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 steps she has taken to ensure the adequacy of the capacity of her Department to provide services during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Department has redeployed staff from non-business critical areas to front line delivery roles, made use of staff from other Government Departments, has recruited and continues to recruit significant numbers of new staff and has utilised contract and agency staff in certain roles.
The Department is continually assessing the service being offered to customers and we continue to keep staff numbers under review as part of our response to the impact of COVID-19 on the labour market.
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 she has made of the ability of claimants in (a) Stoke-on-Trent, (b) Kidsgrove and (c) Talke to access universal credit online.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has taken a ‘digital-first’ approach to providing and delivering services, ensuring we make best use of technology to deliver a modern and effective working-age welfare system. This allows our staff to concentrate on those people who require additional support through different channels.
Our Universal Credit Claimant Survey, found that 98 per cent of claimants have internet access and did claim online, and the majority of those said they found the claim process overall to be straightforward and this can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-full-service-claimant-survey
For those that are still unable to access or use digital services, or are not able to travel, assistance to make and maintain their claim is available via the Freephone Universal Credit helpline – which is clearly displayed on GOV.UK. In addition, Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland have been delivering the ‘Help to Claim’ service since April 2019. The Citizens Advice ‘Help to Claim’ service offers tailored, practical support to help people make a Universal Credit claim up to receiving their first full correct payment on time, and is currently available online and by telephone.
Although the Department offers comprehensive support for claimants to use our digital service, there will be occasions when people are unable to make their claim online, so telephone applications can be accepted. In these instances, information normally available through a claimant’s online account will be communicated in an alternative format, which is best suited to an individual’s circumstances.
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, how many and what proportion of people in Stoke-on-Trent North constituency have (a) opted out after being auto-enrolled into a workplace pension and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution.
Answered by Guy Opperman
In the Stoke-on-Trent North constituency since 2012, approximately 6,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1,280 employers have met their duties.
The Department does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. We do know that overall, around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2018 approximately 6.4 million eligible employees in the private sector were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution requirements.
Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2019, available via the following weblink: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/867634/automatic-enrolment-evaluation-report-2019.pdf
The Pensions Regulator’s data on Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance by constituency, available via the following weblink:
https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests