Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester Withington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to personal independent payment assessment reports obtained in connection with appeals, what her Department's policy is on redaction of the names of assessors.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The assessor’s name is not redacted when their Report is included with the department’s appeal bundle.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester Withington)
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 financial effect on parents of upfront childcare costs under universal credit.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit is more generous in terms of childcare costs with an increased level of support, from 70 per cent with legacy benefits to 85 per cent within Universal Credit.
We recognise that the upfront cost of childcare may cause some claimants financial difficulty. Consequently, the Secretary of State announced in her speech of 11 January 2019, that where the initial month’s childcare costs may prevent a claimant from starting work, Jobcentres have been instructed to use the Flexible Support Fund where possible, to enable a smoother transition.
The Government now provides more support than ever before to help parents with the costs of childcare, including providing 15 hours a week of free childcare in England for all 3 and 4 year olds and disadvantaged 2 year olds, and doubling free childcare available for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds to 30 hours a week.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester Withington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what fiscal steps his Department has put in place to ensure the timely payment of universal credit for families with children born during the assessment period.
Answered by Lord Sharma
For the purpose of the Universal Credit award calculation, we treat reported changes, including children born during the assessment period, as if they occurred at the start of the relevant assessment period so this is already in place.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester Withington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report published by the Trussell Trust on 5 October 2018 entitled The next stages of Universal Credit, what steps the Government plans to take to ensure that people switching to universal credit do not fall into food poverty.
Answered by Lord Sharma
We work closely with The Trussell Trust and welcome their feedback. It is worth noting that much of their analysis was carried out before the improvements we announced at Autumn Budget 2017, and which were introduced earlier this year. The comprehensive and wide-ranging package worth £1.5 billion to help people in their first assessment period included, the abolition of waiting days, the introduction of advances up to 100% of a claimant’s indicative award (repayable over a period of up to 12 months), and a two week transitional payment for those previously claiming Housing Benefit.
The Trust welcomed our changes in the Budget saying they would “ease the pressure on thousands of households on very low incomes” and “shows that Government is listening”.
Earlier this month, we announced a new partnership with Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland to deliver Universal Support. We want to make sure that the most vulnerable people get the best possible support when claiming Universal Credit. Citizens Advice will help deliver a high-quality and consistent service to people claiming Universal Credit, to assist them manage their claim, get paid on time and budget effectively. This was welcomed by the Trussell Trust.
As part of the managed migration regulations which will come before Parliament in the autumn, we have proposed transitional protection for the 500,000 individuals currently receiving the Severe Disability Premium. It should also be noted that in the legacy benefits system there are £2.4bn of unclaimed benefits not taken up by people who need them, because they do not know about them. These regulations will ensure that 700,000 more households will get paid their full entitlement under Universal Credit.
We do not underestimate the challenge that managed migration represents and we are working closely with stakeholders to design the best solution. Our focus will be on safeguarding claimants and ensuring a smooth transition with uninterrupted support. The draft regulations have been out for consultation with the Social Security Advisory Committee and will be subject to scrutiny and approval by Parliament. During 2019 we will test and refine our processes on a small scale to ensure they are working well before we take on larger volumes from 2020 onwards, and complete the process in 2023.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester Withington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding her Department has allocated to training staff on universal credit working in (a) her Department's call centres and (b) job centres.
Answered by Lord Sharma
For the current financial year the Department has allocated £18m to learning and development for staff working in service centres and jobcentres on Universal Credit.
Asked by: Jeff Smith (Labour - Manchester Withington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the removal of implicit consent in welfare cases on claimants with (a) learning difficulties, (b) mental health issues and (c) those for whom English is not a first language.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Under Universal Credit, the online digital account is fundamental to the design, which allows claimants access to all their personal, medical, financial and other data. As a result, the claimant ‘holds the key’ to that account at all times. Running a system of implied consent in Universal Credit means that the risk of disclosure of this material to third parties is heightened beyond an acceptable level under the data protection rules and might also undermine some of the other security features we build into the system through personal accreditation.
A claimant can, however, give explicit consent for an adviser or other third party to talk to the Department about their Universal Credit claim via their journal, over the phone or in person, when accompanied by their adviser, and can state what information can be shared, with whom and for what purpose. Alternatively, if a personal appointee is appropriate, the claimant or appointee can raise this at the initial claim stage and we can arrange a home visit to verify the appointee, which will enable them to manage the account for the claimant.
We continuously review the service for vulnerable people who claim Universal Credit to ensure that it is accessible and responsive to their needs.