Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions he has had with relevant stakeholders on Universal Credit assessment periods.
Answered by Guy Opperman
There are no plans to change the assessment period and payment structure of Universal Credit.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of making both parents in a joint custody agreement eligible for the Universal Credit child element for that child.
Answered by Guy Opperman
No such assessment has been made.
DWP does not hold information on custody arrangements between all parents claiming benefits.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department are taking steps to ensure that Universal Credit claimants receive even weekly payments, including in five week months.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department has no plans to change either Universal Credit assessment periods or payment structures. The approach reflects the world of work, where the majority of employees receive wages monthly. Paying in this manner will encourage claimants to take personal responsibility for their finances and to budget on a monthly basis which could save households money.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of effectiveness of Universal Credit provisions on supporting young people under 25 on low incomes or out of work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The DWP Youth Offer provides individually tailored work coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are in the Universal Credit Intensive Work Search group. This includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain.
The Youth Offer is subject to a Process Evaluation, with full findings expected to be shared internally by late 2023. This will inform any improvements or future changes to the Youth Offer policy. The evaluation plans which involve hearing from young people from a range of backgrounds and circumstances and those that work with them, on the services they receive to understand their effectiveness and enable us to make improvements as appropriate.
In addition, the Kickstart evaluation will continue to assess the longer-term outcomes for Kickstart participants after they have completed their six-month jobs. The commissioned process evaluation will conclude in Spring 2023.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
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 that Child Maintenance payments for people in contract work are calculated fairly.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The child maintenance calculation is initially based on paying parent’s historic income information received directly from HM Revenue & Customs for the latest complete tax year.
If historic income is not available, or a paying parent’s actual income is at least 25% different from the historic income figure then current income can be used. This is based on evidence from a wide range of credible sources which ensures liabilities remain fair and based on accurate income information. The liability is reviewed annually or at either parents’ request if the income changes by at least 25%.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to improve the sharing of information across Government departments to aid the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) constantly strives to both maintain and improve contacts and appropriate data sharing agreements with all relevant government departments.
The CMS does this through engaging in a collaborative and positive manner to reinforce existing agreements and establish new channels of communication and contacts within relevant departments and areas.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
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 improve Child Maintenance Service's enforcement action towards self-employed parents.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has made improvements to enforcement processes to increase effective use of powers. This includes simplifying deductions from earnings, increasing efficiency by reducing the manual intervention required, making better use of deductions from bank accounts therefore increasing the volume of deductions leading to more money being collected quicker for children and working in partnership with HMCT to reduce Court processing times by introducing Virtual Court presenting and electronic exchange of documentation. There is also a Private Members bill sponsored by the Honourable Member for Stroud that removes the requirement to make court applications for liability orders which enable CMS to progress with enforcement action faster and improve efficiency, whilst protecting appeal rights.
The CMS FIU considers all allegations relating to income, either that received from HMRC or from declarations from paying parents, where the information and intelligence indicates that the income used in a CMS assessment has been underdeclared, the FIU carry out a full and thorough investigation and where additional income is found cases are re-assessed and any fraudulent activity considered for referral to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are employed in the Child Maintenance Service; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of increasing staffing capacity on timescales for enforcement action.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Child Maintenance Service, at the end of December 2022 employed 4,747 people, equivalent to 4,046 FTE. This includes colleagues in GB and Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.
Our resourcing levels are regularly reviewed against forecast intake and performance v actuals to ensure a timely and consistent service. Following our most recent Winter forecasting review our request to increase resources directly into our Enforcement segment was approved. An exercise to recruit around 70 staff is currently underway.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of Universal Credit provisions for mixed-age couples who were previously (a) eligible for Housing Benefit and (b) found to have limited capability for work.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Universal Credit (UC) supports people who are on a low income or out of work and helps to ensure that they are better off in work than on benefits. It provides claimants with the support they need to prepare for work, move into work, or to earn more if already in work. In return claimants need to accept a Claimant Commitment following a conversation with their work coach. The claimant commitment sets out what the claimant has agreed to do to prepare for and look for work, or to increase their earnings if already employed. It’s based on the claimant’s personal circumstances, and this is reviewed and updated on a regular basis.
It replaces:
It improves work incentives by introducing a smoother, more transparent reduction of benefits at a consistent and predictable rate when people move into work and increase their earnings. A single taper is applied as earnings rise and some claimants will also receive a work allowance depending on their circumstances.
It also reduces the complexity of the working age benefits system and removes the distinction between in work and out-of-work support, thus making clear the potential gains of work and reducing the risks associated with moves into employment.
No recent assessment has been made of the adequacy of Universal Credit provisions for mixed-age couples who were previously (a) eligible for Housing Benefit and (b) found to have limited capability for work.
Asked by: Angela Crawley (Scottish National Party - Lanark and Hamilton East)
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 removing age related benefit rates in response to the cost of living crisis.
Answered by David Rutley
No assessment has been made of the potential merits of removing age related benefits in response to the cost of living.
Universal Credit provides those who are under age 25 with lower rates than those age 25 or over. This is to reflect the fact that these claimants are more likely to live in someone else’s household and have lower living costs. It also reflects the lower wages that younger workers typically receive. However, it is acknowledged that some claimants under 25 do live independently, which is why Universal Credit includes separate elements to provide support to claimants with these additional costs, such as housing costs.
These additional amounts are provided to claimants at the same level irrespective of age.
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. These are global challenges, that is why the government is providing over £15bn in further support, targeted particularly on those with the greatest need. This package is in addition to the over £22bn announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37 billion this year.
The £37 billion includes:
A £650 payment, made in two instalments, to more than 8 million low-income households on means tested benefits and tax credits. Separate one-off payments of £300 to pensioner households (through and as an addition to the Winter Fuel Payment) and £150 to individuals receiving disability benefits.