Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the number of cancer patients who will stop receiving personal independence payments following proposed welfare reforms.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper has been published here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab).
Impacts of the proposed changes depend on many factors including how the mix of conditions among claimants evolves over time, and behavioural responses. These impacts are uncertain at an overall England and Wales level, and it would not be possible to make an informed assessment at such a granular level as individual primary medical conditions.
The number of people currently on PIP who did not score 4 points in one category in their last assessment should not be equated with the number who are likely to lose PIP in future. It’s important to make a clear distinction between the two, not least because we don’t want constituents to be unnecessarily fearful about their situation, when we understand many are already anxious. Someone who did not score 4 points in an activity in a previous assessment may well score 4 points in a future assessment as conditions change over time.
Changes to PIP eligibility aren’t coming into effect immediately. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval. PIP changes will only apply at the next award review after November 2026. The average award review period is about three years.
We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. PIP is not based on condition diagnosis, but on functional disability as the result of one or more conditions and is awarded as a contribution to the additional costs which result.
We have also announced a wider review of the PIP assessment which I am leading, and we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the press release entitled Trial encourages low-income pensioners to apply for extra financial support, published on 17 July 2023, whether she plans to publish the results of this trial.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The results from the ‘Invitation to Claim’ trial were published in October 2024 on GOV.UK and are available at: Pension Credit 'Invitation to Claim' Trial - GOV.UK
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in response to the question from the hon. Member for Wokingham of 12 February 2025, Official Report, column 176WH, when further information in writing will be provided.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
It is not currently possible to accurately identify all pensioner households who may be entitled to Pension Credit from Council or DWP data. This is because eligibility for Pension Credit depends on a household’s specific financial and personal circumstances – information which the Department does not usually hold but requires from the customer.
However, there are significant opportunities for DWP and Councils to work together, not least on the overlap between Pensions Credit and Housing Benefit. As part of our Pension Credit campaign, the Department wrote to 120,000 pensioner households in receipt of Housing Benefit inviting them to claim Pension Credit. Using existing Housing Benefit data, which local authorities also have access to, enabled the Department to make an assessment of potential Pension Credit eligibility and target those households directly. Since February, we have been targeting all new Housing Benefit claimants who we identify as potentially eligible for Pension Credit in this way.
More generally, the Department shares extensive data with local authorities for a variety of purposes. Despite what is sometimes claimed, local authorities are allowed to re-use that data under the terms of a data sharing Memorandum of Understanding, subject to them seeking their own legal advice, and subject to them notifying the Department of their intent. This data reuse process can include reusing data originating from DWP to help identify people eligible for Pension Credit.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 November 2024 to Question 12286 on Pension Credit: Uptake, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the complexity of the Pension Credit application form.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As the Department continues to modernise the Pension Credit service, we review the user experience, balancing simplification of application with capturing the right information to ensure accuracy of award. A key objective of DWP’s Service Modernisation Programme is to utilise end user research to understand how the application process should operate in the future and consider the opportunities on how services can be more user friendly and easily accessible for citizens. To that end we are streamlining all Pension Credit application routes by using information held internally to reduce the number of questions the citizen must answer.
Claims for Pension Credit can be made online, by telephone or by post. By far, the most popular way to claim is online where a claim can be made 24/7 with the help of a family member, a friend or a third party. The online claim form means it now takes just 16 minutes on average to complete, with 90 per cent of new customers applying using the simple online form, or over the phone.
With the telephone service, the caller will be guided through the claim process. We will keep the Pension Credit application process under review.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of eligible pensioners who were not claiming Pension Credit in Wokingham constituency on 31 January 2025.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Published DWP Pension Credit Take-up statistics estimate that up to 760,000 households who were entitled to receive Pension Credit did not claim the benefit. These statistics are only available at Great Britain level and cannot be broken down to smaller geographical areas. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2022 to 2023 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK
Latest caseload statistics show that as of August 2024, there were 1,359,773 people in receipt of Pension Credit in Great Britain, of which 798 were in Wokingham constituency. This data is available via DWP Stat-Xplore.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking with Wokingham Borough Council to promote the uptake of pension credit.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As part of our nationwide Pension Credit campaign, the Department has engaged with all councils in Great Britain, including Wokingham Borough Council, via the regular Local Authority Welfare Direct bulletins. In response to our call to action, 200 councils across Great Britain have supported our Pension Credit campaign either on social media, or by distributing the promotional material we have provided.
Wokingham Borough Council requested printed materials to share locally and has shared our messages through their social media channels, successfully signposting local people to Pension Credit information and resources. DWP has developed an ongoing relationship with their Communications Team and engaged with them recently, including in January as part of the Energy Savers Week Pension Credit campaign.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
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 reintroducing the (a) Low Income Benefits, (b) Disability and (c) Pensioner Cost of Living payment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Cost of Living Payments were intended to relieve the immediate financial pressures caused by the rapid rise in cost of living. There are no plans to reintroduce these payments.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
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 support (a) young cancer patients and (b) their families in into employment.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
NHS England is committed to ensuring that all cancer patients are offered Holistic Needs Assessment and Personalised Care and Support Planning, ensuring care is focused on what matters most to each person. This is being delivered in line with the NHS Comprehensive Model for Personalised Care, empowering people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer and maximise the potential of digital and community-based support.
The Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce will be relaunched in 2025 to identify ways to improve the experience and outcomes for children and young people with cancer. We will set out further details on next steps in due course.
Access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key to supporting a successful return to work. We, therefore, have a range of specialist initiatives including support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual.
Employers also play a key role in supporting people with health conditions to thrive as part of the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, Support with Employee Health and Disability service, a digital information service for employers, and the Disability Confident scheme.
The Department’s Youth Offer also provides individually tailored Work Coach support to young people aged 16 to 24 who are claiming Universal Credit. This support includes the Youth Employment Programme, Youth Employability Coaches for young people with additional barriers to finding work, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain.
To support unpaid carers to remain in work, DWP has launched Jobhelp, to provide advice and information, all in one place, to existing, new and potential unpaid carers to help them make informed decisions about combining work and care.