Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have contacted (a) her Department and (b) pension providers on having been unaware that they had a pension which had been contracted out.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Under successive governments the Department has never kept records on numbers contacting the Department or pension providers on having been unaware that they had a pension which had been contracted out.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of 7 February 2018, Official Report, column 1489, when an online password reset function will be implemented for universal credit claimants.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Universal Credit Claimants are able to reset their password online unless they have forgotten all of their details.
We are currently making some improvements which we hope will simplify the process for claimants.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
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 implications are for her policies of the finding in the June 2018 NAO report Rolling Out Universal Credit which questioned her expectation that most claimants would have enough money to manage over the initial waiting period.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Some claimants at the start of their Universal Credit claim an income, such as final earnings, to help them manage until their first payment. However, for Universal Credit claimants not in this position, advance payments have always been available in order to prevent financial hardship.
The Department had previously estimated 49% of Universal Credit claimants would apply for a new claims/benefit transfer advance (what the NAO report refers to as “most claimants not needing support”); however as the NAO report showed the actual figure is 60%. This clearly shows that claimants are being made aware of advances, that our advance system is being utilised and is working, and consequently that people are getting help when they need it.
Personal Budgeting Support (PBS) is also offered to Universal Credit claimants from the outset of their claim. PBS helps claimants as they transition to Universal Credit and adapt to the financial changes that Universal Credit brings. PBS can be online, telephone or face to face support. Face to face support is delivered through local authorities via Universal Support.
We constantly review the working of Universal Credit in line with our test and learn approach, and we have already implemented policy changes to address many of the concerns raised in the report. This includes the package of measures announced at the Autumn Budget 2017, such as making advances of up to 100% of the indicative award available and increasing the repayment period to 12 months, removing the 7 waiting days, providing an additional payment of 2 weeks of Housing Benefit to support claimants when they transition to Universal Credit, and changing how claimants in temporary accommodation receive support for their housing costs. People can claim advances as soon as they make their claim, so no-one needs to experience hardship when claiming Universal Credit or waiting for their first payment.
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
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 causes of unsuccessful transfers from disability living allowance to personal independence payments in the Glasgow area, and if will she make a statement.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has different eligibility criteria and takes a more holistic view of a person’s health condition or disability and the impact it has on their ability to live an independent life, compared to Disability Living Allowance (DLA).
Therefore, when someone on DLA is invited to claim PIP and is reassessed, the level of their award may stay the same, go up, down or cease altogether depending on the claimants assessed level of needs.
Source: Stat-Xplore – www.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to investigate the causes of the high proportion of unsuccessful transfers of disability living allowance claiminats to personal independence payments in the Glasgow area.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has different eligibility criteria and takes a more holistic view of a person’s health condition or disability and the impact it has on their ability to live an independent life, compared to Disability Living Allowance (DLA).
Therefore, when someone on DLA is invited to claim PIP and is reassessed, the level of their award may stay the same, go up, down or cease altogether depending on the claimants assessed level of needs.
Source: Stat-Xplore – www.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
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 effect of section 75 rules on debt calculations for multi-Employer Pension Schemes on directors of plumbing companies.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There are nearly 1,000 multi-employer schemes. The legislation requiring employers to pay debts applies to all. This legislation helps ensure employees receive the pension they have been promised and worked for.
The Green Paper “Protecting Defined Benefit Pensions” specifically discussed Multi Employer Schemes. The government looked closely at evidence submitted from employers and representatives from the Plumbing & Mechanical Services (UK) Industry Pension Scheme regarding this legislation. After careful consideration the government concluded that it cannot consider amending an important area of legislation further, which would disadvantage scheme members, just to address one particular scheme’s problems.
Summaries of the responses to the Green Paper can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/defined-benefit-pension-schemes-security-and-sustainability
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2018 to Question 146980 on State Retirement Pensions: Females, what the average length of time taken was for a complaint in relation to the equalisation of the state pension age to be (a) received and referred to be Independent Case Examiners Office, (b) allocated to a case manager and (c) investigated by the case manager and a response issued to the complainant.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Independent Case Examiner’s Office can only accept a complaint for examination once the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) complaint process has been exhausted. Final complaint responses from DWP signpost complainants to the ICE Office if they remain dissatisfied with the response to their complaint and tell them they have six months in which to do so.
