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 suspend the minimum income floor on universal credit beyond the 13 November 2020 for self- employed people during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
After careful consideration of the ongoing public health situation and the national working environment, the current easement of the suspension of the Minimum Income Floor in Universal Credit that was due to expire on 12th November 2020 will be extended to the end of April 2021.
Regulations will be laid and made prior to 12th November 2020.
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 extend the run on period for entitlement for the childcare element of universal credit to include two assessment periods after the assessment period in which the client ceases employment to help mitigate the economic effects of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit (UC) claimants who cease employment and have pre-existing childcare arrangements, will be eligible for reimbursement of up to 85% of their childcare costs as part of their UC award for the assessment period in which they cease work and the subsequent assessment period. There are no current plans to extend this.
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 a parent is able to make a claim under the childcare element of (a) universal credit and (b) tax credits for the cost of a retainer fee paid to keep their child's place in a childcare setting that has been forced to close due to covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Will Quince
Parents claiming Universal Credit (UC) who satisfy both the work condition and childcare conditions are eligible to have their childcare costs reimbursed if:
If a childcare provider is forced to close due to Covid-19 and unable to provide childcare for parents, the UC Childcare eligibility conditions will not be satisfied because childcare is not being provided.
Under Working Tax Credits, the childcare element is usually only provided where a child is receiving childcare. If a child was not receiving childcare, HMRC wouldn’t expect a provider to continue to charge. HMRC will continue to pay childcare costs to those in receipt of the childcare element of Working Tax Credits who continued to pay childcare fees, despite their children being unable to access childcare because of COVID-19 for a maximum of 4 weeks.
The government continues to pay funding to local authorities in England for the free childcare entitlements for two, three and four-year-olds during the period of closures due to Covid-19. This funding has continued to be paid to providers to ensure there remains sufficient childcare for all those who need it. For the Autumn term, childcare will be funded at the level we would have done had the pandemic not occurred. These entitlements cannot be accrued for time not spent in the childcare setting and so parents will not be able to carry over unused hours for use later in the year.
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 it her policy to extend eligibility for the childcare element of universal credit to parents and guardians in the event that they lose employment as a result of covid-19 restrictions after 31 October 2020.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit claimants who cease employment and have pre-existing childcare arrangements, will be eligible for reimbursement of up to 85% of their childcare costs as part of their Universal Credit award for the assessment period in which they cease work and the subsequent assessment period.
If Universal Credit claimants are on the Job Support Scheme and satisfy both the work condition and childcare costs condition they are eligible to continue to have up to 85% (subject to the maximum limits) of their childcare costs reimbursed if:
Help with upfront childcare costs for starting work is available through a non-repayable Flexible Support Fund (FSF) award for eligible UC claimants up to the limits set. This does not apply for claimants already in work. We have issued guidance to Work Coaches in Jobcentres to ensure that eligible claimants who require help with upfront childcare costs in order to start work are directed to the governments FSF. The FSF received an additional £150m this financial year to help support UC claimants to move closer to, or in to, work. Budgeting advances are also available to eligible UC claimants who require help with upfront costs, repayable over the following 12 months.
In addition, UC claimants who lose their employment may be entitled to request a change of circumstances advance. This advance is available if a claimant’s award is likely to significantly increase with their next payment to address any short-term costs that arise in the meantime. Change of circumstances advances can be repaid over a maximum of six months, with a three month deferral available in exceptional circumstances.
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 17 September 2020 to Question 89694, what steps she is taking to ensure that people who received support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) will be able to have their eligibility for universal credit assessed promptly at the end of that scheme; and what assessment she has made of the effect of including those people's final CJRS payments in their eligibility assessment for universal credit on those people's financial security over Christmas 2020.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is a HMRC-led initiative providing a grant to help employers pay the wages of their employee. When the scheme ends, any employee who sees their income reduced may be eligible to apply for Universal Credit. The Department ensures all claimants are supported in both making and maintaining a claim. For those claimants who are particularly affected by any loss of income and need urgent support, new claims advances are available during the first assessment period to provide upfront support – meaning the claimant will receive their first year’s entitlement over 13 payments instead of 12. Where a payment from the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is used to fund earnings, the earnings of the employee will be taken into account in the calculation of entitlement to Universal Credit in the usual way. The intention being that payments to employees should mirror the way equivalent income is treated in Universal Credit.
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 increase the personal allowance of legacy benefits so that they are aligned with universal credit payments.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government has announced a suite of measures that can be quickly and effectively operationalised to benefit those facing the most financial disruption during the pandemic.
We estimate that 2.5 million households receiving Universal Credit will benefit straight away from the increase in the standard allowance rates which was announced on 20 March, and which is additional to the planned annual uprating. New claimants who have either become unemployed, or whose earnings or work hours have decreased because of the outbreak, will benefit too, subject to their eligibility.
We have also made a number of changes to legacy and other working age benefits in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including increasing certain entitlements, such as Local Housing Allowance. Up-to-date information about the employment and benefits support available, including Universal Credit, Statutory Sick Pay, New style Jobseeker's Allowance, and Employment and Support Allowance, can be found here: www.understandinguniversalcredit.gov.uk/employment-and-benefits-support
It has always been the case that claimants on legacy benefits can make a claim for UC if they believe that they will be better off. There are special arrangements for those in receipt of the Severe Disability Premium, who will be able to make a new claim to Universal Credit from January 2021.
However, claimants should check their eligibility before applying to Universal Credit as legacy benefits will end when they submit their claim and they will not be able to return to them in the future. For this reason, prospective claimants are signposted to independent benefits calculators on GOV.UK. Neither DWP nor HMRC can advise individual claimants whether they would be better off moving to UC or remaining on legacy benefits.
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 it her policy to (a) waive the six week penalty and (b) enable the backdating of claims in relation to new-style employment support allowance for people with a shortfall in contributions who have paid a lump sum during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We have made a number of changes to working age benefits in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, including increasing certain entitlements. The COVID-19 outbreak continues to be a rapidly evolving situation and we consider whether further action is appropriate on an ongoing basis.
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, with reference to her Department's pilot of a single system for disability assessments announced in March 2020, how the single assessment system will encompass the descriptors used to assess personal independence payments, limited capability for work under universal credit (UC), limited capability for work and work related activity of UC, limited capability for work under employment and support allowance (ESA) and limited capability for work and work related activity under ESA; and if she will set out how the single assessment process will work.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On 02 March 2020 we announced plans regarding the single, integrated service that will simplify the assessment process for millions of people claiming health related benefits. Announcement on Health and Disability Assessments.
Today separate organisations deliver PIP assessments and Work Capability Assessments using different IT systems; we will replace this with a single digital platform delivered by DWP and covering all benefits that need a health assessment. The new service will simplify the assessment process reducing the need to submit information multiple times and potentially minimise the need for face-to-face assessments.
Building on the work of the integrated service, the Department announced it would study the feasibility of using a single assessment for PIP and ESA/UC to establish if this would improve the assessment process for claimants who are eligible to be assessed for these benefits at the same time. We have recently concluded the study, which involved discussions with key stakeholders, as well as research and analysis to examine how a single assessment could work in practice with a sharp focus on whether it would improve the claimant experience. The Department will be reviewing the evidence from this study before determining next steps.
The Government is committed to continuously improving the experience for customers with health conditions and disabilities and the upcoming Green Paper on health and disability support will seek to address this further.