Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on disabled people.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to supporting disabled people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. We continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people using existing and new data sources.
The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work has had discussions with charities, disabled people's organisations and individuals to understand the range of experiences disabled people have had during the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify the support needed as lockdown restrictions are eased.
We are ensuring that disabled people continue to have access to disability benefits, food, medicines, essentials, accessible communications, updated guidance, including workplace and transport related guidance, as well as financial and other support during the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Government continues to provide disability employment support through initiatives such as Access to Work, Disability Confident, the Work and Health Programme, Intensive Personalised Employment Support, and other forms of support that disabled people need to retain, adapt and move into employment.
The Cabinet Office Disability Unit continues to work with disability stakeholders and across Government Departments to ensure that the needs of disabled people are considered in the UK Government’s response to COVID-19. We are clear that consideration of equality impacts must be integral in all key policy decisions. All equality and discrimination laws and obligations continue to apply during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We will publish the National Strategy for Disabled People taking into account the impacts of the pandemic on disabled people. The Strategy will focus on the issues that disabled people say affect them the most in all aspects and phases of life, including employment, housing, education and transport.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
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 support disabled people affected by the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is fully committed to supporting disabled people affected by the Covid-19 outbreak. We are ensuring that disabled people continue to have access to disability benefits and other financial support, the food and essential goods that they need, as well as accessible communications and guidance during the Covid-19 outbreak. The Government continues to support disabled employees to access assistive technology and other forms of support they need to remain in work
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment the Government has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on disabled people.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people using existing and new data sources. There will however be a period until the data needed to fully assess the impact becomes available.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is publishing a rolling programme of data and articles relating to the social and economic impacts of COVID-19. On the 24th April 2020 ONS also published 'Coronavirus and the social impacts on disabled people in Great Britain'. The analysis gives insight into the experience of disabled adults, and where there might be issues that arise for some that differ from those of non-disabled people. This showed that, currently, a lower proportion of disabled people than non-disabled people were worried about transport and caring issues as well as aspects of household finances and work.
That is why we are actively working on policies to provide specific employment support for disabled people both in and out of work. This includes initiatives such as Access to Work (ATW), Disability Confident, Work and Health Programme (WHP) and the new Intensive Personalised Employment Support Programme (IPES), alongside investment in a programme of trials and tests to identify effective models of health and employment support for people with health conditions or disabilities.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the universal credit standard allowance for people aged under 25 who are living independently.
Answered by Will Quince
We have increased the Universal Credit standard allowance by around £20 per week for the next 12 months – equivalent to up to £1,040 a year.
This is in addition to the 1.7% inflation increase (announced Nov 2019) as part of the Government’s decision to end the benefits freeze and means more financial support for millions of people across the UK.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the length of the waiting time for universal credit; and what steps she is taking to increase the number of staff available to provide support for universal credit claimants during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is doing all we can to deal with exceptional levels of demand. Our priority is ensuring people get their benefit payments and that we can continue to support those who need them most. The Department has mobilised robust business continuity plans to ensure we can do just that.
We are already redeploying 10,000 staff from other parts of DWP and are also recruiting additional staff to assist with the processing of claims, including support from other government departments and the private sector.
We have also introduced new processes to ease pressure on waiting times for identity verification over the phone and other processes. People making new claims for Universal Credit no longer need to call the Department as part of the process. Once they have completed their online application we will call them if we need to check any of the information they have given us.
These changes are making a real difference with at least 93% of claimants who applied for Universal Credit on 16 March receiving their first payments in full and on time.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 9 March 2020 to Question 901399, what her policy is on the proportion of housing rents that Local Housing Allowance rates should cover in (a) Lambeth and Southwark, (b) London and (c) the rest of England outside London.
Answered by Will Quince
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) policy is designed to ensure a fair balance between public spending and supporting vulnerable people to meet their housing costs. LHA rates are not intended to meet all rents in all areas.
From April 2020 LHA rates will be increased by CPI, up to a maximum of the 30th percentile of local rents. The national maximum caps have also been increased by CPI which means those rates in London that are currently capped will also receive a CPI increase.
For people in particular circumstances who may require more support, discretionary housing payments are available.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of local housing allowance rates.
Answered by Will Quince
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is designed to ensure a fair balance between public spending and supporting vulnerable people to meet their housing costs.
LHA rates are not intended to meet all rents in all areas.
From April 2020 LHA rates will be increased by CPI, for people in particular circumstances who may require more support, discretionary housing payments are available.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of local housing allowance rates.
Answered by Will Quince
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is designed to ensure a fair balance between public spending and supporting vulnerable people to meet their housing costs. LHA rates are not intended to meet all rents in all areas.
Since 2011 we have provided over £1billion in Discretionary Housing Payment funding, enabling local authorities to protect the most vulnerable claimants and supporting households to adapt to housing support reforms.
From April 2020 LHA rates will be increased by CPI. For people in particular circumstances who may require more support, Discretionary Housing Payments are available.
In addition, we recently announced an extra £40 million in Discretionary Housing Payments for 2020/21, helping to tackle the most acute affordability pressures in the private rented sector.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the adequacy of local housing allowance rates.
Answered by Will Quince
The Secretary of State meets regularly with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and other Ministerial colleagues on a range of issues.
In January we were pleased to announce an end to the Local Housing Allowance freeze from April 2020 when Local Housing Allowance rates will be uprated by CPI – an increase of 1.7%.
This will mean around 900,000 people in receipt of housing support in the Private Rented Sector will see their housing support increase on average by around £10 per month.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to improve the accessibility of public sector organisations to individuals with speech and communication difficulties.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations, came into force on September 2018. These regulations aim to ensure public sector websites and mobile apps are accessible to all users, especially those with disabilities. Existing public sector websites have until September 2020 to comply, while all public sector apps will have until June 2021 to comply.
The Government is working towards publishing a National Strategy for Disabled People before the end of 2020. This will aim to achieve practical changes for disabled people, remove barriers and increase opportunity.