Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received an advance payment of universal credit between 1 April 2023 and 12 March 2024.

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

Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, 880,000 Universal Credit (UC) households received at least one advance payment of UC and between 1 April 2023 and 30 November 2023, 610,000 UC households received at least one advance payment of UC.

Notes:

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10,000.

2. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.

3. Data up to November 2023 has been provided in line with the latest available UC Household Statistics.

4. This analysis includes New Claims, Change of Circumstances and Benefit Transfers as these are an advance of a Universal Credit payment. Budgeting Advances have been excluded since these are loans to help with emergency household costs and not an advance of Universal Credit payment.

5. Households with more than one advance payment in the stated time period have only been counted once.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received an advance payment of universal credit between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.

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

Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, 880,000 Universal Credit (UC) households received at least one advance payment of UC and between 1 April 2023 and 30 November 2023, 610,000 UC households received at least one advance payment of UC.

Notes:

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10,000.

2. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.

3. Data up to November 2023 has been provided in line with the latest available UC Household Statistics.

4. This analysis includes New Claims, Change of Circumstances and Benefit Transfers as these are an advance of a Universal Credit payment. Budgeting Advances have been excluded since these are loans to help with emergency household costs and not an advance of Universal Credit payment.

5. Households with more than one advance payment in the stated time period have only been counted once.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to extend the restart scheme beyond 2025.

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

As announced in the 2023 Autumn Statement, DWP is looking to extend the Restart Scheme for an extra two years with final referrals being made in June 2026.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time was for an initial assessment for people on the Access to Work Scheme in the latest period for which data is available.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The average waiting time from application to decision in February 2024 was 40.8 days.

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the average waiting time for those on Universal Credit to see a work coach for an initial interview.

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

The requested information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Universal Credit claimants who have no work requirements have been migrated from legacy benefits.

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

We will continue to assess the feasibility of publishing data by conditionality groups at a future date.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 December 2023 to Question 7037 on Restart Scheme, if the Department will publish the results of the first Customer Satisfaction Measure survey.

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

There is no current plan to publish the full results of the first Customer Satisfaction Measure survey. DWP already publish the overall Customer Satisfaction Measure rate. The full results are used internally to improve delivery.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the non-claim rate for people migrating from legacy benefits to Universal Credit; and what the non-claim rate was estimated to be.

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

Following discovery, we are now able to use evidence to make a specific assumption of 26% for Tax Credit (TC) only claims and 4% for all other legacy benefit combinations.

No previous estimate of tax credits only claims was made therefore it is wrong to compare the current TC claim rate to a 2010 assumption.

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 of his Department's staff are involved in sanctions (a) referral, (b) decision making, (c) administration and (d) appeals.

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

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) planned spending is for and (b) expected number of beneficiaries are of the Intensive Personalised Employment Support programme in each of the next five years.

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

The Intensive Personalised Employment Support (IPES) programme is due to end on 21 September 2025. The forecasted spending for the 2024/2025 tax year and the beginning of the 2025/2026 tax year until the programme ends is shown in the table below.

We do not produce a formal forecast of the number of participants for the IPES programme per year. The last intake of participants to the programme was December 2023. As of 29 February 2024, the total number of participants was 3,820. This number will decline as participants complete the programme, until September 2025 when the programme is due to end.

Please Note

• The figures in the table have been rounded to the nearest million.
• The data recorded in the IPES dataset does not meet the standards required to be included in the Official Statistics. Please treat the total number of participant value as a guide figure rather than an actual figure.

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 (a) fiscal and (b) economic impact of the reduction in the permitted period during which (i) Universal Credit and (ii) Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants can limit their work search to their preferred sector or pay level.

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

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

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 (a) fiscal cost to the public purse and (c) savings associated with the rollout of Additional Jobcentre Support.

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

A 12-month extension was announced in Spring Budget 2024, which will enable us to better understand the impact of Additional Jobcentre Support.

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 total number of work coaches required to implement the roll-out of Additional Jobcentre Support.

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

A 12-month extension was announced in Spring Budget 2024, which will enable us to better understand the impact of Additional Jobcentre Support.

Found: Letter dated 26/03/2024 from Paul Maynard MP to Alison McGovern MP regarding points raised in the backbench