Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the evidence given by Andrew Latto, Deputy Director; Devolution, Pensioner Benefits and Carer’s Allowance Policy, to the Scottish Social Security Committee on 23 January 2020, if she will publish the calculations supporting the Deputy Director's statement that, in the UK, 16 per cent of pensioners are in poverty [and] if all those pensioners claimed pension credit, housing benefit and the council tax reduction, especially the council tax reduction, that would reduce the 16 per cent to almost zero.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since 2009/10, material deprivation for pensioners has fallen from 10% to 6% in 2018/19.
There are 100 thousand fewer pensioners in absolute poverty (before and after housing costs) than in 2009/10.
Average pensioner incomes have grown significantly in real terms over the last two decades (average weekly income in 1994/95 was £165 a week After Housing Costs, in 2018/19 prices, compared to £320 a week in 2018/19).
For 2020/21 we are forecast to spend over £126 billion a year on pensioners – including £102 billion on the State Pension.
In 2017/18 it was estimated that 1.6 million pensioners (14%) were in Absolute Poverty (After Housing Costs) and 2.0 million pensioners (16%) were in Relative Poverty (After Housing Costs).
The latest figures for 2017/18 estimate that 1.1 million pensioner households who were eligible for Pension Credit did not claim this benefit. 0.2 million pensioner households who were eligible for Housing Benefit did not claim.
Estimate for take-up for Council Tax reduction schemes by pensioner households are not available due to the localised nature of these schemes.
The Government want to ensure that older people receive the support they are entitled to. Although more than 1.5 million older people across Great Britain already receive extra financial help through Pension Credit, research suggests there are still a significant number of older people who are missing out. That is why, earlier this year, the Department ran a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit and highlight that even a small award can provide access to a wide range of other benefits, including Housing Benefit and Council Tax reduction schemes.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
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 help ensure that paying parents do not delay settlement of their child maintenance liabilities.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) continues to take steps to improve compliance, and deal with non-compliance before enforcement action is needed. Where compliance cannot be achieved and the parent is employed, we will attempt to deduct their maintenance and any arrears directly from their earnings. The CMS can also deduct directly from bank accounts as a lump sum or regular amount. We have a range of other strong enforcement powers, including the use of Enforcement Agents to take control of goods, forcing the sale of property, disqualification from holding a UK passport or commitment to prison.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many of the Child Maintenance Service’s deduction from earnings orders for child maintenance were not complied with in 2018.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information relating to the number of Deduction from Earnings Orders / Requests being used to collect child maintenance each quarter, and their compliance is published online as part of the quarterly Child Maintenance Service statistics. The latest publication includes information to September 2019. This is available here:
The requested information is published in the National Tables, Table 12 (“Enforcement Actions”).
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that employers are complying with the seven day deadline of deduction from earnings orders, to ensure child maintenance is deducted from the parents pay.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To ensure that employers meet their obligations to deduct child maintenance from earnings, the Child Maintenance Group (CMG) has taken the following steps:
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-resident parents were fined for non-payment of child maintenance in 2018.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service does not fine Paying Parents for not paying their child maintenance. They do however recover the unpaid child maintenance through the use of enforcements actions such as deductions from earrings orders, deduction orders and civil enforcement. In cases where the Child Maintenance Service believe the Paying Parent can pay, but are refusing to do so they can apply to the courts to send the Paying Parents to prison, disqualifying them from holding or obtaining a passport or driving licence. The figures described can be found in the quarterly National Tables for the Child Maintenance Service statistics (data to September 2019), Table 12 (“Enforcement Actions”). This is available here:
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in Ogmore constituency have (a) opted out after being auto-enrolled into a workplace pension and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving, and reversing the decline in workplace pension participation in the decade prior to these reforms. Since automatic enrolment started in 2012 participation rates have been transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into a workplace pension in 2018, up from 55% in 2012.
The Department does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. However, we do know that overall around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates1.
I am providing the following information about the impact of automatic enrolment in your constituency, as at end of September 20192:
In the Ogmore constituency since 2012, approximately 4,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 820 employers have met their duties.
1Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf.
2The Pensions Regulator’s data on Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance by constituency, available via the following weblink:
https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that universal credit claimants paying rent weekly do not face a one-week shortfall in their universal credit housing element in 2020.
Answered by Will Quince
No-one will face a one-week shortfall in their Universal Credit (UC) housing element in 2020 as no year contains 53 weeks. This perceived issue of there being a one-week shortfall due to there being 53 weeks in a year arises where a landlord charges rent weekly on a Monday and, because of the way the calendar falls every 5 or 6 years, requiring 53 rent payments in a year, with the 53rd payment in part covering the tenancy for the first few days of the following year.
Where a tenant makes a 53rd rent payment in a given year, this payment will cover some days in the subsequent year. This will mean the following month only has four payment dates and, as such, the claimant will be ‘overpaid’ for their housing and their shortfall will be recovered.
Universal Credit payments are designed to mirror the world of work, with monthly payments reflecting the way many working people are paid. This model of monthly payments allows claimants to take responsibility for budgeting their own income and helps prepare them for getting back to work.
We are aware of a separate issue with respect to the way the calculation in the Universal Credit regulations converts a weekly liability into a monthly allowance. The conversion is achieved by multiplying the weekly rent by 52 and then dividing by 12. This effectively means one day’s rent a year (two days in a leap years) are not covered by UC. We are currently considering whether this formulation around weekly rents, and potentially other weekly amounts in the UC calculation, should be amended.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will work with housing associations to share data to support tenants when undergoing transfer from legacy benefits onto universal credit.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We are working with Trusted Partners, including Housing Associations, to identify how best to support claimants within the Harrogate Move to UC pilot as they move from legacy benefits to UC. We will explore whether data sharing is required as part of this support.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will bring forward the extension of the repayment period of the Advance Payment Loan available to universal credit claimants.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Advances are not loans; they are an interest free advance payment of benefit, available to help people who need immediate financial support, which is then recovered over an agreed period.
We have carefully considered the impact and deliverability of the measures announced in the Autumn Budget 2018 for Universal Credit. The delivery dates we announced achieve the best balance between continually improving Universal Credit to respond to claimant need and ensuring the service is technically and operationally scalable as the volumes on Universal Credit continue to rise through 2019 and 2020.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will provide universal credit claimants (a) with payments rather than advance payment loans and (b) with those payments earlier than five weeks to ensure that they do not fall into rent arrears.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Universal Credit payments are designed to mirror the world of work, with monthly payments reflecting the way many working people are paid. This model of monthly payments allows claimants to take responsibility for budgeting their own income and helps prepare them for getting back to work.
Advance payments of Universal Credit are not loans. They are Universal Credit paid early, which is then recovered over an agreed period via deductions from the claimant’s Universal Credit award. No claimant has to go five weeks without receiving support, as advances, worth up to 100 per cent of a claimant’s indicative award, are available up front, if there is need. Advances are paid back over a period of 12 months and in the Autumn Budget 2018, we announced that from October 2021, the payback period for these advances will be extended further, up to 16 months. This is just one of a number of measures the Department has put in place to support claimants such as paying those claimants moving from Housing Benefit onto Universal Credit a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.