Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of universal credit claimants living in social housing in (a) the North East of England and (b) England are currently in rent arrears.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The information requested is not available.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2018 to Question 137542, on disability: equal pay, what steps her Department is taking to encourage employers to sign up to the Disability Confident scheme.
Answered by Sarah Newton
5,964 employers are currently signed up to Disability Confident and 2,551 employers have completed their self-assessment to become Disability Confident Employers (Level 2). This includes organisations ranging in size from large multi nationals to local employers, including private businesses, colleges, sports clubs, NHS trusts and social enterprises. All main government Departments are at Level 3 (Disability Confident Leader) and over 80% of Local Authorities are Disability Confident.
The Disability Confident Business Leaders Group (BLG), comprising senior leaders from significant British businesses across all sectors, is helping to increase engagement with employers. The group promotes the business benefits of disability employment and works with DWP officials to identify any changes or developments that will improve the effectiveness of the scheme.
We are also working with Members of Parliament around the country to arrange local events to get them as employers, and businesses in their constituencies, signed up.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
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 close the pay gap between people (a) with and (b) without disabilities.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Rates of pay do not fall within the the Department for work and Pension's labour market policies. Our policies are designed to ensure that disabled people can access the labour market, get the support they need and can progress in their careers. For example:
Government has the ambition of getting 1 million more disabled people in to work. On 30 November we published Improving Lives: the Future of Work, Health and Disability, which lays out our strategy for achieving this ambition by improving both employment opportunities and retention in work for people with disabilities and health conditions.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to respond to the letters of 7 December 2017 and 9 March 2018 from the hon. Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North on the stage 3 complaint from a constituent about changes to the state pension age.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
A response was sent to the letter dated 7 December 2017 on 8 January 2018. Despite a comprehensive search of Departmental records we are unable to locate any letter of 9 March 2018. A replacement letter will be sent today, providing a further explanation and include a copy of the letter dated 8 January 2018.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the minimum income floor in the universal credit system can result in self-employed people in receipt of universal credit receiving less than employees in receipt of that benefit when their annual earnings are identical.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We are aware that for many self-employed, particularly those with seasonal businesses, their earnings often fluctuate from month to month, and they need to budget and plan for this. Self-employed Universal Credit claimants are no different in this regard.
Universal Credit supports people in self-employment, where self-employment is the best route for them to become financially self-sufficient. As part of that, for those claimants expected to seek work, who are gainfully self-employed and not within a year of starting their self-employment, we apply a Minimum Income Floor (MIF). This is an assumed level of monthly earnings, based on what they could expect to earn each month at the National Minimum Wage.
The MIF is designed to encourage those reporting very low self-employed income to increase their monthly earnings. This means that, where a self-employed claimant’s monthly earnings are below their MIF level, the MIF level is taken into account in assessing the claimant’s monthly Universal Credit payment. For this reason, they can receive a lower amount of Universal Credit than an employed claimant earning a comparable monthly sum, but not subject to the MIF.
Some self-employed claimants will respond to this by increasing their monthly earnings from self-employment, some will choose to work as an employee, and others will combine the two.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the effect of the public sector pay cap on child poverty in (a) Newcastle, (b) the North East and (c) the UK since the imposition of that cap.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Wider social and economic factors make it impossible to isolate, with any certainty, the impacts of the public sector pay cap on the rates of children in low income. This is particularly the case when isolating these impacts at a regional and constituency level.
Latest estimates for children in low income in the UK and latest 3 year estimates for children in low income in the North East region are available in the Households below average income publication. Data is not available below regional level in this publication because the survey sample sizes are too small to support the production of robust estimates at this geography.
From this publication the absolute low income measure tracks low incomes against a threshold which moves with the rate of inflation. In 2015/16, the number of children living in absolute low income (before housing costs) has fallen by 2 percentage points since 2009/10. In the 3 years to 2015/16, the rate of children living in absolute low income (before housing costs) in the North East region has fallen by 7 percentage points, compared to the 3 years to 2009/10.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the maximum amount is which can be deducted for other debts and overpayments from universal credit payments.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Universal Credit is made up of a standard allowance plus any additional amounts that apply, for example for housing or a child. The overall maximum amount that can be deducted for debt repayments from a claimant’s Universal Credit each month is an amount equal to 40 per cent of their Universal Credit standard allowance.
Where requested deductions exceed the 40 per cent maximum, or there is insufficient Universal Credit in payment for all deductions to be made, a priority order is applied, which determines the order in which items should be deducted. ‘Last resort’ deductions, such as rent or fuel costs, are towards the top of the priority order, ensuring that claimant welfare is prioritised, followed by social obligation deductions, such as fines and child maintenance, and finally benefit debt, such as Social Fund loans and benefit overpayments.
There are two exceptions to the overall maximum deduction rate. The first is deductions for current consumption of gas, electricity and water, which do not count towards the overall maximum amount. The second is where a Fraud Penalty or Conditionality Sanction is being applied or an Advance needs recovering. A penalty or sanction takes precedence and an Advance will be recovered once the penalty or sanction has ceased. This is unless the penalty or sanction results in less than the maximum 40% deduction being taken, in which case other deductions (e.g. the Advance) can be taken up to the 40% maximum. ‘Last resort deductions’ (arrears of mortgage interest, rent, service charges, gas or electricity) continue to be taken, even if it means that more than 40 per cent is deducted. This is to protect vulnerable claimants from being made homeless or having their fuel disconnected.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 8 of the Government’s July 2016 Keep on Caring strategy, what review his Department has undertaken into extending the exemption from the Shared Accommodation rate of Local Housing Allowance from 22 to 25; and when he plans to publish the findings of that review.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
We have no current plans to extend the exemption for care leavers from the Shared Accommodation Rate to age 25, following the cross Government Paper “Keep on Caring” in 2016. We will however continue to keep this under review and consider evidence from stakeholders on the impact on care leavers.
The most vulnerable care leavers will already be exempt from the Shared Accommodation Rate, for example those in receipt of the severe disability premium
Further since 2011 the Government has provided around £900 million in Discretionary Housing Payment funding to local authorities to help support vulnerable people, including care leavers, mitigate rent shortfalls.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of care leavers who are receive housing support through universal credit are in rent arrears.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested is not available.
Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have been asked voluntarily to move from receiving existing benefits to universal credit in advance of their planned migration in (a) Newcastle upon Tyne, (b) the North East and (c) England in the last 12 months.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Department does not ask anyone to move voluntarily to universal credit and there are no targets for people to do so. Jobcentre staff engage ahead of and once Universal Credit Full Service has gone live to explain the changes and help our customers prepare, in case they should have a change in their circumstances requiring them to claim Universal Credit.