Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants have received a Severe Disability Premium transitional payment; what the average lump sum was for a Severe Disability Premium payment; and what the cost to the public purse has been of payments made from the Severe Disability Premium.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
A gateway was introduced from 16 January 2019 to prevent those claimants entitled to the Severe Disability Premium (SDP) as part of their legacy benefit from claiming Universal Credit. Additionally, a commitment was made for monthly transitional payments to be made to eligible former SDP claimants who have already moved to Universal Credit due to a change in circumstances and to provide a lump sum arrears payment, where appropriate.
The Universal Credit (Managed Migration Pilot and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019, which were laid in Parliament on 22 July 2019, have allowed the Department to assess eligibility and make backdated payments to claimants covering the time since they moved to Universal Credit.
As of 26 September 2019, over 13,800 claims have been paid an SDP transitional payment. The average (median) value of the lump sum payments is £2,280. To date, over £37.2m has been disbursed to support former SDP claimants, including the recurring payments that have now commenced.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to extend compensation schemes for asbestos-related health problems caused by an individual’s work place environment where the original employer or insurers cannot be traced.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
There are already compensation schemes for asbestos-related health problems caused by an individual’s work place environment.
Whilst the Scheme ensures that sufferers receive compensation whilst they, themselves, can still benefit from it, the Scheme is also open to dependants where a sufferer has not been able to make a claim before they die. Dependants are paid a lower amount than that for someone who actually has the disease.
There are no plans to extend eligibility to this Scheme.
This Scheme makes payments to eligible sufferers of diffuse mesothelioma only. Diffuse mesothelioma is always fatal and always caused by asbestos, therefore, a simple and straightforward payment scheme can be put in place. Other asbestos-related diseases have more uncertainties regarding cause, severity and aggravation by other factors and this complexity is not compatible with a straightforward tariff-based scheme such as the DMPS.
There are no plans to extend eligibility to the DMPS.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will ensure that a range of appointment times are offered to claimants awaiting universal credit assessment appointments.
Answered by Lord Sharma
At the start of their Universal Credit claim, not all claimants will require an initial evidence interview.
If an interview is required, claimants will receive notification to book an interview via their online Universal Credit account at the start of their claim and are encouraged to make contact at the earliest opportunity. The length of the interview will depend upon the evidence to be confirmed. If the scheduled interview is at an inconvenient time, claimants can contact their Work Coach or Case Manager to rearrange.
Jobcentre Team Leaders monitor resource levels as part of their daily planning activities to ensure there are sufficient appointment times available to handle the anticipated volume of interviews.
Where a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) is required claimants will receive notification giving details of the date, time and venue of the assessment. If the timing of the appointment is inconvenient claimants can contact the WCA Provider to rearrange. This could include a change to the date, time or venue of the assessment, or to consider a home assessment where it is appropriate.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department is taking into account the experiences of recipients of universal credit for formulating future policy.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Universal Credit has a comprehensive evaluation framework which sets out the strategy for all evaluation including analysis of the claimant experience and how evaluation is used to formulate future policy:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-evaluation-framework-2016
Since publication of the framework the Department has continued to build evidence on the experiences of claimants on Universal Credit, through a number of pieces of research and evaluation. For example, the Universal Credit Full Service Claimant Survey published in June 2018 explored areas such as claimants’ experiences of registering a claim and understanding of Universal Credit, their job search activity and attitudes to work, and their experiences of budgeting and sanctioning:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-full-service-claimant-survey
Similarly, the Universal Credit Test and Learn Evaluation: Families, published in September 2017, consisted of qualitative and quantitative research into the experience of families in order to provide timely and operationally relevant evidence to support the continual improvement and further rollout of Universal Credit. And to provide early evidence on whether the policy intent is understood and is being met, and on whether labour market behaviours (and outcomes) are affected:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-test-and-learn-evaluation-families
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what consultation his Department undertook on the changes to be made to support for mortgage interest benefit.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Introduction of SMI as a loan was initially trailed in an informal Call for Evidence between December 2011 and February 2012 which set out the Government’s ideas. 83 responses were received, 48 of these were from organisations including lenders and their representatives, welfare rights organisations, and local authorities. A majority of these including mortgage lenders’ representatives supported the proposal.
This Department has worked closely with UK Finance (formerly the Council of Mortgage Lenders) throughout the development and delivery of this policy.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what consultation his Department undertook on the changes to be made to support for mortgage interest benefit.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Introduction of SMI as a loan was initially trailed in an informal Call for Evidence between December 2011 and February 2012 which set out the Government’s ideas. 83 responses were received, 48 of these were from organisations including lenders and their representatives, welfare rights organisations, and local authorities. A majority of these including mortgage lenders’ representatives supported the proposal.
This Department has worked closely with UK Finance (formerly the Council of Mortgage Lenders) throughout the development and delivery of this policy.