Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of social security claimants who will receive less money once they have migrated to universal credit.
Answered by Will Quince
Comparisons between entitlement in legacy benefits and Universal Credit fail to reflect that, until recently, people only claimed Universal Credit as a result of a change in their circumstances.
It is important to remember that there are £2.4 billion of unclaimed benefits not going to the people who need them because they are unaware of how to claim, or that they may be entitled. Universal Credit makes sure that welfare payments reach those who need them most, and when we complete moving legacy benefit claimants over to Universal Credit, an estimated 700,000 more people will get paid their full entitlement because of Universal Credit.
The Government have committed to spending in excess of £3 billion over 10 years on transitional protection for 1.1 million households. This will help fund assistance for those moving from Housing Benefit to Universal Credit including a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to implement the High Court judgment in R (Woods, Barrett and Stewart) v SSWP CO/1552/2018 case of 11 January 2019.
Answered by Will Quince
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 June 2019 to Question 266261.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken was to process a claim for personal independence payment in the last 12 months for which information is available.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The median clearance time from registration to DWP decision for Personal Independence Payment claims cleared under normal rules from 1st May 2018 – 30th April 2019, the latest 12-month period for which data is available is 100 calendar days, which is approximately 14 weeks. The median clearance time for claims decided in April 2019 was 13 weeks, down by over two thirds since July 2014.
Source: PIP ADS
Notes:
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for support under the special rules for terminal illness have been received by her Department in each year since the introduction of those rules.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
With regard to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the latest available data on PIP registrations (applications) split by whether the claim was registered under Normal Rules or Special Rules for The Terminally Ill each month from the introduction of PIP in April 2013 to January 2019, the latest available data can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost for Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance.
However, the available statistics for those terminally ill people who were allocated to the Support Group of Employment and Support Allowance, and terminally ill people on Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance, can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have received under-occupancy penalty charges in each year since the introduction of those charges.
Answered by Will Quince
Figures on the number of households receiving Housing Benefit affected by the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy are publically available through the DWP Stat Xplore website:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml
Guidance for users is available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Figures on DWP Stat Xplore do not include claimants on Universal Credit with a Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy deduction, as this data is not currently available.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the number of applications for social security payments that are discontinued due to the death of the applicant.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what impact assessment her Department has conducted on the effect of leaving the EU without a deal on people with disabilities.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
No formal impact assessment has been conducted by the Department of the effect on people with disabilities of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union without a deal.
The UK has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the primary legislation in the UK protecting the rights of disabled people is the Equality Act 2010, which is domestic legislation. Neither our ratification of the UN Convention or the Equality Act 2010 would change as a result of the UK leaving the European Union without a deal. Furthermore, there will be no changes in entitlement for UK nationals to disability and carers’ benefits in the UK as a result of our exit from the EU.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people had their benefit payments reduced to (a) less than £6 per day, (b) less than £5 per day and (c) zero due to the imposition of sanctions by her Department in each year since 2010.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
In Universal Credit, sanctions are calculated with reference to the claimant’s standard allowance only and not any other elements such as housing or children. A sanction will reduce the Universal Credit award by no more than 100% of the standard allowance.
We have a well-established system of hardship payments, available as a safeguard if a claimant demonstrates that they cannot meet their immediate and most essential needs (including accommodation, heating, food and hygiene) as a result of their sanction.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the cost to the public purse was of providing free TV licences to people over the age of 75 for qualifying residents in (a) Cardiff Central constituency and (b) Cardiff local authority area in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19.
Answered by Guy Opperman
In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession will transfer to the BBC in June 2020.
The government and the BBC agreed this is a fair deal for the BBC - in return we closed the iPlayer loophole and committed to increase the licence fee in line with inflation. And to help with financial planning, we agreed to provide phased transitional funding over 2 years to gradually introduce the cost to the BBC.
This reform was subject to public discussion and debated extensively during the passage of the Digital Economy Act 2017 through Parliament.
On 10 June 2019, the BBC announced that the current scheme will end. From 1 June 2020, a free TV licence will only be available to a household with someone aged over 75 who receives Pension Credit.
The table below provides estimates of the costs for 2017/18 of providing free TV licences to people aged 75 and over in the geographical areas requested, in nominal prices. The figures for 2018/19 will be available in September.
| Expenditure (£m) (Nominal) |
| 2017-18 |
(a) Cardiff Central constituency | £0.57 |
(b) Cardiff local authority area | £2.88 |
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the implications for her Department's policies on universal credit assessment period and earned income are of the High Court judgment of 11 January 2019 in R (on the application of Johnson and others) v Secretary of State For Work and Pensions.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The judgment affects a small number of people on Universal Credit, with specific characteristics. The Department is currently appealing this judgment, and as such will await the outcome of that process before taking any further action.
Universal Credit takes earnings into account in a way that is fair and transparent. The amount of Universal Credit paid reflects, as closely as possible, the actual circumstances of a household during each monthly assessment period, including any earnings reported by the employer during the assessment period, regardless of when they were paid, or which month they relate to.
Assessment periods allow for Universal Credit awards to be adjusted on a monthly basis, ensuring that if claimants’ incomes fall, they do not have to wait several months for a rise in their Universal Credit award.
Claimants can discuss queries about how fluctuating income affects Universal Credit with their case managers and work coaches, who can also signpost to services appropriate to individual circumstances.