Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department took to ensure that people who were not able to claim their deferred pension as a one-off lump sum, those who reached pension age after 6th April 2016, were aware of this change.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Work and Pensions carried out a comprehensive communications campaign on State Pension reforms, beginning in 2014 for the reforms which were introduced in April 2016. The campaign included advertisements in newspapers, online and on radio stations across the country as well as working through stakeholders to raise public awareness of the changes.
The awareness-raising campaign directed people to a significant package of online information about the State Pension at www.gov.uk. Specific information about deferral rules can be found at www.gov.uk/deferring-state-pension/
Letters inviting people to claim their State Pension also provided details of the changes to the deferral rules.
Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
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 impact of not uprating benefits in line with inflation on levels of child poverty in Ochil and South Perthshire.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No such assessment has been made. The Government is up-rating benefits in line with inflation. The Secretary of State undertakes an annual review of benefits and pensions with reference to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). All benefit up-rating since April 1987 has been based on the increase in the relevant price inflation index in the 12 months to the previous September. The relevant benefits are increasing by 3.1% from April.
The latest statistics on the number and proportion of children who are in low income families by local area, covering the six years, 2014/15 to 2019/20, can be found in the annual publication: Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).
This Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families, and believes work is the best route out of poverty. Our approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment – particularly where it is full-time – in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty and in improving long-term outcomes for families and children.
Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to provide hon. Members with a dedicated universal credit helpline.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is no dedicated MP Hotline for Universal Credit. Prior to the roll-out of Universal Credit Full Service in their constituency, we wrote to each Hon. Member in March 2019. The letter explained the implicit consent arrangements for MPs and also provided the telephone number and email address of the Service Leader in the constituency, so that MPs can contact Service Leaders if there are urgent constituent cases that need attention. This is the best route to raise issues on behalf of constituents and works well because MPs’ offices can establish local relationships.
The Department regularly provides updated contact information to the W4MP.org website indicating the best and most efficient ways to contact it.
Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to measure the effectiveness of the 12-week awareness campaign on Pension Credit take-up that started on 12 February 2020.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government wants to make sure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are entitled. There are already around 1.6 million people claiming some £5.4 billion in Pension Credit but some people may be missing out. That is why on the 10th February we launched a 12 week nationwide campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit and encourage those over State Pension age to check whether they’re eligible. The campaign includes a short, animated video that is being shown in GP waiting rooms and in Post Offices. It is also being shown to Facebook users and supported by messaging on social media.
As part of the campaign we are asking a sample of callers to the Pension Credit claim line whether they are calling as result of having seen the campaign materials and where they heard about Pension Credit. We are monitoring the Facebook activity using digital metrics which will give us insight on the performance of the adverts and how long people are watching the videos for. We are also monitoring the number of visits to the Pension Credit pages on www.gov.uk and use of the Pension Credit Toolkit (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit). At the end of the campaign, we will carry out a full evaluation based on these results in order to measure the effectiveness and impact of the campaign.
Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
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 effectiveness of the Pension Credit toolkit in increasing uptake of Pension Credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
It is important to highlight that in 2017/18 there were around 1.7 million Pension Credit claimants, receiving around £5.1 billion of Pension Credit payments.
The Government wants to make sure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are entitled. That is why on the 10 February we launched a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit. The aim of the campaign is to encourage those over State Pension age to check whether they’re eligible. We want to make it clear that having savings, a pension or owning a home are not automatic barriers to receiving Pension Credit; as well as explaining that even a small award of Pension Credit can provide access to a range of other benefits such as help with rent, council tax reduction schemes and heating costs.
The campaign includes a short, animated video that is being shown in GP waiting rooms and in Post Offices. It is also being shown to Facebook users over State Pension age and supported by other messaging on social media. We have also made the video and campaign materials available for stakeholders to use, as we know they are often one of the first places people turn to for information about Pension Credit.
An important part of our overall strategy to promote take-up is engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or Attendance Allowance or report a change in their circumstances which may mean that they could be eligible for Pension Credit.
Working with our stakeholders is an important part of our ongoing strategy to improve take-up of Pension Credit because we know that often the best ways to reach eligible pensioners is through trusted organisations working in the community. We have therefore updated the Pension Credit toolkit to include the new campaign materials, supplementing the resources it already contains to assist agencies and welfare rights organisations to encourage Pension Credit take-up and support pensioners applying for Pension Credit. It can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit
The most recent information available on the number of times the Pension Credit toolkit was accessed this year is in the table below. For comparative purposes it includes data on the number of viewings of the Pension Credit overview page on GOV.UK, which is considered the most likely initial starting point for the public obtaining on line information about Pension Credit.
WEBPAGE VIEWINGS (2020)
Page | 1-7 Jan | 8-14 Jan | 15-21 Jan | 22-28 Jan | 29 Jan – 4 Feb | 5-11 Feb | 12-18 Feb | 19-25 Feb | 26 Feb – 3 Mar |
Pension Credit toolkit: landing page | 14 | 16 | 12 | 41 | 73 | 323 | 268 | 268 | 101 |
Pension Credit toolkit: advice and guidance for stakeholders | 39 | 59 | 72 | 66 | 87 | 350 | 240 | 205 | 142 |
Pension Credit guidance for customers overview page | 10,166 | 11,045 | 12,120 | 13,599 | 14,577 | 28,790 | 17,907 | 15,952 | 16,110 |
Notes:
1. Data refers to the following webpages:
2. Data shows the number of times these webpages were accessed.
Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much has been written off by his Department as a result of maladministration in the last five years.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The total amount written off by the department for the last five years is available in the public domain via the links below to the Annual Report and Accounts.
Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with conditions that cause short stature have had their mobility payments withdrawn after their transition from disability living allowance to personal independence payments.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
It is important to bear in mind that Personal Independence Payment is not assessed on the basis of an individual's long term disability or condition based, rather it is based on the needs arising because of the disability or condition.
Asked by: John Nicolson (Scottish National Party - Ochil and South Perthshire)
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 potential policy implications for his Department of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Prime Minister has been clear that the negotiation for Britain's future relationship with Europe will need to begin under a new Prime Minister, and we have now got to look at all the detailed arrangements. In the meantime, Departments continue working to deliver the Government agenda.