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Written Question
Employment: Disability
Wednesday 14th February 2024

Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help people with complex disabilities find suitable employment opportunities.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government has a wide range of initiatives to support disabled people and people with health conditions, including people with complex disabilities, to start, stay and succeed in work. These include:

  • The Work and Health Programme providing tailored and personalised support for disabled people;
  • Access to Work grants helping towards extra costs of working beyond standard reasonable adjustments;
  • Disability Confident encouraging employers to think differently about disability and health, and to take positive action to address the issues disabled employees face in the workplace;
  • A digital information service for employers providing better integrated and tailored guidance on supporting health and disability in the workplace;
  • Increasing access to occupational health, including the testing of financial incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises and the self-employed;
  • Increased Work Coach support in Jobcentres for disabled people and people with health conditions to help them move towards and in to work;
  • Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres offering advice and expertise on how to help disabled people and people with health conditions into work;
  • Introducing Employment Advisors to Musculoskeletal Conditions (MSK) services in England, helping individuals with MSK conditions to return to or remain in employment.
  • Work in partnership between the DWP and health systems, including Employment Advice in NHS Talking Therapies, and the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) programme, a Supported Employment model (place, train and maintain) delivered in health settings, aimed at people with physical or common mental health disabilities to support them to access paid jobs in the open labour market.

Building on existing provision and the £2 billion investment announced at the Spring Budget 2023, we announced a new package of support in Autumn Statement 2023. This includes:

  • Doubling the number of places on the Universal Support employment programme, to provide support for 100,000 people per year when fully rolled out;
  • Formally launching WorkWell, which will bring together the NHS, local authorities and other partners, in collaboration with jobcentres, to provide light touch work and health support in approximately 15 pilot areas;
  • Building on the extension of the certification of the fit notes to a wider range of healthcare professions, exploring new ways of providing individuals receiving a fit note with timely access to work and health support; and
  • Establishing an expert group to support the development of the voluntary national baseline for Occupational Health provision.

Written Question
Employment: Disability
Wednesday 14th February 2024

Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support young disabled people into employment.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Access to Work is a demand-led discretionary grant which supports the recruitment and retention of eligible disabled people aged 16 and over in sustainable, paid employment. Access to Work plays an active role in supporting the transitions of young disabled people into employment, by providing funding for in work support including vocational programmes such as Supported Internships, Traineeships and Apprenticeships.

To help raise awareness of support available when young disabled people move into employment, identify adjustments and reduce the need for multiple assessments, a series of passports and planners have been developed, with the Adjustments Planner focusing on transitions from education to employment.

The Adjustments Planner provides students with a transferable record of their adjustments, support, and work requirements and can help the student settle into college/university life. It can also offer support beyond education by smoothing the transition into employment - reducing the burden when applying for Access to Work, enabling support to be put in place quickly and removing the need for the student to repeat personal details.


Written Question
Housing Benefit: Non-payment
Monday 20th November 2023

Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to tackle non-payment of housing benefit to district councils when the beneficiary is not a registered social landlord.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

There are no current plans to change subsidy rules in Supported Housing which are in place to help ensure quality and value for money for taxpayers. Under the Housing Benefit subsidy arrangements, DWP reimburses local authorities for the cost of Housing Benefit in their respective areas subject to the rules set out in legislation. For supported housing cases, 100% subsidy is usually paid to the local authority by DWP where the landlord or provider is registered with the Regulator for Social Housing in England. In cases where the landlord or provider is not registered, the subsidy will still be payable to local authorities, but will be restricted in line with the rules set out in legislation.


Written Question
Access to Work Programme: Standards
Thursday 18th May 2023

Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the time taken to process Access to Work applications; and what steps he is taking to ensure that applications are processed in a timely manner.

Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)

There has been a significant increase in applications for the Access to Work grant scheme over the last year, leading to longer processing times.

Processing times are continually assessed, and the department has reviewed processes to support applications being processed in a timely manner. To deal with the increased demand, we have recruited additional staff and have plans for further recruitment. We are also modernising the Access to Work service through increased digitalisation; this will make the service more efficient, make the application process easier, and improve the time taken from application through to decision.

Customers making a new application for Access to Work and are starting work within the next 4 weeks, or have a current grant award coming to an end requiring a renewal application, are prioritised to ensure they are able to enter and remain in the labour market.


Written Question
Asbestos: Health and Safety
Wednesday 3rd May 2023

Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2023 to Question 148528 on Asbestos: Regulation, what the outcome is of the further review by the Health and Safety Executive of its retained EU Law which could impact on the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is not in a position to confirm the outcome of its review of retained EU law at this current time. HSE will communicate its decisions as soon as possible at the appropriate time.


Written Question
Bereavement Support Payment
Tuesday 18th October 2022

Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the back dating time limit for claiming Bereavement Support Payment.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

The time limits for claiming Bereavement Support Payment are already generous in that an individual would need to be 21 months late in claiming to forfeit the entire benefit. The existing three-month time limit for the monthly instalments is consistent with other social security benefits, and for the lump sum the time limit is 12 months; we believe these are reasonable lengths of time to make a claim.


Written Question
Way to Work Scheme
Thursday 23rd June 2022

Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people had gained employment through the Way to Work scheme as of 13 June 2022.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

As of 21 June, we estimate that at least 485,000 unemployed Universal Credit claimants and Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) claimants have moved into work during the Way to Work Campaign between 31 January and the end of 19 June 2022.

This total figure is composed of our into work measure to the end of May (over 386,000) and our internal management information up to 19 June (46,000). We are now also able to include JSA claimants who have moved into work between 31 January and 9 June 2022 (29,000) into our total. Furthermore, we have also included those claimants with a sanction in place that moved into work during the period of the campaign up to 19 June (24,000). Both these figures were not part of our previous reported totals as the data was not available. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100.

The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics but is provided in the interests of transparency and timeliness.


Written Question
Housing Benefit: Supported Housing
Tuesday 26th April 2022

Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a housing benefit taper for recipients who have entered into employment but temporarily remain in supported accommodation.

Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

This is already in place. The income taper in Housing Benefit ensures claimants will always be financially better off working than not being in work. In addition to any financial advantage, there are important non-financial benefits of working. These benefits include learning new skills, improved confidence and independence as well as a positive effect on an individual's mental and physical health.


Written Question
Children: Maintenance
Tuesday 22nd March 2022

Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)

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 evidence each parent must provide in order to permit an accurate assessment of the level of child maintenance required to be paid.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The calculation is initially based on historic income information received directly from HM Revenue and Customs. Parents may need to supply additional evidence which is considered on a case by case basis.

Both parents have the right to request a mandatory reconsideration and supply further evidence to challenge a decision.


Written Question
Employment and Support Allowance: Pensions
Thursday 25th November 2021

Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of (a) the impact of off-setting private pension income against income-based employment and support allowance earnings for people who have been able to draw their pension early due to ill health and (b) the potential merits of allowing people who have drawn their pension early due to ill health to retain their employment and support allowance earnings.

Answered by Chloe Smith

Entitlement to income related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA (IR)) is based on financial need and both income and capital will affect entitlement. Any pension income received is deducted from the amount of ESA (IR) payable. Cash lump sums taken from a pension savings are deemed to be capital. Claimants are not entitled to ESA (IR) if their household has capital of more than £16,000. Capital in excess of £6,000 and up to £16000 reduces the amount of ESA (IR) payable.