Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many alternative payment requests for Universal Credit were made in (a) January and (b) February 2024 in (i) England, (ii) Scotland and (iii) Wales.
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.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many alternative payment arrangements for Universal Credit were granted in (a) January and (b) February 2024 in (i) England, (ii) Scotland and (iii) Wales.
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.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of prosecutions that were initiated by the Health and Safety Executive for ill-fitting PPE provided to women workers in the last five years. .
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the last five years, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has not initiated any prosecutions relating specifically for ill-fitting Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) provided to women workers.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department will take to ensure disabled people will be able to access the consultation on the Disability Action Plan.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
As previously announced, the Disability Action Plan will set out the immediate action the Government will take in 2023 and 2024 to improve disabled people’s lives, as well as laying the foundations for longer term change.
There is already significant work being taken forward by individual Government departments in areas disabled people have told us are a priority. This includes reforms to employment and welfare via the DWP’s ‘Transforming Support: Health and Disability White Paper’, and strategies to address health and social care via DHSC’s ‘People at the Heart of Care White Paper’. These are long term reform efforts which are already underway and outside the scope of a new one to two year action plan.
The plan will go further in areas where we think joint action across Government departments can make a tangible difference to disabled people’s lives in the immediate term - or where we can make meaningful progress towards a longer term goal, for example improved disability data and evidence.
We are planning to consult on the Disability Action Plan this summer, publishing a full draft of the plan alongside a set of consultation questions.
This consultation will be an opportunity for everyone - disabled people, disabled people’s organisations, other interested parties - to have their say on the Disability Action Plan. It will be fully accessible to ensure that disabled people can take part, including being made available in various accessible formats.
We will consider all responses to the consultation carefully before publishing the final Disability Action Plan.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of Universal Credit upper tariff income rules where a Lifetime ISA is the sole source of the claimant's capital.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No such assessment has been made.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total cost to the Disability Unit budget in 2021-22 was relating to the judicial review of R (Binder & Others) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The cost to the DU budget for the legal costs relating to the Judicial Review is £103,099.50.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
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 exempting people impacted by domestic abuse from (a) the benefit cap and (b) repaying benefit advances.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There are no current plans to introduce new exemptions into the benefit cap policy.
Households receiving disability benefits and/or entitled to carer benefits are exempt together with households that earn at least £658 a month. Households may also be exempt for a period of nine months where the claimant, their partner or ex-partner has a sustained work history.
DWP recognises the pressures and challenges that this group face, which is why we have made Discretionary Housing Payments available to allow LAs to provide financial help with rental costs. In order to facilitate that, DWP has made it clear to LAs that we consider this group to be among those for whom DHPs should be a priority.
Universal Credit advances are a claimant’s entitlement paid early, repaid through future payments being automatically reduced. Making Universal Credit advances non-repayable for victims of domestic abuse would mean this cohort of claimants receiving greater entitlement than others, raising equality concerns from other groups of claimants. The Government has taken steps to support all new Universal Credit claimants receiving a new claim advance. In April 2021, the repayment period for new claim advances was doubled to give more flexibility.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
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 introducing additional protections for survivors of domestic abuse during the cost-of-living crisis.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and is providing £26bn in cost-of-living support for 2023/24. This includes Cost of Living Payments for the most vulnerable. In addition, the Home office Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan invests over £230 million, including over £140 million to support victims.
For those who require extra support, the Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year. This is on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding.
DWP recognises the pressures and challenges that this group face, which is why we have made Discretionary Housing Payments available to allow LAs to provide financial help with rental costs. These are aimed at a number of groups likely to be affected by welfare reforms, including individuals or families fleeing domestic violence and abuse. Discretionary Housing Payments may also be given to victims that have remained in their home, which has been adapted under a sanctuary scheme.
Jobcentres remain a safe place to share concerns and obtain advice and support for those impacted by domestic abuse.
- Shared Accommodation Rate
From 1 October 2022, up to 11,000 victims of domestic abuse and modern slavery on Universal Credit or Housing Benefit will be able to claim extra help towards their rental costs, as they will no longer be expected to share accommodation. These groups will be able to claim the higher one-bedroom rate of Local Housing Allowance. This is worth approximately £140 on average per month but the amount will vary depending on the area in which they live.
- Benefit cap levels increase
In April 2023, the government will also increase the benefit cap levels in line with inflation by 10.1%. The benefit cap levels will rise from £23,000 to £25,323 for families in Greater London and from £20,000 to £22,020 for families nationally. The levels for single households without children will rise from £15,410 to £16,967 in Greater London and from £13,400 to £14,753 nationally.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Minister for Women and Equalities about the equalities impact of (a) inflation on social security payments and (b) changes to work conditionality for part-time workers claiming Universal Credit.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Secretary of State has a statutory obligation to annually review benefits and State Pensions. The review will commence shortly and as part of that review, the Secretary of State will consider a Public Sector Equality analysis and so have due regard to her obligations under the Equality Act 2010.
Regarding changes to in-work conditionality for part-time workers claiming Universal Credit, the department will be publishing an Equality Analysis of the impact of the changes in due course.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether a person will continue to be treated as living alone under the qualifying conditions for the severe disability premium in the event that they are hosting Ukrainian refugees under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Ukrainian refugees living temporarily with a host, are not considered to be normally residing with them. This means that the host will not lose their entitlement to the severe disability premium.