Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
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 bringing forward legislative proposals to require local authorities to disregard compensation offered to wounded (a) service people and (b) veterans under the (i) War Pensions and (ii) Armed Forces Compensation scheme as income from (A) Housing Benefit, (B) Council Tax Support, (C) Discretionary Housing Payments and (D) Disabled Facilities Grants.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Housing Benefit regulations permit local authorities to disregard beyond the standard disregard of £10 a week for the whole or part of any War Pensions and guaranteed income payments under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) can be paid to those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. Local authorities (LAs) administer the scheme as they are best placed to make informed judgements about relative priorities and needs in their area to ensure that the most vulnerable are supported and the funds are targeted effectively. There are no prescribed resource tests and payments are entirely at LA discretion. LAs simply have to be satisfied that the person concerned is in receipt of housing support (through HB or housing element of UC) and needs further financial assistance towards housing costs.
This Department is not responsible for the policies concerning Council Tax Support and Disabled Facilities Grants.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that (a) serving members of the Armed Forces and (b)veterans in receipt of compensation for a service-related injury are not disadvantaged compared to their civilian counterparts in the receipt of welfare benefits.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department takes its responsibilities under the Armed Forces Covenant very seriously. It has an Armed Forces Advocate in place at Director level who is responsible for ensuring that members of the armed forces community do not suffer any disadvantage as a result of service. This covers both the development of policy and the way the department delivers its services. The advocate is supported by officials who provide expert advice to policy makers and others on the application of the covenant.
DWP has a range of special provisions in place to take account of the particular needs and circumstances of the armed forces community, ranging from delivering the Armed Forces Independence Payment to providing for special National Insurance Credits for spouses.
Some armed forces compensation payments also receive special treatment compared to similar payments and replies to the hon. Member’s other questions set this out in more detail.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to incorporate the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant into welfare and benefits policy making.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department takes its responsibilities under the Armed Forces Covenant very seriously. It has an Armed Forces Advocate in place at Director level who is responsible for ensuring that members of the armed forces community do not suffer any disadvantage as a result of service. This covers both the development of policy and the way the department delivers its services. The advocate is supported by officials who provide expert advice to policy makers and others on the application of the covenant.
DWP has a range of special provisions in place to take account of the particular needs and circumstances of the armed forces community, ranging from delivering the Armed Forces Independence Payment to providing for special National Insurance Credits for spouses.
Some armed forces compensation payments also receive special treatment compared to similar payments and replies to the hon. Member’s other questions set this out in more detail.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the number of kinship carers who have (a) temporarily and (b) permanently withdrawn from the labour market as a result of their caring responsibilities in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2023 to Question 165459 on Pensions: Telephone Services, when he expects for the additional resource assigned to the Future Pension Service to reduce the amount of time callers wait before speaking to the service.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The DWP Futures Pension Centre helpline has experienced unprecedented levels of contact from customers considering whether to pay voluntary National Insurance Contributions (VNICS) before the deadline. To ensure customers have the time and information to make an informed decision, HM Revenue & Customs has announced it will extend the deadline to pay these contributions until 5 April 2025. DWP have provided additional resources and continue to review resourcing options to meet the current demand and improve the service.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
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 adequacy of the level of staffing assigned to the Future Pension Service public call lines.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In light of recent unpresented high demand., additional resource has been assigned to the Future Pension Service. The level of staffing is kept under constant review.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in Wales were eligible for the Cold Weather Payment and lived in a postcode area where Cold Weather Payments were made in that year (a) overall and (b) by whether eligibility derived from (i) receipt of pension credit or (ii) universal credit or other legacy benefits for each of the last 10 financial years.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Please see below Cold Weather Payments for Wales, by year.
Year | Cold Weather Triggers | Total households eligible | Total households eligible, in receipt of Pension Credit (as a subset of total households) | Number of payments made | Number of payments made to Households in receipt of Pension Credit |
21/22 | 0 | 245,000 | 81,000 | 0 | 0 |
20/21 | 8 | 250,000 | 87,000 | 140,000 | 47,000 |
19/20 | 0 | 228,000 | 91,000 | 0 | 0 |
18/19 | 2 | 240,000 | 96,000 | 64,000 | 24,000 |
17/18 | 18 | 244,000 | 101,000 | 330,000 | 135,000 |
16/17 | 0 | 251,000 | 111,000 | 0 | 0 |
15/16 | 0 | 252,000 | 117,000 | 0 | 0 |
14/15 | 2 | 230,000 | 128,000 | 8,000 | 5,000 |
13/14 | 0 | Data unavailable | Data unavailable | 0 | 0 |
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
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 adequacy of the locations of the Met Office Weather Stations used to determine eligibility for the cold weather payment to ensure that the measurements taken to activate those payments accurately reflect the temperatures where people live.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Met Office review the Cold Weather Payment scheme each year to assess whether the linkages between postcode areas and weather stations remain the best available. The Met Office concluded this year’s review on 18 July 2022, and the next review will take place in summer 2023.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of raising Carer’s Allowance in line with inflation on household incomes.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Secretary of State has an annual statutory duty to review benefits and State Pensions rates, including the rates for Carer’s Allowance. That review has commenced following the publication of the relevant indices by the Office for National Statistics. The Secretary of State’s decisions will be announced shortly.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effects of a real terms reduction to state pensions from April 2023 on pensioner poverty.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government has committed to implementing the Triple Lock for the remainder of this Parliament.
Under this Government, the full yearly amount of the basic State Pension has risen by over £2,300, in cash terms. That’s £720 more than if it had been uprated by Prices, and £570 more than if it had been uprated by earnings since 2010