Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 19 July 2022 to Question 36138 on Cost of Living Payments, how many Universal Credit claimants who had the minimum income floor applied to them during the qualifying period for the first round of cost of living payments; and how many claimants (a) had a zero payment, (b) earned below the minimum income floor and (c) earned above the minimum income floor.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
During the qualifying period for the first Cost of Living Payment there were 67,350 gainfully self-employed Universal Credit claimants subject to the minimum income floor. Of these:
a) 8,820 had a zero payment.
b) 33,520 earned below the minimum income floor.
c) 33,830 earned above the minimum income floor.
Numbers with a zero payment (a) are not excluded from numbers above (b) or below (c) the minimum income floor.
Note: the figures in (a), (b) and (c) do not sum to the total number of gainfully self-employed as some individuals will have a zero payment and earn above or below the minimum income floor.
These figures are from internal Management Information subject to retrospective changes and are rounded to the nearest 10.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claimants had the minimum income floor applied during the qualifying period for the first Cost of Living Payment with the 25 May 2022 deadline; and of those people, how many received a nil payment due to the minimum income floor.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
During the qualifying period for the first Cost of Living Payment 80,660 Universal Credit claimants were subject to the minimum income floor (MIF) of which, 4850 earned below their minimum income floor and received a nil payment.
However, the government is providing over £15 billion in further support. This package is in addition to the over £22 billion announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37 billion this year.
This means with the £150 Council Tax Rebate and the £400 being paid to all domestic electricity customer millions of the lowest income households will get £1,200 of one-off support in total this year to help with the cost of living, with all domestic electricity customers receiving at least £400.
The Energy Bills Support Scheme has been doubled to a one-off £400 grant, and not recovered in future years. Energy suppliers will deliver this support to households with a domestic electricity meter over six months from October.
This support is in addition to the £150 Council Tax rebate for households in England in Council Tax bands A-D, which was announced in February.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claimants were gainfully self-employed during the qualifying period for the first Cost of Living Payment with the qualifying deadline of 25 May 2022.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
During the qualifying period for the first Cost of Living Payment there were 307,440 Universal Credit claimants who were gainfully self-employed.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Minister for Communities in Northern Ireland on plans to migrate people on legacy benefits to Universal Credit.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Social Security is a devolved matter. As such, there have been no discussions with the Minister for Communities in Northern Ireland on managed migration.
Any Universal Credit forecasts relate only to Great Britain.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
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 people in Northern Ireland that will be moved from legacy benefits to Universal Credit by the end of 2023.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Social Security is a devolved matter. As such, there have been no discussions with the Minister for Communities in Northern Ireland on managed migration.
Any Universal Credit forecasts relate only to Great Britain.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit official error overpayments were made in the last 12 months; and what proportion of those overpayments were not recovered as a result of a successful waiver request.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
DWP’s Fraud and Error estimates indicate that 2.2% of UC cases were overpaid due to Official Error in 2020/21.
Clerical records show that we received 91 official error waiver requests in the 12 months up to January 2022.
I can confirm that where a person is unable to afford the rate of repayment, and they have requested a reduction in their repayment rate, almost all such requests are accepted.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of making bridge payments to 1950s-born women affected by changes to state pension age in response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report, Women's State Pension age: our findings on the Department for Work and Pensions' communication of changes, published on 19 July 2021, HC 444.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
It would not be appropriate to comment on the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report of 19 July 2021. The Ombudsman’s investigation is ongoing and section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 states that Ombudsman investigations “shall be conducted in private”.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish her Department's impact assessments for the removal of the uplift to universal credit.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made.
Universal Credit has provided a vital safety net for six million people during the pandemic, and we announced the temporary uplift as part of a £400 billion package of measures put in place that will last well beyond the end of the roadmap. Our focus now is on our multi-billion Plan for Jobs, which will support people in the long-term by helping them learn new skills and increase their hours or find new work.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the policy of joint universal credit claims for couples to help prevent financial coercion.
Answered by Will Quince
If a couple are living together in a household, Universal Credit (UC) normally makes a single award to that household. It is for the couple in the household to determine where their single award is paid. This could be either a joint account or an individual account held by one member of the couple. In joint claims couples are encouraged to nominate the bank account of the main carer to receive the household’s UC payment.
It is possible for a request to be made for a payment to be divided between two members of the household. This is known as a split payment. Whilst the Department is not intending to introduce split payments by default, we respond positively to such requests. The larger percentage of a split payment will be allocated to the person with primary caring responsibilities, such as childcare. This is to ensure the health and well-being of the majority of the household. It is important that we allow the individual who is experiencing abuse to decide whether they think split payments will help their individual circumstances.
We can take other actions to support those experiencing abuse, such as making a managed payment of rent direct to landlords. We also ensure that claimants who disclose abuse are signposted to specialist organisations for support.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make permanent the £20 uplift to universal credit uplift; and if she will extend that uplift to all legacy benefits.
Answered by Will Quince
The £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit was announced by the Chancellor as a temporary measure in March 2020 to support those facing the most financial disruption as a result of the public health emergency. This measure remains in place until September 2021.
There have been significant positive developments in the public health situation since the increase was first announced with a vaccine rollout now gathering pace. As a result, the six-month extension to the temporary £20 per week uplift to the Universal Credit standard allowance means that it will be in place well beyond the expected end of restrictions and reopening of the economy.
It is right that the government should now shift its focus to supporting people back into work and we have a comprehensive Plan for Jobs.
The government has focused support on Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit claimants because they are more likely to be affected by the sudden economic shock of COVID-19 than other legacy benefit claimants.
Claimants on legacy benefits can make a claim for UC if they believe that they will be better off. The Government encourages anybody to go on GOV.UK and use one of the independent benefit calculators to check carefully their eligibility, because on applying for UC their entitlement to legacy benefits will cease and they will not be able to return to them in the future. Neither DWP nor HMRC can advise individual claimants whether they would be better off moving to UC or remaining on legacy benefits. They can get help through the government funded Help to Claim scheme as well as the Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland.