Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that there are no delays in the delivery of state pension payments for individuals moving away from other welfare support, including Employment Support Allowance.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department is reviewing the intervention points and customer touchpoints to provide appropriate support where needed to our Employment Support Allowance, Job Seekers Allowance and Income Support customers to claim their State Pension before reaching pension age.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
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 engage with local employers to support new graduates into employment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
We are working closely with employers and other partner’s to deliver the Government’s Plan for Jobs, providing a comprehensive package of support for all young people – including graduates.
Our national and local Employer and Partnership Teams are engaging with employers across the country to bring in employment opportunities in a variety of sectors. These include many of the opportunities established as part of the Plan for Jobs, including Kickstart, Sector-based Work Academy Programme, Apprenticeships and traineeships. These provide a wide range of ways for young people to access work in their local area and enable employers to engage their future workforce. Young people, including new graduates will have access to these through their local Jobcentre Plus and via the Government’s official job matching service Find a Job website.
We have supported the development of the Department for Education’s Graduate Employment and Skills Guide that is published on the Office for Students website. The guide is designed to help final year students and recent graduates by signposting to a range of public, private and voluntary sector opportunities, to help build employability skills, gain work experience or enter the labour market.
We have provided Plan for Jobs information for employers on GOV.UK and employers can access our Help for Employers website which offers a range of advice to help businesses overcome challenges associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Whether employers are needing to expand rapidly, or worried about redundancies, they can find advice on next steps and the best ways to support their staff.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
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 offer specialised assistance to new graduates seeking employment during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Government’s Plan for Jobs is delivering a comprehensive package of support for young people, including graduates, which DWP is providing in collaboration with the Department for Education, employers and other partners
The DWP Youth Offer is the wrap-around support programme, helping young people access so much of the positive provision stood up as part of the Plan for Jobs, (including Kickstart, Sector-based Work Academy Programme, Apprenticeships and traineeships), alongside local work-related provision. The Youth Offer includes 13-week Youth Employment Programme, complimented by joined-up local delivery through our Youth Hubs and specialist Youth Employability Coaches.
The Government has implemented a range of measures to help deliver on our commitment to provide all young people with opportunities to develop skills that will enable them to secure jobs in productive and fulfilling careers, including help for young people through Kickstart. Jobs from the Kickstart Scheme are open to 16–24-year-olds, who are claiming Universal Credit, and are at risk of long-term unemployment. Young people can speak to their work coach to find out more.
Our experienced and well-trained jobcentre Work Coaches have access to tools that help them understand vacancies, opportunities and skills needs and are well versed in collaborating with their local partners, including employers, local authorities and independent volunteer and charity organisations.
We are publicising our offer for young people and have launched the JobHelp website in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. JobHelp offers job search advice, showcases recruiting sectors and signposts to job vacancies to help people successfully find work. The JobHelp campaign encourages young people under 25 to visit the JobHelp advice and signposting hub where they can access careers advice, job opportunities and signposting to initiatives such as Kickstart and Access to Work.
We have supported the development of the Department for Education’s Graduate Employment and Skills Guide that is published on the Office for Students website. The guide is designed to help final year students and recent graduates by signposting to a range of public, private and voluntary sector opportunities, to help build employability skills, gain work experience or enter the labour market.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
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 the welfare payments which people receive reflect the needs of the individual.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government has 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. The Chancellor announced a series of policies to support people, jobs and businesses on 20 March 2020 during which he confirmed an increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance for 12 months by £1040 a year, which was in addition to planned uprating of 1.7% announced by the Secretary of State in November 2019. Further decisions on spending will be made at the next fiscal event.
In addition to the standard allowance increase, Universal Credit claimants have also benefited from an increase in the Local Housing Allowance rates so that it covers the lowest third of local rents, and during Covid-19 the Minimum Income Floor, (an assumed level of earnings) has been relaxed to zero for self-employed claimants.
The Government has made significant investment to improve Universal Credit’s generosity through the reduction in the taper rate from 65% to 63% in 2017, and an extra £1.7 billion a year put into Work Allowances by 2023/24, increasing them by £1,040 a year for working parents and disabled claimants, from April 2019 - an extra £630 a year in the pockets of 2.4 million of the lowest paid families.