Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what (a) restrictions and (b) guidance are in place for landlords renting out properties to immediate family members and receiving (i) housing benefit and (ii) universal credit for that property.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
To be eligible for support with housing costs in Housing Benefit and Universal Credit, claimants must be liable for making payment of rent on a commercial basis. A claimant can receive support with housing costs if that test is satisfied and liability is to a close relative, but only where that relative does not live in the same property as the claimant.
Guidance setting this out is available on Gov.uk.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by WPI Economics entitled Making Statutory Sick Pay Work, published on 12 July 2023, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of (a) offering employees statutory sick pay from the first day they are off sick, (b) widening the eligibility criteria for statutory sick pay and (c) increasing the rate of statutory sick pay.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Government’s 2019 Health is Everyone’s Business Consultation proposed a package of reforms which aimed to reduce ill-health related job loss and support disabled people and people with health conditions to stay in, and thrive in, work. This included proposals for (limited) reform of SSP.
In response to the consultation (2021), the Government maintained that SSP provides an important link between the employee and employer but that this was not the right time to introduce changes to the sick pay system. The Government is continuing to keep the SSP system under review.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
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 merits of undertaking a review of statutory sick pay.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Government’s 2019 Health is Everyone’s Business Consultation proposed a package of reforms which aimed to reduce ill-health related job loss and support disabled people and people with health conditions to stay in, and thrive in, work. This included proposals for (limited) reform of SSP.
In response to the consultation (2021), the Government maintained that SSP provides an important link between the employee and employer but that this was not the right time to introduce changes to the sick pay system. The Government is continuing to keep the SSP system under review.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to take steps to improve Statutory Sick Pay.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
The Government’s 2019 Health is Everyone’s Business Consultation proposed a package of reforms which aimed to reduce ill-health related job loss and support disabled people and people with health conditions to stay in, and thrive in, work. This included proposals for (limited) reform of SSP.
In response to the consultation (2021), the Government maintained that SSP provides an important link between the employee and employer but that this was not the right time to introduce changes to the sick pay system. The Government is continuing to keep the SSP system under review.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by WPI Economics, entitled Making Statutory Sick Pay Work, published on 12 July 2023, what assessment his Department has made of implications for his policies of that report's findings on the impact of low rates of sick pay.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
No assessment has been made on the report in question.
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is designed to balance providing support to the individual when they are sick, with the costs to employers of providing such support. Many employers decide to pay more, and for longer, through Occupational Sick Pay.
The Government is continuing to keep the SSP system under review.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress her Department has made in hiring additional work coaches in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Kidsgrove.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
DWP currently has 65 additional new Work Coaches to date for the Stoke-on-Trent area including Kidsgrove, with a further 15 to be deployed in early 2021.