Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on benefit help and advice to claimants who are losing access to the internet as a result of switching off 2G and 3G connections.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DWP seeks to identify individuals who have complex user needs and/or require additional support to enable them to access our benefits and services, this includes those who do not have internet access.
As part of our commitment to make services accessible to all customers, the Department provides computers for customer use in Jobcentres which have assistive technology and provide a range of peripheral items in each Jobcentre such as alternative keyboards.
We have improved access to our Wi-Fi services in all Jobcentres, allowing customers to use their own personal devices if they prefer, to access internet services, and Staff will signpost people to other community resources (libraries and Citizens Advice) which can also provide advice and internet access points.
If an eligible claimant presents to a Work Coach that connectivity to the internet is causing a barrier to employment then the Work Coach has the discretion to utilise Flexible Support Fund to remove that barrier as they would any other barrier to work. In the case of internet connectivity, they would explore all available options, i.e. social tariffs, dongles, and pre-paid broadband routers and connections available from providers. Whichever is the most suitable then the Work Coach would either sign-post in the case of social tariffs or utilise FSF to pay for other options if appropriate.
Our Jobcentres also provide support and advice about entitlement to benefits and will signpost customers to appropriate information to help them. The Department provides telephone service lines that people can call to make their claims to benefit and to operate their claims.
In addition, customers can access Help to Claim which provides tailored practical support to anyone who needs it. It enables individuals to make a new claim to Universal Credit and is also available to those moving from legacy benefits because of managed migration, voluntary moves, or a change of circumstances.
Help to Claim support is being delivered independently by Citizens Advice, in partnership with Citizens Advice Scotland, with support provided through telephony and digital channels. Those individuals who are unable to access support via these channels can go to their local jobcentre, where staff will identify the right support to meet their needs.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department provides to the Pensions Service on classifying Invalidity Allowance as an overlapping benefit.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Our guidance, based on Regulation 6 of the Overlapping Benefit Regulations 1979, provides instruction for Pension Service staff to correctly process claims that meet these circumstances.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the article by the Minister for Employment entitled, A perfect time to plan for the future with online Midlife MOT, published in the Sunday Express on 2 July 2023, on what evidential basis the Minister stated that hundreds of thousands of people have been helped to think about their next steps since the midlife MOT was launched in 2019; and if he will publish that data.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since the championing of the policy by DWP and the private sector, the Midlife MOT has reached people through multiple channels to help them take stock of their finances, skills and health, and plan for their later life.
The DWP's JobHelp website helps people to understand their work options and provides guidance to help them get job ready and find work. It has been visited by more than 3 million users since it was launched in April 2020.
Since launch on 1st July 2021 until the end of June 2023, the Money Helper website has had 32 million users/visitors, and nearly 43 million sessions/visits.
An enhanced digital Midlife MOT offer went live on 5 July 2023.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2023 to Question 187983 on Employment Schemes: Disability, for what reason the number of full-time equivalent disability employment advisers employed by his Department was lower in June 2023 than in June 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are planning to restore the number of “Disability Employment Advisors” to our core demand level, by recruiting a significant number of people into EO graded roles.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 25 May 2023 to Question 186107 on Unemployment: Chronic Illnesses, whether his Department is undertaking further work to establish (a) whether and (b) to what extent there is a relationship between the growth in NHS waiting lists and long-term sickness in the labour market.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
A range of complex and interacting factors could be driving the rise in long-term sickness as the main reason for being economically inactive, including NHS waiting lists. The department is currently working with other departments and organisations to better understand these relationships as far as possible from available data.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 June 2023 to Question 187982 on Jobcentres: Staff, for what reason the number of full-time equivalent work coaches employed by his Department was lower in June 2023 than in June 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
During the Pandemic, as a department we looked to recruit a number of temporary Work Coaches to help us maintain an unprecedented increase in caseload.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2023 to Question187662 on Universal Credit: Deductions, what the (a) number and (b) total amount of debts to the Government registered against Universal Credit households between March 2022 and February 2023 was, broken down by each Department.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Information on the number and amount of Universal Credit debt broken down by each department is not held.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference his Department's document entitled The gender pensions gap in private Pensions statistical release on 5 June 2023, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the gender pensions gap (a) overall and (b) amongst individuals with Defined Contribution pension wealth only.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government has taken significant steps to close the gender pensions gap overall and for individuals with Defined Contribution pension wealth only.
Under the new State Pension – average weekly amounts are expected to equalise for men and women reaching State Pension age in the near future – much earlier than they would have under the old system.
Automatic Enrolment brought millions of women into pension saving for the very first time with 86% of eligible women now being auto enrolled. Building on the 2017 AE review, legislation is currently progressing through Parliament. There measures will benefit over 3 million workers, around half of whom will be women.
More broadly hundreds of thousands more working parents will be supported through the extension of free childcare announced in the Spring budget, more than doubling the current support in place.
The publication of an official annual measure will help us track the collective efforts of government, industry and employers to close the Gender Pensions Gap.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Gender Pensions Gap in Private Pensions statistical release on 5 June 2023, whether his Department plans to publish regular updates to those statistics.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Department plans to release this measure annually.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 2.7(m) of the minutes of the Social Security Advisory Committee meeting held on 25 January 2023, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of advice provided to the committee on the potential impact of interest rates on changes to the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The advice given to the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) was, and remains, accurate.
The rate of SMI we pay is based on the Bank of England published average rate and recently increased from 2.09% to 2.65% in May 2023. Any further changes to the interest rate will occur when the Bank of England average mortgage rate differs by 0.5 percentage points or more from the rate in payment.
As we use an average figure, some people will receive more than the amount of interest charged on their mortgage and others less. We have broad agreement with the lending industry that the amount we pay in SMI will be sufficient to avert any threat of repossession, even where that is less than the borrowers contracted liability.