In response to: (a) we do not collect information about the average time taken by complainants to escalate their complaint to the Independent Case Examiner’s Office, following receipt of DWPs final complaint response; (b) to date, the average time take to allocate complaints about the equalisation of state pension age to an investigation case manager is 47 weeks; and (c) following allocation to an investigation case manager the average time taken to conclude an investigation into this group of complaints is 9 weeks (against a target of 20 weeks).
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate has she made of the number of women who have seen an increase in the age threshold at which they can claim their state pension as a result of the Government's reforms to the equalisation of the state pension age.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The decision to equalise the State Pension age for men and women dates back to 1995 and has been supported by Coalition, Labour and Conservative governments since then.
The Office for National Statistics publishes annual mid-year population estimates for the UK and its constituent countries. These detail persons by single year of age and sex. The most recent data is for mid-2017 and was released in June 2018. It can be found at the below link:
The State Pension age is currently 64 years and 9 months for women and 65 for men. Female State Pension age will reach 65 in November 2018. State Pension age for women and men will then start to increase to reach 66 by September 2020.
The State Pension age timetable, showing when people with different dates of birth reach State Pension age, is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/310231/spa-timetable.pdf
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Funeral Expenses Payment claims there have been in each year since 2005.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Data on the amount claimed for Funeral Expenses Payments (FEPs) is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The number of FEP applications received by the DWP and awards as a proportion of FEP applications processed, in each calendar year since 2005, are given below in table 1. They are rounded to the nearest 0.1%. Figures are not given for 2018 as the calendar year is incomplete.
Due to the timing of application processing, figures on awards may relate to applications processed in the previous year.
Table 1: FEP applications received and proportion of FEP applications resulting in an award, Great Britain 2005 - 2017
Year | Applications received (000s) | Awards as a proportion of applications processed |
2005 | 68.5 | 62.5% |
2006 | 67.7 | 61.3% |
2007 | 63.8 | 61.3% |
2008 | 67.5 | 59.5% |
2009 | 68.9 | 58.3% |
2010 | 66.8 | 56.6% |
2011 | 71 | 54.6% |
2012 | 66.4 | 54.4% |
2013 | 62.2 | 56.3% |
2014 | 52.5 | 59.1% |
2015 | 46.6 | 62.5% |
2016 | 44.3 | 60.9% |
2017 | 41.8 | 61.7% |
Source: Social Fund Policy, Budget, and Management Information System
Notes:
Asked by: Ged Killen (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
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 average amount claimed for each funeral expenses payment in each year since 2005.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Data on the amount claimed for Funeral Expenses Payments (FEPs) is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The number of FEP applications received by the DWP and awards as a proportion of FEP applications processed, in each calendar year since 2005, are given below in table 1. They are rounded to the nearest 0.1%. Figures are not given for 2018 as the calendar year is incomplete.
Due to the timing of application processing, figures on awards may relate to applications processed in the previous year.
Table 1: FEP applications received and proportion of FEP applications resulting in an award, Great Britain 2005 - 2017
Year | Applications received (000s) | Awards as a proportion of applications processed |
2005 | 68.5 | 62.5% |
2006 | 67.7 | 61.3% |
2007 | 63.8 | 61.3% |
2008 | 67.5 | 59.5% |
2009 | 68.9 | 58.3% |
2010 | 66.8 | 56.6% |
2011 | 71 | 54.6% |
2012 | 66.4 | 54.4% |
2013 | 62.2 | 56.3% |
2014 | 52.5 | 59.1% |
2015 | 46.6 | 62.5% |
2016 | 44.3 | 60.9% |
2017 | 41.8 | 61.7% |
Source: Social Fund Policy, Budget, and Management Information System
Notes: