Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the longer term potential merits of suspending the Benefit Cap.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
No Assessment has been made.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government of Canada has made representations to the Government on negotiating a reciprocal social security agreement that covers the uprating of pensions.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department has recently received representations from the Government of Canada to negotiate a reciprocal social security agreement covering the uprating of pensions.
We have not received any recent similar representations from Australia on this issue.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
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 Secretary of State for International Trade on the policy not to uprate the UK state pensions of UK pensioners living in (a) Canada and (b) Australia; and if she will a statement.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Government has no plans to change its policy on overseas pension uprating. This is a longstanding policy which has been supported by successive Governments for over 70 years.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government of Australia has made representations to the Government on negotiating a reciprocal social security agreement that covers the uprating of pensions.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department has recently received representations from the Government of Canada to negotiate a reciprocal social security agreement covering the uprating of pensions.
We have not received any recent similar representations from Australia on this issue.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether provisions are in place for universal credit claimants who go into arrears as a result of having to pay upfront fees when moving home before their universal credit has been paid.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit is assessed and paid monthly, which reflects how the majority of the UK workforce is paid and helps prepare households to budget on a monthly basis, which will ease the transition into work. It also helps households to take advantage of cheaper tariffs for essential costs such as utility bills.
A Universal Credit Change of Circumstances Advance can be made available to existing claimants that experience a change of circumstance which results in a significant increase in entitlement, where the claimant cannot wait until the end of the assessment period to receive the increase.
For those individuals who require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available. DHPs can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. The payments are awarded at the discretion of the Local Authority and can provide help with on-going housing costs, or one-off expenses such as rent in advance, deposits or removal costs.
We have provided £180m in DHP funding to local authorities to support vulnerable claimants with housing costs in the private and social rented sector in England and Wales for 2020/21. This includes an extra £40m as announced last year at the spending round.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the timing of universal credit payments on the (a) assistance that people receive and (b) costs that people incur when moving home.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit is assessed and paid monthly, which reflects how the majority of the UK workforce is paid and helps prepare households to budget on a monthly basis, which will ease the transition into work. It also helps households to take advantage of cheaper tariffs for essential costs such as utility bills.
A Universal Credit Change of Circumstances Advance can be made available to existing claimants that experience a change of circumstance which results in a significant increase in entitlement, where the claimant cannot wait until the end of the assessment period to receive the increase.
For those individuals who require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available. DHPs can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. The payments are awarded at the discretion of the Local Authority and can provide help with on-going housing costs, or one-off expenses such as rent in advance, deposits or removal costs.
We have provided £180m in DHP funding to local authorities to support vulnerable claimants with housing costs in the private and social rented sector in England and Wales for 2020/21. This includes an extra £40m as announced last year at the spending round.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with with housing associations on the effect on universal credit claimants of upfront fees when moving home.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit is assessed and paid monthly, which reflects how the majority of the UK workforce is paid and helps prepare households to budget on a monthly basis, which will ease the transition into work. It also helps households to take advantage of cheaper tariffs for essential costs such as utility bills.
A Universal Credit Change of Circumstances Advance can be made available to existing claimants that experience a change of circumstance which results in a significant increase in entitlement, where the claimant cannot wait until the end of the assessment period to receive the increase.
For those individuals who require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available. DHPs can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. The payments are awarded at the discretion of the Local Authority and can provide help with on-going housing costs, or one-off expenses such as rent in advance, deposits or removal costs.
We have provided £180m in DHP funding to local authorities to support vulnerable claimants with housing costs in the private and social rented sector in England and Wales for 2020/21. This includes an extra £40m as announced last year at the spending round.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Bridgend)
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
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.