Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department will provide to vulnerable claimants to manage the transition away from benefits being paid into Post Office card accounts.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department is committed to supporting claimants to access their benefit and pension payments as we transform our payment exception services. Nobody will be left without a means to access to their benefits or pension.
The Department has put in place a dedicated team, the Financial Inclusion Customer Contact Centre, to support all Post Office Card Account customers. The Team can help customers update their payment details to a standard account; answer questions about the payment change and; signpost customers to impartial financial advice available through the Money and Pensions Service where they need help to identify a suitable alternative account.
We are working closely with Post Office Limited on the support that their teams can provide to Post Office card account customers. For example, we have recently launched leaflets in some Post Offices to support Post Office card account customers, together with details of how they can update their payment details to a standard account.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on claimants of no longer being able to receive benefits through their Post Office card accounts.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department has been encouraging Post Office card account customers to transfer to a standard account since 2016. Paying claimants into a standard account is the most efficient and safest payment method for the customer, and the Department.
Standard accounts have many advantages for the individual, for example, the ability to use direct debits and to pay for goods and services using a debit card. A standard account allows customers to access cash payments via a wide range of outlets and settings. The Post Office delivers personal banking services for a wide range of banks, building societies and other financial institutions, including cash withdrawal with a debit card.
The Department has continuously gathered insight from customers who contact us to discuss the closure of their Post Office card account to better understand their needs. This insight identified that some customers are unable to open or use an alternative account and for these customers we will pay through an alternative payment exception service to ensure that nobody will be left without access to their benefits or pension.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to remove the reasonable expectation of death within six months provision under the Special Rules for Terminal Illness for benefit claimants who are terminally ill with motor neurone disease.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Department is committed to delivering an improved benefit system for all claimants that are nearing the end of their lives and is working across Government to bring forward proposals following the evaluation. I remain committed to implementing the key areas identified in the evaluation; a consensus to change the six-month rule; improving consistency with other services used by people nearing the end of their lives; and raising awareness of the support that is available.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
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 eligibility for the Kickstart Scheme to include sole traders.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Department for Work and Pensions’ Kickstart Scheme is open to employers of all sizes.
Sole traders can apply to Kickstart through an organisation offering the ‘Gateway Plus’ model, which enables young people to be placed on the Gateway’s PAYE system for the duration of their placement; there are a number of organisations that will offer this model.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the average response time to hon Members' offices regarding Child Maintenance Support enquiries; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department does not measure timings as described in the question and to determine this request, we would need to examine each individual case, which the Department considers to be cost prohibitive to provide.
The Department has a 15 working day target for MP to Director General Correspondence and a 20 working day target for Private Office correspondence. These timescales are in line with Cabinet Office directives.
As part of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department had to make changes to its complaints and MP correspondence model to allow staff to be deployed to support processing benefit claims and payments. From 9 July 2020, the Department now triage complaints and MP Correspondence giving priority to vulnerable claimants who may be at risk, and those with benefit payment issues.
We continue to look into all complaints and MP correspondence as quickly as we can and, as part of the triage process used to determine priority, we write or call those customers and MPs where there may be a delay in answering their complaint or enquiry.
We are reviewing the effectiveness of the approach we have taken throughout the pandemic as part of an ongoing review into complaints and MP correspondence handling.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to announce its decision on whether the £20 uplift to universal credit and working tax credits will be extended beyond April 2021.
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 March 2021. As the Government has done throughout this crisis, it will continue to assess how best to support low-income families, which is why we will look at the economic and health context before making any decisions.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect of ending the £20 uplift to universal credit and working tax credits on (a) universal credit claimants and (b) the economy.
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 March 2021. As the Government has done throughout this crisis, it will continue to assess how best to support low-income families, which is why we will look at the economic and health context before making any decisions.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to ensure that personal independence payment claimants with incurable illnesses are only reassessed when there is a change in their condition.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Once someone has been awarded Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which can be paid at one of eight rates, that award will usually be reviewed. Regular reviews are a key feature of the benefit and ensure that payments accurately match the current needs of claimants. The length of an award is based on an individual’s circumstances and can vary from nine months to an on-going award, with a light touch review after ten years.
In 2018 we introduced updated guidance for case managers and an updated PIP Assessment Guide in 2018 which ensures that those people who receive the highest level of support under PIP, and where their needs are unlikely to change or may get worse, will receive an ongoing award with a light touch review at the ten-year point. In line with PIP’s aim to be needs-based rather than condition-based, the change to the guidance is not condition specific. However, we believe the changes will ensure that those with severe and/or progressive conditions receive the most appropriate award duration that reflects their condition and the needs arising.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
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 potential effect of removing the £20 per week uplift to universal credit and working tax credits on the Yorkshire economy.
Answered by Will Quince
The available information on the number of claimants on Universal Credit by Parliamentary Constituency is published and can be found at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
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 March 2021. As the Government has done throughout this crisis, it will continue to assess how best to support low-income families, which is why we will look at the economic and health context before making any decisions.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of universal credit claimants who would be affected by the removal of the £20 per week uplift to universal credit and working tax credits in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) the Sheffield city region and (c) Yorkshire and the Humber.
Answered by Will Quince
The available information on the number of claimants on Universal Credit by Parliamentary Constituency is published and can be found at:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
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 March 2021. As the Government has done throughout this crisis, it will continue to assess how best to support low-income families, which is why we will look at the economic and health context before making any decisions.