Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
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 effect on household food insecurity of the introduction of the 10 new food security questions in the Family Resources Survey in 2019.
Answered by Will Quince
The first results from the food insecurity questions added to the Family Resource Survey in April 2019 are due to be published in 2021.
The information that will be published will be dependent on the results being robust and meeting the quality assurance processes which all DWP statistical publications are subject to.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of universal credit before March 2020 have not received the 1.7 per cent increase in that benefit on 6 April; and how many new claimants have received that increase.
Answered by Will Quince
All existing and new universal credit claims will have their claim assessed on the increased rates of benefit for the relevant assessment period from 6 April 2020.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the time it takes to (a) process and (b) decide on disputes lodged by universal credit claimants regarding their real-time information calculations.
Answered by Will Quince
The data requested is not available.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2020 to Question 727 on Universal Credit, how much has been paid back to universal credit claimants as a result of Real Time Information disputes being upheld in the most recent 12 months for which data are available.
Answered by Will Quince
The information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to Answer of 24 February 2020 to Question 725, what the locations of the are of the small-scale Proof of Concepts for the warning system; and what the timescales are for (a) those proof of concepts and (b) reporting to the House on her Department's assessment of their effectiveness.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The small scale proof of concept took place in South London and we hope to complete the internal evaluation by the Spring at which point further decisions can be made on the next stages.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2020 to Question 727 on Universal Credit, how many universal credit claimants successfully disputed the Real Time Information on which their awards were based (a) from February 2016 to January 2017, (b) from February 2017 to January 2018 and (c) from February 2018 to January 2019.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has been working closely with HMRC since Universal Credit went live in 2013 to support and inform employers who report earnings to emphasise the importance of timely reporting via the Real Time Information (RTI) system.
HMRC have guidance to reiterate to employers the importance of reporting accurate dates and the impact on payment cycles; the Financial Secretary to the Treasury is also working closely with HMRC and employers to encourage accurate reporting dates. Please see the table below for the relevant data on the total successful RTI disputes.
| Total RTI calculations | RTI calculation disputes | Percentage (%) of disputes to total calculations | Number of successful disputes |
July 2017 – January 2018 | 3,902,052 | 11,133 | 0.3% | 2,226 |
February 2018 – January 2019 | 13,566,745 | 61,246 | 0.4% | 11,636 |
Notes:
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claims have been (a) closed in error and (b) reopened in each of the last 24 months for which data is available.
Answered by Will Quince
The information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claims have been closed in each of the last 24 months for which data is available; and what the reasons were for the closure of those claims.
Answered by Will Quince
Information surrounding Universal Credit (UC) claim closure reasons and volumes for the last 24 months of available data are shown in the attached tables.
Monthly assessment periods align to the way the majority of employees are paid and also allows UC to be adjusted each month. This means that if a claimant’s income falls, they will not have to wait several months for a rise in their UC.
If a claimant’s earnings are sufficient enough in an assessment period to reach and/or exceed their nil earning threshold, their UC claim will be closed. Should the claimant then choose to reclaim, a claimant only has to update or confirm their information, rather than making a full new UC claim. This process allows claimants to return quickly and easily to UC by minimising the administrative burden on them.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants have received an advance payment in the most recent 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit is now the main system of working age welfare support across the country. It is available in every Jobcentre, with a caseload of 2.8 million claimants, growing every month, now able to access the additional support and flexibilities it offers.
Between December 2018 to November 2019, 1,996,000 claimants received an advance payment.
As the overall Universal Credit caseload grows, we expect the volume and value of advance payments to increase in correlation. This shows that claimants are being made aware of advances and are using it where they need this help.