Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
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 encourage people to check their national insurance contribution records in advance of their retirement.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Checking your National Insurance record regularly is very important and the Government has designed services and supporting communications to make this as easy for people as possible. Our online service, Check your State Pension (CySP), is key in supporting the communication campaign. This service provides a State Pension forecast (based on the individual’s current National Insurance record and an assumption that future years count towards their State Pension), and the earliest date the individual can get their State Pension. Users can look at their National Insurance record, where they will also find out how many qualifying years they have and any gaps in their contributions.
The Department has carried out a comprehensive communication campaign to bring the new State Pension and the role of people’s National Insurance records to people’s attention. This has been through advertisements in newspapers, on social media and on radio stations across the country as well as working through Stakeholders to raise public awareness of the changes. There is also a significant package of on-line information about the State Pension at www.gov.uk.
Between April 2000 and the end of April 2018, the Department provided more than 22 million personalised State Pension statements to people who requested them (either online or by telephone or post, and based on both old and new State Pension rules). We continue to encourage people to request a personalised State Pension Statement as part of our on-going communications.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of personal independence payment were required to return their mobility vehicle prior to receiving a mandatory reconsideration decision; and how many of those claimants were re-awarded the enhanced rate of the mobility component as a result of that reconsideration decision in each of the last three years.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Department does not hold this information. While the Department works closely with Motability, it is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Motability scheme.
Where PIP claimants are no longer entitled to enhanced rate mobility; Motability’s current policy is to allow scheme vehicles to be retained by the claimant for eight weeks.
If the original decision is later revised and the claimant’s enhanced rate mobility award is reinstated, the Department backdates any PIP payments to the claimant, and this is used to repay Motability where the claimant is still in possession of the vehicle.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of personal independence payment recipients receive the mobility element of the benefit due solely to a visual impairment.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The latest available data on claimants with visual impairment who receive the mobility element of the benefit is published and available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance for users is available at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer system. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these published statistics.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when people in receipt of Support for Mortgage Interest will receive an acknowledgment from her Department confirming receipt of their loan application.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Department aims to acknowledge the return of SMI loan documents within two weeks of receipt.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in her Department are available to visit Support for Mortgage Interest claimants with additional needs who require face-to-face support in understanding and completing the loan application process.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Department provides face-to-face support to SMI claimants using existing DWP Visiting Officers. The Department has not commissioned a specific number of staff for these home visits.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her departmental telephone helpline for Support for Mortgage Interest claimants has been fully functional in the last month.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The DWP does not operate a specific helpline for SMI and claimants may contact the Department in the normal way. All benefit enquiry phone lines have been fully functional in the last month. Serco are an independent service provider contracted to provide information to claimants in the form of letters, leaflets and telephone calls. SMI claimants can contact Serco to arrange an informed discussion on the numbers provided to them. This Information Discussion service has been operating to specification since being set up in July 2017.
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many women aged between 60 to 65 are in receipt of employments benefits by type of benefit.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The information requested is published for a range of benefits administered by DWP, such as Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance and Housing Benefit, and available at the Department’s Stat-Xplore website:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance for users of Stat-Xplore is available at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Statistics are also available via the Office of National Statistics’ NOMIS website, including for benefits not currently available on Stat-Xplore such as Jobseeker’s Allowance:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp
Guidance for users of NOMIS can be found at:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp
Asked by: Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many women aged between 60 and 65 are (a) unemployed and not in receipt of (i) a state pension and (ii) benefits and (b) in employment.
Answered by Lord Sharma
There are 4.7 million women aged 50+ in the UK in employment and the number of older workers in employment is at a record high with 10.1 million workers aged 50+ in the UK; an increase of 1.4 million over the last 5 years. As part of the Flexible Working Lives Strategy, the Government committed to publishing Official Annual Statistics on older workers. These can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/economic-labour-market-status-of-individuals-aged-50-and-over-trends-over-time-september-2017
For the period Nov 2017 - Jan 2018, the UK unemployment level for women aged 50-64 is 126,000; this represents an unemployment rate of 2.9%.
The data requested on the unemployment level for females aged 60-64 cannot be provided due to the sample size of this group. The breakdown by receipt of state pension and benefits is not held.
In 2017, the UK employment level for females aged 60-64 was 821,000; this represents an employment rate of 45.2%.