Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to change the measure for the Cold Weather Payment scheme from the actual temperature to the feels like temperature.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There are no plans to use the “feels like” temperature as a basis for Cold Weather Payments. Feels like temperature is the perception of external temperature rather than a measured air temperature. Cold Weather Payments are designed to contribute to the additional costs of heating homes in unseasonably cold weather, while “feels like” temperature does not impact on the amount of heating that homes require.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to increase the state pension allowance to account for the increased utility costs of people spending an increased amount of time in their homes during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that older people are able to live with the dignity and respect they deserve, and the State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people. In response to the Covid 19 pandemic, the Government has introduced an Uprating Bill to ensure we can increase State Pension and Pension Credit rates for 2021/22.
In April 2020, full amounts of the basic and new State Pensions increased by 3.9%, in line with average earnings growth. The full yearly rate of the basic State Pension is now worth over £1,900 more than it was in 2010.
The Government has committed to keeping the Winter Fuel Payment. The payment gives reassurance, particularly to poorer pensioners that they can keep warm during the colder months. We will continue to pay £200 for households with somebody who has reached State Pension age and is under age 80 or £300 for households with somebody aged 80 and over. This is a significant contribution towards a household’s winter fuel bill.
Pensioners whose financial circumstances have been affected by the pandemic may be eligible for Pension Credit. Pension Credit tops up a person’s other income to a standard minimum weekly amount – £173.75 for single people or £265.20 for a couple. Extra amounts are also payable in respect of disability, caring (including for children) and certain housing costs. An award of Pension Credit can also provide access to a range of other benefits such as help with housing costs, council tax, heating bills or health costs.
Pension Credit customers who are in receipt of the Pension Credit Guarantee Credit element, are also entitled to the warm home discount providing their energy supplier is part of the scheme. Further details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to apply the temporary £20 weekly uplift to universal credit to (a) existing legacy benefits and (b) job seekers' allowance.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government introduced a package of temporary welfare measures worth around £9.3 billion this year to help with the financial consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This included the £20 weekly increase to the Universal Credit Standard Allowance rates as a temporary measure for the 20/21 tax year. There are no plans to extend this to legacy benefits.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions officials of her Department have had with their counterparts in the Ministry of Justice on the correspondence entitled Working Links: Ministerial direction confirmation letter from the Secretary of State for Justice, published on 8 May 2019; and if she will introduce similar financial protections for permitted subcontractors as set out in that correspondence to her Department’s Working Links subcontractors.
Answered by Will Quince
DWP Commercial have had discussions with MOJ colleagues to clarify the MOJ Ministerial direction correspondence published on 8 May 2019.
The MOJ are making payments to a small number of Permitted Sub Contractors on the basis of a) the unique nature of their services (statutory services) and b) the structure of their current market in the context of the transformation announced on 16 May 2019.
The Department considered the impact on stakeholders and sub-contractors, based on the Administrator’s statement of affairs at the point of Working Links going into administration, and has worked with both the Administrator and Fedcap, who have taken over a number of Working Links contracts, to minimise the impact on those supply chain partners owed monies by Working Links at the point of administration.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants have incurred a Civil Penalty fine for overpayment of benefits since the 1 October 2012; and how many of those fines have been overturned at mandatory (a) reconsideration or (b) appeal stage.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to preventing and deterring fraud and error by benefit claimants. It is also committed to the detection and investigation of benefit fraud and to the appropriate use of available penalties.
We make it clear to claimants that they have a responsibility to provide accurate and timely information about their claims. Civil Penalties were introduced in October 2012 and may be imposed by both DWP and Local Authorities for incidents of claimant error only. This is where an individual incurs a recoverable overpayment as a result of failing to provide accurate information as part of their benefit claim or in connection with an award of benefit, and have not taken reasonable steps to correct the error.
The table below provides data on the number of Civil Penalties issued and the number overturned following a Mandatory Reconsideration.
Year | Civil Penalties Issued | Overturned at Mandatory Reconsideration |
2012/13 | 17,547 | 125 |
2013/14 | 83,369 | 1,844 |
2014/15 | 81,755 | 4,796 |
2015/16 | 82,691 | 2,672 |
2016/17 | 96,742 | 2,048 |
2017/18 | 104,870 | 1,357 |
2018/19 | 28,568 | 360 |
Unfortunately information on the number of Civil Penalties overturned on appeal is not available as it is not possible to isolate this data from benefit appeal outcomes.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to introduce a minimum protected income within the universal credit system to ensure that claimants are not left in poverty after any deductions are taken from their monthly award.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Government recognises the importance of safeguarding the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. Universal Credit already has procedures and regulations in place protect claimants from excessive deductions. The maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed 40% of the Universal Credit standard allowance. If a claimant is in financial difficulty as a result of the level of deductions being made they can contact the Department to request that a reduction in deductions be considered.
In January 2018, of all Universal Credit Full Service awards:
(a) 6% had a total deduction amount (either to a third party, for an advance, or for a fraud penalty) which equalled 40 per cent of the standard allowance
(b) Less than 0.5% had a total deduction amount which exceeded 40 per cent of the standard allowance. In these cases, a priority order is applied so that deductions for rent or fuel costs are applied first, in order to protect claimant welfare.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of claimants of employment and support allowance are awarded payments through the exemption contained in paragraph 25(b) of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2013.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many assessments of claimants transferring between disability living allowance and personal independence payments have been made in the last five years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Information on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) clearances by type (e.g. awarded/disallowed after or before referral to the assessment provider or withdrawn), for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)), is published on Gov.UK: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants have been transferred from disability living allowance to personal independence payments in the last three years.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Information on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) clearances by type (e.g. awarded/disallowed after or before referral to the assessment provider or withdrawn), for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)), is published on Gov.UK: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.
Asked by: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who previously claimed disability living allowance and were transferred to personal independence payments in the last three years have had their payments (a) reduced, (b) unchanged and (c) increased.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) claims in payment, registrations, clearances and awards for both new claims and reassessed claims (for those previously in receipt of disability living allowance (DLA)) are published on Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics.
In particular, breakdowns of reassessed claims in payment by type and rate of awards, and reassessment claims by type of clearance (i.e. whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn), can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.
The Department does not have verified data on the number of DLA claimants who have had their benefit payments changed as a result of the move to PIP. We intend to provide more detailed breakdowns of DLA to PIP reassessment outcomes in due course. The Department is working to guidelines set by the UK Statistics Authority to ensure we are able to publish statistics that meet high quality standards at the earliest opportunity.