Asked by: Gordon Henderson (Conservative - Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
What steps she is taking to ensure that assessments for health and disability benefits are conducted safely during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
In March 2020, to ensure safety, we paused face-to-face assessments and assessed through paper-based review, telephone and video assessments. Working with providers and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, we developed guidance to ensure the re-opening of assessment centres and resumption of face-to-face assessments can be conducted safely. Face-to-face will initially be for claimants unable to be assessed through other means.
Asked by: Gordon Henderson (Conservative - Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
What steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Justice to reduce the waiting time for welfare benefit tribunal appeals.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
DWP is working with the Ministry of Justice to develop a new digital system with a view to enabling swifter processing of appeals and a better service for all parties to the proceedings. Personal Independence Payment, Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit claimants can now submit their appeal online.
Asked by: Gordon Henderson (Conservative - Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timeframe is for her Department to bring forward legislative proposals for severe disability premium to be available under universal credit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Department laid The Universal Credit (Managed Migration Pilot and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019 before Parliament on 22 July 2019. This means we can identify claimants who are potentially eligible for Severe Disability Premium transitional payments and start making these payments as soon as possible.
From 24 July 2019, eligible claimants will be considered for backdated payments covering the time since they moved to Universal Credit. We estimate that by 2024/25, approximately 45,000 of the most vulnerable claimants will benefit from this package of support, worth an estimated £600million over the next six years.
Asked by: Gordon Henderson (Conservative - Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when employment and support allowance claimants in receipt of the severe disability premium will be able to migrate to universal credit without losing that additional entitlement.
Answered by Sarah Newton
I refer the honourable member to the answer the Minister for Employment gave on 30 January 2019 to Question 211077: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2019-01-22/211077/
Asked by: Gordon Henderson (Conservative - Sittingbourne and Sheppey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that alternative payment arrangements are put in place as soon as possible to avoid rent arrears for tenants and a loss of income for landlords and agents.
Answered by Lord Sharma
A Managed Payment to Landlords (MPTL) is an Alternate Payment Arrangement (APA) that minimises the risk of claimants failing to pay their rent by paying an amount equivalent to the housing cost of their Universal Credit directly to their landlord, on the claimant’s behalf.
The decision to move a claimant on to managed payments can occur at the outset of the claim or when a claimant has accrued rent arrears - at two months or in some cases following one month due to ‘persistent underpayment’ of their rent. However, an APA can be requested at any point during the Universal Credit claim, as a claimant’s circumstances may change. A MPTL can be requested by the claimant, their representative or their landlord and will be considered on a case by case basis.
Requests for MPTLs are dealt with as a priority. The processing time of these requests is also regularly monitored. Landlords who are given access to the Landlord Portal are also given Trusted Partner status which allows them to make recommendations on whether an MPTL should be put in place. All APA recommendations from Trusted Partners will be implemented in good faith by DWP.