Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 merits of providing additional support for the mobility needs of severely disabled children under the age of three.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Children under the age of 16 can claim Child Disability Living Allowance (DLA). They are not eligible for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) which is a benefit for working age claimants.
DLA is an extra-costs benefit available to those under the age of 16 who, due to a disability or health condition, have mobility issues and/or have needs which are substantially in excess of a child the same age without the disability or health condition. DLA is a contribution towards the extra costs associated with being disabled.
As all younger children have substantial mobility needs, only children over the age of three can claim the mobility component of DLA. Under 3s, however, can still access other forms of support, including the care component of DLA.
There are no current proposals to change the existing age restrictions for the mobility component of Child DLA.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 impact of excluding children under the age of three from personal independence payment's higher rate mobility awards on those children and their families.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Children under the age of 16 can claim Child Disability Living Allowance (DLA). They are not eligible for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) which is a benefit for working age claimants.
DLA is an extra-costs benefit available to those under the age of 16 who, due to a disability or health condition, have mobility issues and/or have needs which are substantially in excess of a child the same age without the disability or health condition. DLA is a contribution towards the extra costs associated with being disabled.
As all younger children have substantial mobility needs, only children over the age of three can claim the mobility component of DLA. Under 3s, however, can still access other forms of support, including the care component of DLA.
There are no current proposals to change the existing age restrictions for the mobility component of Child DLA.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the current call waiting time for individuals seeking support with a universal credit claim from her Department's helpline; and if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of that call waiting time.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We regularly review our resources both internally and with our telephony suppliers to ensure we meet customer demand across all services of contact including our phone lines, our service partners are currently recruiting additional staff to answer customer enquiries. Whilst demand fluctuates, this recruitment has supported so far this month our aim to keep average wait times under ten minutes, adequate for the freephone services available for all DWP customers.
The Actual Average Speed of Answer (Call Waiting) for Universal Credit April to September 2021 is shown in the table below in the format of hours:minutes:seconds.
April | May | June | July | August | September |
12:28 | 10:43 | 04:00 | 04:57 | 07:05 | 11:38 |
Average Speed of Answer measures the average customer wait time from the point of entering a queue to connection to an agent. This excludes any time spent in pre-queue messaging and any wait time for calls ultimately abandoned by callers.
Please note that the data in the above tables is derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. The data should therefore be treated with caution.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 merits of extending the eligibility criteria for people on Income Related Employment and Support Allowance to apply for a hardship payment to include any cause of temporary payment suspension.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Whether the claimant is facing a sanction related to work-related matters or a suspension because there is a doubt about their entitlement to Employment and Support Allowance, claimants can already apply for hardship with their Jobcentre adviser, work coach or via the helpline, at any time during the period when payment is reduced or stopped.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what funding the Government plans to make available for face to face support from third sector organisations currently contracted to assist the most vulnerable with universal credit claims over the next 12 months.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Department is committed to providing the best possible support for all our claimants, including the most vulnerable in society, in both making and maintaining their claim.
Help to Claim support delivered through Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland offers tailored, practical support to help people make a Universal Credit claim, up to receiving their first full correct payment on time.
This support has been bolstered by the announcement in March this year of a further 12 months of funding for Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland to deliver Help to Claim.
Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland continue to deliver the Help to Claim support, mainly through their telephony and web chat channels. However, both organisations have started re-introducing face to face support within a number of sites, in line with guidance, and we will continue to support them with this.
Throughout the pandemic, our jobcentres also remained open so that the most vulnerable claimants could continue to have face-to-face meetings as necessary.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time is for personal independence payment claims to be reviewed by a Health Professional prior to determining the best method for undertaking an assessment in the most recent period for which figures are available; and whether that waiting time has met her Department's targets set for that process.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested is not available.
It might be helpful if I explain that on receipt of a referral, a Health Professional (HP) will review each case along with any additional information provided by the claimant. If there is enough paper-based evidence to determine entitlement, the HP will assess the claimant on this evidence alone. If there is not, the HP may request further medical evidence from a treating medical professional. Once all the information has been received, the HP may be able to provide a paper-based assessment. If they cannot, the HP will advise on the appropriateness of a telephone, video or face to face assessment, and an assessment will be scheduled with the claimant as soon as possible.
Both DWP and its providers remain committed to ensuring claimants receive an efficient service, and takes all steps possible to ensure claimants are assessed in the most efficient way possible.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate her Department has made of the average waiting time to process personal independence payment applications in (a) Scotland and (b) the Highlands.
Answered by Chloe Smith
We are committed to ensuring that people can access financial support through Personal In-dependence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner and reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the Department. We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence.
Average waiting times for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) new claims made under normal rules (i.e. excluding those processed under special rules) are calculated as the median number of weeks from registration to DWP decision, and published as the “Average Actual Clearance Time”. For claims cleared in July 2021, the latest data shows:
(a) The Average Actual Clearance Time for new claims in Scotland was 26 weeks.
(b) The Average Actual Clearance Time for new claims in the Highlands Local Authority was 28 weeks.
Notes:
Data Source: PIP Atomic Data Store (ADS)
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 effect on the levels of fuel poverty of the suspension of the pension triple lock in the Scottish Highlands.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Social Security (Up-rating of Benefits) Bill ensures those who rely on the new State Pension, basic State Pension and Pension Credit Standard Minimum Guarantee have their spending power preserved. They will be protected from the higher costs of living by increasing at least with the rise in inflation or 2.5%, whichever is higher. This was also the case last year when we took legislative action to increase State Pension rates despite the fall in earnings which would otherwise have meant that they would have been frozen.
The UK Government is committed to supporting older people and vulnerable households to keep warm, and it has a strong package of policies already delivering to those in need.
This includes Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments available in Scotland until the Scottish Government has built the capacity to deliver replacements for them.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
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 (a) appropriateness of access rights to claimant information when third parties make alternative enquiry requests to the State Pension Claim phoneline and (b) adequacy of support available under those rules from third party organisations for claimants who are unable to make applications independently to the phoneline.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The DWP Agents, Appointees, Attorneys, Deputies and third parties guide is used by staff to ensure that communications from customer representatives are processed in line with guidance. This includes the instances when State Pension claims are made by a customer’s official representative.
Official customer representatives can make enquiries to DWP via our helplines, as well as making written requests to the DWP Mail Opening Unit address, which is available online at GOV.UK
DWP also operates secure email links with Local Authorities in the instances when they act as Corporate Appointee to make a claim on behalf of a customer or to share information.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the level of the Cold Weather Payment to help offset (a) the suspension of the pension triple lock in the 2022-23 financial year and (b) increasing fuel costs.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Social Security (Up-rating of Benefits) Bill ensures those who rely on the new State Pension, basic State Pension and Pension Credit Standard Minimum Guarantee have their spending power preserved. They will be protected from the higher costs of living by increasing at least with the rise in inflation or 2.5%, whichever is higher. This was also the case last year when we took legislative action to increase State Pension rates despite the fall in earnings which would otherwise have meant that they would have been frozen.
The UK Government is committed to supporting older people and vulnerable households to keep warm, and it has a strong package of policies already delivering to those in need.
This includes Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments available in Scotland until the Scottish Government has built the capacity to deliver replacements for them.