Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants have been deemed eligible for the cost of living payments; and what proportion of those people received that payment by (a) 31 July, (b) 31 August and (c) 30 September 2022.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
7.2 million cost-of-living payments have been paid out to low-income families to date.
The following special points should be noted:
Statistics on Universal Credit households and award amounts were released in August 2022 covering claims with assessment periods spanning 12th May 2022. Since the qualifying period for the cost-of-living payments stretches from 26th April 2022 to 25th May 2022, if we were to provide data for all those receiving the payments it would pre-empt the next release of the statistics.
The next release will be published on 15th November 2022 and will include households with assessment periods spanning the remainder of the qualifying period for the cost-of-living payments.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting times for calls to be connected to each JobCentre Plus office in the UK were in each month in each of the last three years.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
As our telephony system operates as a virtual network with calls routed to service centres, information on calls to individual Jobcentre Plus offices is not available.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 introduce either (a) direct email addresses or (b) a contact webform to allow claimants of social security benefits other than Universal Credit to (i) notify their local Job Centre Plus office of a change of circumstances and (ii) request a call back from a benefits advisor.
Answered by David Rutley
DWP is currently working with Digital colleagues to develop a contact webform for customers to notify changes of circumstances regarding their benefits.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 impact of the rise in the cost of living on people who are blind and partially sighted.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
While there has been no formal assessment of the impact of the rise in the cost of living on people who are blind and partially sighted, my colleague the Minister for Disabled People has commissioned officials to investigate the lived experience of disabled people resulting from the rising cost of living.
Over the summer a number of meetings and focus groups have taken place to hear disabled people's experiences, including one which was set up jointly with RNIB. Alongside this officials are building the evidence base on how cost of living is impacting disabled people. This information will feed into the Government’s considered response.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of re-designating Carer's Allowance as a disability-related benefit rather than employment-related benefit, to enable carers who are in receipt of the State Retirement Pension to be eligible to claim Carer's Allowance.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The principal purpose of Carer's Allowance is to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who give up the opportunity of full-time work in order to provide regular care for a severely disabled person. For benefit purposes it is an income replacement benefit. State Pension is also an income replacement benefit, albeit awarded in very different circumstances. Nevertheless, it is a fundamental and long-standing principle of the benefit system under successive Governments that duplicate provision should not be made for the same contingency. The extra costs disability benefits are not intended for income maintenance, rather they are for the additional costs arising from a long-term health condition or disability. Accordingly, it would be anomalous to change the designation of Carer’s Allowance and there are no plans to do so.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the eligibility for Cost of Living Payments, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a discretionary scheme for people who are (a) on low incomes and (b) in receipt of legacy benefits that are not included in the existing eligibility criteria.
Answered by David Rutley
The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. That is why the government is providing over £15bn in further support, targeted at on those with greatest need. This package is in addition to the over £22bn announced previously, with government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37bn this year.
As part of this, Government is providing an additional £500 million from October to help households with the cost of essentials, bringing the total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England, a further £421 million is being provided to extend the Household Support Fund, a discretionary scheme run by Upper Tier Local Authorities, from October 2022 – March 2023. Guidance and individual local authority indicative allocations for this extension will be announced in due course. This guidance will ensure that support is targeted towards those most in need of support including those not eligible for the Cost-of-Living Payments set out on 26 May 2022. The devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula.
Local Authorities have already received their allocations for the existing £421m Household Support Fund covering April – September 2022, alongside the grant determination and guidance. The allocations for Local Authorities for this period can be found here. Local Authorities have discretion on exactly how and when this funding is used within the scope set out in the grant determination and guidance, based on their assessment of local need.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the eligibility for Cost of Living Payments for people on Low Income Benefits, if she will make it her policy to include receipt of Housing Benefit in the eligibility criteria for the award of £650 payments.
Answered by David Rutley
The Government is rightly targeting the £650 Cost of Living Payment support at low-income households in receipt of qualifying means tested benefits.
Housing Benefit is not one of the qualifying means tested benefits. It is also administered directly from Local Authorities, often directly to a landlord. Payments to those receiving only Housing Benefit could not therefore be delivered in a quick, accurate and straightforward manner.
The majority of Housing Benefit claimants also receive a qualifying means tested benefit and will be eligible for the £650 Cost of Living Payment. Pensioners will also be entitled to the increased Winter Fuel Payment of £300 per household. Individuals in receipt of a qualifying disability benefit will also be entitled to the £150 disability Cost of Living Payment.
For those that are not eligible for the means-tested Cost of Living Payment, or for families that still need additional support; the Government is providing an additional £500 million to help households bringing total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England, this will take the form of an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £421m and is administered by Local Authorities. Devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula.
These payments are only part of the Government’s package of support and sits alongside:
The guidance with the full list of support can be found at:
Overall government support for the cost of living: factsheet - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with her Canadian counterpart on a reciprocal social security agreement with Canada.
Answered by Guy Opperman
There are two separate social security arrangements in place between the UK and Canada, made in 1995 and 1998. The UK Government is not intending to change the social security relationship with Canada.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps her Department has taken to support UK pensioners who are living in Commonwealth countries.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The UK State Pension is payable worldwide to those who meet the qualifying conditions, and we continue to up-rate it abroad where there is a legal requirement to do so – for example where there is a reciprocal agreement that provides for up-rating.
People move abroad for many reasons and it is their own choice to do so. There is information available in leaflets and on GOV.UK on how to claim State Pension from overseas and on what the effect of going abroad will be on entitlement to the UK State Pension.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many PIP applications her Department has received from claimants with (a) Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or (b) Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) as a medical condition in each of the last three years.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
A Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimant’s main disabling condition is recorded during their assessment and is not centrally recorded prior to this. Therefore, disability information is not available for analysis for claims registered. To provide the information requested the Department would need to manually examine each individual PIP registration, which would take in excess of 4 working days.
The Department publishes statistics on the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) decisions made by main disabling condition. Statistics are available to January 2022 for PIP on Stat-Xplore, in the PIP clearances dataset. Guidance for users is available here.