Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many funeral expenses payment claims were accepted at initial decision in (a) 2019-20 and (b) the first six months of 2020-21.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We do not publish the number of claims awarded, at initial decision, as requested. The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
However, a variant on the data requested is in the public domain. Applications that were initially unsuccessful may have resulted in an award after review, reconsideration or appeal. These cases are included in the final awards in the Social Fund Annual Report.
The number of Funeral Expenses Payment awards, in Great Britain, is reported annually in Appendix 1 of the Social Fund Annual Report:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-fund-annual-report-2017-to-2018
The number of awards for 2019/20 will be published in due course, and so cannot be released ahead of publication.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many funeral expenses payments claims were rejected at initial decision in (a) 2019-20 and (b) the first six months of 2020-21.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The number of Funeral Expenses Payment applications refused at initial decision, in Great Britain, is reported annually in Appendix 1 of the Social Fund Annual Report:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-fund-annual-report-2017-to-2018
The information requested for 2019/20 will be published in due course, and so cannot be released ahead of publication.
In the period April 2020 - September 2020, there were approximately 8,500 applications refused, at initial decision, for Funeral Expenses Payments in Great Britain.
This figure is drawn from the Social Fund Policy, Budget, and Management Information System. It is not quality assured to the same extent as Official / National statistics.
Notes
The figure is rounded to the nearest 100.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of funeral expenses payments claims made in 2019-20 were cleared in (a) 15 working days, (b) 15 working days plus 2 days and (c) 15 working days plus 5 days.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The information requested, in Great Britain, is reported annually in Appendix 1 of the Social Fund Annual Report, up to 2017/18:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-fund-annual-report-2017-to-2018
The information requested for 2019/20 will be published in due course, and so cannot be released ahead of publication.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for funeral expenses payments were received in (a) 2019-20 and (b) the first six months of 2020-21.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The number of Funeral Expenses Payment applications received, in Great Britain, is reported annually in Appendix 1 of the Social Fund Annual Report:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-fund-annual-report-2017-to-2018
The information requested for 2019/20 will be published in due course, and so cannot be released ahead of publication.
In the period April 2020 - September 2020, there were approximately 23,900 applications received for Funeral Expenses Payments in Great Britain.
This figure is drawn from the Social Fund Policy, Budget, and Management Information System. It is not quality assured to the same extent as Official / National statistics.
Notes
The figure is rounded to the nearest 100.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether changes made to the processing of funeral expenses payments as a result of the covid-19 outbreak will be retained permanently.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, steps have been taken to significantly speed up the processing of Funeral Expenses Payment claims in support of those who need it most. These measures will continue to form part of the department’s response throughout the pandemic and we will consider if these should be retained permanently in due course.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many funeral expenses payments claims took longer than six weeks to clear in (a) 2019-20 and (b) the first six months of 2020-21.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This information is not held.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any changes have been made to the processing of funeral expense payments as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, steps have been taken to significantly speed up the processing of Funeral Expenses Payment claims in support of those who need it most. These measures will continue to form part of the department’s response throughout the pandemic and we will consider if these should be retained permanently in due course.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any changes made to the processing of funeral expenses payments as a result of the covid-19 outbreak have affected timescales for the completion of claims for those payments.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, steps have been taken to significantly speed up the processing of Funeral Expenses Payment claims in support of those who need it most. These measures will continue to form part of the department’s response throughout the pandemic and we will consider if these should be retained permanently in due course.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what effect the 2018 reforms to the Social Fund’s funeral expenses payments scheme have had on the processing times for payments under that scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Social Fund Funeral Expenses Amendment Regulations came into force in spring 2018. Whilst data is not collated on the specific effects of these reforms, data on processing times and the number of claims accepted can be found in The Social Fund Annual Report 2018/19 which was published on GOV.UK on 4 November 2020.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Swansea East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what effect the 2018 reforms to the Social Fund’s funeral expenses payments scheme have had on the number of claims (a) accepted and (b) rejected under that scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Social Fund Funeral Expenses Amendment Regulations came into force in spring 2018. Whilst data is not collated on the specific effects of these reforms, data on processing times and the number of claims accepted can be found in The Social Fund Annual Report 2018/19 which was published on GOV.UK on 4 November 2020.