Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
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 adequacy of Carer’s Allowance rates.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the honourable member to the answer I gave on 6 February 2025 to question UIN 28443.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has taken steps to notify British pensioners retiring abroad that their pension may be frozen.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The UK's policy on the up-rating of the UK State Pension for recipients living overseas is a longstanding one. The UK state pension is payable worldwide without regard to nationality and is uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so.
Up-rating is based on levels of earnings growth and price inflation in the UK which has no direct relevance where the pensioner is resident overseas.
Over many years, priority is given to those living in the United Kingdom when drawing up expenditure plans for additional pensioner benefits.
Information on what will happen when people emigrate to certain countries is available on www.gov.uk and this includes advice on the impact on State pension for people who do. Further advice can be obtained by calling the International Pension Centre on 0191 218 777 or the Pension Service on 0800 731 7898.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners have returned to the UK from countries where their state pension has been frozen in each of the last five years.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Department does not hold the information to be able to answer this question.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will hold discussions with Anne Puckridge on the exclusion of certain countries from the annual uplift to the UK State Pension during her visit to the UK in December 2024.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
There are currently no plans to hold discussions with Anne Puckridge on this issue.
The UK's policy on the up-rating of the UK State Pension for recipients living overseas is a longstanding one. The UK state pension is payable worldwide and is uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so, for example in countries with which we have a reciprocal agreement that provides for up-rating.
Up-rating is based on levels of earnings growth and price inflation in the UK which has no direct relevance where the pensioner is resident overseas.
Over many years, priority is given to those living in the United Kingdom when drawing up expenditure plans for additional pensioner benefits.
People move abroad for many reasons and this can have an impact on their finances. However, the decision to move abroad is voluntary and remains a personal choice dependent on the circumstances of the individual. For a number of years, advice has been provided to the public that the UK State Pension is not uprated overseas except where there is a legal requirement to do so. HM Revenue and Customs and the Department for Work and Pensions publish information on the Government website.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications her Department received from pensioners living in countries where the UK State Pension is not uprating yearly requesting that their pension be temporarily uprated because they are visiting (a) the UK or (b) travelling to a country where the State Pension is uprated in each year since 2021; and what the cost to the public purse was of maintaining a team in her Department to administer such requests in the same period.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to encourage employers to hire people with disabilities.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Employers are crucial in enhancing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to thrive in the workforce. Our forthcoming employment White Paper explores ways to improve employment outcomes and experiences for these groups.
Current support to employers includes the Disability Confident scheme which provides advice, support, and free resources to help employers attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace. The scheme encourages employers to think differently about disability and to take positive action to address the issues disabled employees face in the workplace. As of the 31 October 2024 there are over 19,000 employer members of the scheme and they report over 12 million employees working in their organisations.
At a local level, as part of their duties, Disability Employment Advisers promote, collaborate and advocate for our customers and department services, such as the Disability Confident scheme, with external partners, service providers and employers.
Nationally, DWP Strategic Relationship Team work with Disability Confident employers to demonstrate actively how they are bringing their Disability Confident commitments to life as part of their recruitment arrangements.
Current support to employers also includes a digital information service for employers which offers tailored guidance on supporting health and disability in the workplace.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help fill job vacancies in Romford constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Romford Jobcentre team deliver a bespoke service to employers, including candidate matching and screening, employer interviews on site, and group information sessions to help customers into work, as well as job fairs targeting specific sectors and customer groups, such as events for older workers, National Care Leavers Week, and Disability Confident. The team also arrange employer-led insight days and webinars, such as the current collaboration with Voice, an adult social care provider, to boost awareness and interest in this sector.
In the constituency and across the London Borough of Havering, Romford Jobcentre partners with both local and national employers to meet their recruitment needs, creating Sector Based Work Academy Programmes tailored to their requirements, including pre-employment training and work experience placements, allowing employers to assess whether the participant is a good match for the role and the company.
The weekly job club at Romford Jobcentre supports residents in CV preparation, job applications, interview preparation, and techniques. We also host information sessions on topics to aid customers in finding employment, including insights into different job sectors, childcare advice, support for individuals with additional health needs, and motivational sessions.
The Romford team work closely with the London Borough of Havering, recently co-hosting two job fairs. More job fairs are planned, including those with money management and cost of living support. We actively engage with the Local Authority Regeneration Team, sharing local labour market intelligence and collaborating with further education providers and local independent providers to shape provisions that meet the current and emerging demands of employers.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to reduce work-related injuries in Romford constituency.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the workplace regulator for Great Britain and their mission, set out in a 10-year strategy, is to protect people and places, which includes reducing work related injury.
HSE undertakes a range of activities to reduce work related injury, which includes conducting health and safety inspections of various businesses across a range of sectors; investigating health and safety concerns; investigating work related incidents; and taking enforcement action where non-compliance with health and safety legislation is found to improve standards.
HSE cannot specify what steps are taken to reduce work-related injuries in the Romford constituency as the same principals of inspection and investigation described apply across the country, not just in specific regions.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to reduce work-related fatal injuries in the construction industry.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the workplace regulator for Great Britain, works closely with the construction industry to influence and promote safe working practices to prevent accidents and reduce worker ill health.
This year HSE is continuing its range of interventions and enforcement to reduce fatal injuries in the construction industry, which includes HSE inspectors investigating construction site incidents and inspecting construction site activity, taking enforcement where non-compliance with health and safety legislation is identified. HSE inspectors will continue to highlight poor practice, explain what good compliance looks like and seek to influence better management of health and safety risk on construction sites.
HSE will continue to work with industry, trade associations, professional bodies, trade unions and others who promote health and safety standards, such as the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) and Construction Industry Advisory Committee (CIAC). This collaboration brings improvements in the construction industry through sharing lessons learnt from incident investigations and promoting good practice in providing sector-specific information and guidance.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in the Romford constituency will be impacted by the end of universal winter fuel payments.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Pension Credit data that is used is based on the 2010 Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, not 2024, in order to be comparable with the Winter Fuel Payments statistics. It is estimated that around 15,000 people in Romford constituency will be affected by the change in policy. This is based on Feb-24 Pension Credit statistics and 22-23 Winter Fuel Payments statistics (sources below).
This estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of Pension Credit recipients for Romford constituency from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients for Romford constituency. This is essentially the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients pre-policy change not claiming Pension Credit, as an estimate of those who will no longer receive Winter fuel payment.
Also, the above figures do not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up we might see as a result of the Governments Pension Credit Awareness Campaign. We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies or local authorities.
Furthermore, the published Pension Credit figures refer to households, so the number of individuals will be higher (i.e., taking account of households where it is a couple claiming Pension Credit).
In addition to that, Pension Credit claimants are the majority of those that will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments, not all. There are other pensioners who are eligible for Winter Fuel Payments (as they claim other means tested benefits) but they are not considered in these figures as it is not possible to do so.
Source:
The Winter Fuel Payments statistics are published here:
Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Pension Credit data is published here: Pension Credit – Data from May 2018