Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who have indefinite leave to remain and have reached the end of their eligibility for asylum support are waiting to receive a national insurance number.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
DWP are unaware of the numbers of asylum seekers who have been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK however when, the Home Office grant the application for indefinite leave they forward the personal details to NINo operations and a NINo is allocated within 48 hours.
From 15 January 2018 this process is applicable to the principle family member and any adult dependants aged 16 or over in the refugees family. With the NINo being allocated within 48 hours this facilitates the smooth transition from asylum support to mainstream benefits.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on the publication of a survey into the Traffic Regulations Orders specific to pavement parking which was committed to in the Accessibility Action Plan 2017.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has discussed the Department of Transport’s Accessibility Action Plan with the Secretary of State for Transport and has given her full support to the recommendations which will remove many barriers disabled people face. Pavement parking causes significant problems and can be a potential danger to disabled people. My colleagues in the Department of Transport are undertaking a broader piece of work to gather evidence on the issue of pavement parking including how it is addressed in current regulation. Conclusions will be shared with transport ministers later in the year.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which eligible benefits are (a) lost and (b) suspended when a young person aged between 16 and 24 becomes an apprentice.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Apprenticeships (which incorporate paid work of at least 30 hours a week) are treated in the same way as other paid work for benefit purposes. When a person is in receipt of a benefit and they start employment as an apprentice, their entitlement to benefit may change in light of their new circumstances.
Regardless of their age and circumstances, claimants are not eligible for the main working age benefits, such as Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance if they work 16 hours a week or more, on average. Additionally, claimants are not eligible for Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance and or income-related Employment and Support Allowance if they have a partner who works 24 hours a week or more, on average.
Universal Credit is being rolled out across the country and is replacing the main means tested benefits listed above. Earnings from an apprenticeship are treated in the same way as any other form of employed earnings and would be taken into account when calculating entitlement to Universal Credit, which is both an in-work and out-of-work benefit.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many asylum seekers who have indefinite leave to remain are awaiting the allocation of a national insurance number.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The department does not hold the information, however for those granted leave to remain as a result of a successful asylum claim, a joint fast track NINo application process operates between DWP and the Home Office. From 15 January 2018 the process is applicable to the principal family member and any adult dependants aged 16 or over in the refugees family, with the NINo being allocated within 48 hours of receipt of the application.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of compelling self-employed people to contribute to a private pension.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department’s review of automatic enrolment (AE), Maintaining the Momentum, published in December 2017 sets out the Government’s position in regard to the self-employed and retirement saving. The review report can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/668971/automatic-enrolment-review-2017-maintaining-the-momentum.PDF
The self-employed represent a highly diverse group of around 15% of the workforce amongst whom pension coverage varies significantly. Our review recognised that a significant proportion of the 4.8m self-employed individuals in the UK have good levels of saving and preparation for later life – but many groups are under saving, or at risk of under saving for retirement
Compulsion would be an indiscriminate way of tackling this challenge. It would also fail to maximise behavioural learning from automatic enrolment, or recognise personal choice.
As the AE review sets out, our approach is based on applying learning from the principles and the successful roll-out of automatic enrolment to appropriately target interventions and understand what works. During this year, we have committed to test targeted interventions, following feasibility work – before setting out proposals to implement workable solutions at scale.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect on workers with multiple jobs, none of which pay in excess of £10,000 per annum, of not being automatically enrolled into workplace pensions.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Automatic enrolment has reversed the decline in workplace pension saving. Latest figures show that nearly 9.2 million people have been automatically enrolled; with participation amongst eligible women in the private sector increasing, from 40% to 73%, to equal the rate for men. By 2019/20 an estimated extra £20 billion a year is estimated to go into workplace pensions as a result of automatic enrolment.
In addition the Government have introduced the National Living Wage and raised the personal tax allowance helping low earners. Thanks to these changes, a single person working 35 hours per week would take home £12,500 after income tax and national insurance – over £3,300 more than in 2010.
The Government’s recent review of automatic enrolment, which can be viewed at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/668971/automatic-enrolment-review-2017-maintaining-the-momentum.PDF, set out proposals to strengthen the workplace pension reforms, including for lower earners. By removing the lower earnings limit for those with low earnings or who have multiple jobs, those workers will have their pension contributions calculated from the first pound earned. In addition, all savers will be able to get an employer contribution regardless of their earnings. This will bring an extra £2.6 billion per year into pension saving.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department as made of the financial effect on low paid women who have not been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Automatic enrolment has reversed the decline in workplace pension saving. Latest figures show that nearly 9.2 million people have been automatically enrolled; with participation amongst eligible women in the private sector increasing, from 40% to 73%, to equal the rate for men. By 2019/20 an estimated extra £20 billion a year is estimated to go into workplace pensions as a result of automatic enrolment.
In addition the Government have introduced the National Living Wage and raised the personal tax allowance helping low earners. Thanks to these changes, a single person working 35 hours per week would take home £12,500 after income tax and national insurance – over £3,300 more than in 2010.
The Government’s recent review of automatic enrolment, which can be viewed at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/668971/automatic-enrolment-review-2017-maintaining-the-momentum.PDF, set out proposals to strengthen the workplace pension reforms, including for lower earners. By removing the lower earnings limit for those with low earnings or who have multiple jobs, those workers will have their pension contributions calculated from the first pound earned. In addition, all savers will be able to get an employer contribution regardless of their earnings. This will bring an extra £2.6 billion per year into pension saving.
Asked by: James Frith (Labour - Bury North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many women in Bury North constituency born in the 1950s and affected by the change in state pension age have returned to employment from a position of unemployment in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The data requested is not held, however the number of older workers in the UK is at a record high, currently there are 10m workers aged 50 years and over. There are 4.2m women aged 50-64 in employment; this compares to 3.5m five years ago. There are 1.2 million individuals in employment aged over 65, of which 39% are women.
Employment rates for older workers have also been increasing and have recently reached record highs. In the past ten years, the employment rate for people aged 50-64 has increased by 6.2 percentage points (pp) (from 64.9% in 2007 to 71.1% in 2017). The current employment rate for women aged 50-64 is at a record high of 66.8%.
Further information on estimates of employment, unemployment, economic inactivity and other employment-related statistics for the UK can be found in the “UK labour market: September 2017” statistical bulletin published at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website:
The Government is committed to supporting people aged 50 years and over to remain in and return to work; the ‘Fuller Working Lives: A Partnership Approach’ strategy was published on 2nd February. This, crucially, is led by employers, but it also sets out the case for action by individuals, and the role of Government in supporting them in planning their careers and their approach to retirement. The Strategy and supporting evidence base are available at the attached web address:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fuller-working-lives-a-partnership-approach
Analysis on the headline measures that the government uses to monitor progress on Fuller Working Lives can be found in this statistical release: