weekly income tax rebate is regarded as earnings under universal credit.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Repayments of Income Tax and National Insurance contribution repayments add to people’s financial resources, so they need to be taken into account in calculating their Universal Credit. If the claimant was in any paid work during the tax year the repayment relates to, these repayments will be treated as earnings. Where this does not apply, the repayments will be treated as capital. If the repayment increases a claimant’s capital to £6,000 or more, it may affect the amount of Universal Credit they receive.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the proportion of staff turnover in the universal credit helpline centres was in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not collected by the Department.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what other companies were considered along with SERCO for the contract on distributing the new support for mortgage payment loans.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The contract was awarded following an open competition for which three bids were received and evaluated. The information requested is commercially sensitive so the names of bidding companies cannot be shared.