Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support young people who are out of work or unable to work with the increase in the cost of living.
Answered by David Rutley
The Government has consistently said that the best way to support people’s living standards is through good work, better skills, and higher wages. That is why we have put in place the DWP Youth Offer to support young people claiming Universal Credit and searching for work, through intensive Work Coach support, Youth Employability coaches for those with additional barriers, and Youth Hubs across Great Britain.
Eligible young claimants who need financial support for initial up-front childcare costs, or for costs relating to starting work, can also apply for help from the Flexible Support Fund.
Vulnerable households, including young people, are now able to access a £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. The Household Support Fund provides £421 million to help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials. The Barnett Formula will apply in the usual way, with the devolved administrations receiving almost £80 million (£41m for the Scottish Government, £25m for the Welsh Government and £14m for the NI Executive), for a total of £500 million.
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
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 adequacy of the local housing allowance for under 35 year olds to access available accommodation options.
Answered by Will Quince
For those under 35, the shared accommodation rate (SAR) of Local Housing Allowance applies to those living on their own and renting privately. However, there are certain exemptions which allow claimants to receive the higher one-bedroom rate instead of the SAR. These include those in receipt of the severe disability premium, care leavers up to the age of 22 and those over 25 who have spent at least three months in a homeless hostel.
As announced on 3 March, we will be extending the exemption for care leavers and former residents of homeless hostels to all qualifying under 25 year olds from June 2021. This will bring forward the planned implementation of these previously announced changed by over 2 years.
More broadly, in April 2020 LHA rates were raised, including all SARs, to the 30th percentile of local rents and are being maintained in cash terms for 2021/22.
Asked by: Giles Watling (Conservative - Clacton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people living in Clacton have had a Pension Wise guidance appointment by telephone or in person in the last 12 months.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Money and Pensions Service published annual data on pension wise appointments for 2019-2020 here:
This records that there were over 97k face to face and around 62k telephone appointments in 2019-20. This is the latest available annual published data.