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 resources are available to the Independent Case Examiner for investigating complaints on the equalisation of the state pension age in terms of (a) number of staff, (b) operating budget and (c) cross departmental resources.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Independent Case Examiner’s Office does not have a dedicated operating budget, or cross departmental resource available, for processing complaints concerning the equalisation of State Pension age. However there is a dedicated team of three investigation case managers tasked with investigating this group of complaints.
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, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of including a replacement for the Reduced Earnings Allowance benefit within universal credit; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Universal Credit already provides support for people with disabilities, both in and out of work. Specific help for injuries caused at work is still available to claimants outside of Universal Credit through the Industrial Injuries Scheme, which can include Reduced Earnings Allowance, providing eligibility conditions are met.
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 oral answer of the Prime Minister to the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West on 7 February 2018, Official Report, column 1489, what progress she has made on the establishment of an online password reset function for universal credit claimants.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Establishing an online password reset function for claimants who lose their issued credentials is in the scope for development. But as a workable system is in place (i.e. appointments in Jobcentres) for those who have misplaced their credentials, it is not a priority for early development and deployment. The relative priority of other features which enable claims to be paid more quickly, appointments to be made on line, further enhancements to the security of the system and features to improve the experience of people with specific needs are ahead of this particular feature in our plans.
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 average time taken for a reply to be issued to a complaint submitted to the Independent Case Examiner regarding the equalisation of the state pension age.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The average time taken to respond to complaints about the equalisation of state pension age, from the point at which the investigation of the complaint commenced, is currently 9.75 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, if she will set out (a) the number of complaints relating to the equalisation of the state pension age that her Department's independent case examiner is currently considering and (b) the number of cases that the independent case examiner has resolved since 2 October 2017.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
(a) Details of the number of complaints relating to the equalisation of state pension age, that are currently (as at 20th February 2018) being considered by the Independent Case Examiner’s Office are detailed below:
(b) Since 2 October 2017, the Independent Case Examiner’s Office has issued 44 investigation reports into complaints about the equalisation of state pension age.
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 her Department will set a maximum waiting time for responses to complaints regarding the equalisation of the state pension age received by the Independent Case Examiner.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We will not set a maximum waiting time for responses to complaints regarding the equalisation of state pension age.
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 24 January to Question 123049, if the Government will review the guidelines for decisions on mandatory reconsiderations for employment support allowance claims to take account of the decline in the number of cases in which the mandatory reconsideration decision is upheld since the introduction of that system.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Mandatory reconsideration benefits claimants, as it enables (i) the Department to provide a clear explanation of the decision; (ii) the claimant a further opportunity to present their case, including providing new evidence; and (iii) crucially, for decisions to be changed at the earliest opportunity, when appropriate.
The overturn rate of appeals does not mean that mandatory reconsideration is not working. The main reason decisions are overturned on appeal is due to additional evidence, both oral and written, being provided at tribunal, which was not previously available at the initial decision or the mandatory reconsideration stage.
There are strands of work in progress to drive continuous improvement in the appeals process. This includes improving the way further evidence is collected to ensure all relevant information is available to decision makers at the earliest opportunity and the recruitment of approximately 150 Presenting Officers who represent DWP cases at Tribunals and provide valuable insight into why decisions are overturned.
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 and what proportion of (a) personal independence payments and (b) employment support allowance cases subject to a mandatory reconsideration decision were subsequently taken forward to tribunal in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The number of Personal Independent Payment (PIP) Mandatory Reconsiderations (MRs) cleared can be found in the official published statistics: “Data tables: Personal Independence Payment: Official Statistics to October 2017”. The relevant data can be found in Tavle 7b. This data shows the number of mandatory reconsiderations for New Claims and Reassessments broken down by month since PIP was introduced:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-april-2013-to-october-2017
The number of mandatory reconsiderations (MRs) and appeals from Employment Support Allowance (ESA) Work Capability Assessments can be found in the official published statistics: “ESA: outcomes of Work Capability Assessments including mandatory reconsiderations and appeals: December 2017”. The relevant data can be found in Table 17.
The number of appeals registered for both benefits can be found in the official published statistics: “Tribunals and gender recognition certificate statistics quarterly – July to September 2017”. The relevant data can be found in table SSCS.1 in the “Main Tables (July to September 2017)” document.
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 24 January 2018 to Question 123047, if the Government will review the guidelines for decisions on mandatory reconsiderations for personal independence payments to take account of the decline in the number of cases in which the mandatory reconsideration decision is upheld since the introduction of that system.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Mandatory reconsideration benefits claimants, as it enables (i) the Department to provide a clear explanation of the decision; (ii) the claimant a further opportunity to present their case, including providing new evidence; and (iii) crucially, for decisions to be changed at the earliest opportunity, when appropriate.
The overturn rate of appeals does not mean that mandatory reconsideration is not working. The main reason decisions are overturned on appeal is due to additional evidence, both oral and written, being provided at tribunal, which was not previously available at the initial decision or the mandatory reconsideration stage
There are strands of work in progress to drive continuous improvement in the appeals process. This includes improving the way further evidence is collected to ensure all relevant information is available to decision makers at the earliest opportunity and the recruitment of approximately 150 Presenting Officers who represent DWP cases at Tribunals and provide valuable insight into why decisions are overturned.
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 29 January 2018 to Question 124678, on Universal Credit, which programme is dealing with the implementation of the automated login system; and what the cost of that programme is.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Universal Credit programme deals with the implementation of the automated login system. Overall investment costs of Universal Credit, for the 10 year lifetime of the programme, are estimated at £1.7bn.