Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 level of in-work poverty in the UK in comparison with other industrialised countries.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In-work poverty is measured differently internationally and making comparisons would not be robust.
Measuring in-work poverty in the UK is something we do take seriously and is reported on. Statistics on in-work poverty levels in 19/20 are available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/ on the HBAI dataset.
It is not possible to provide a robust estimate for 2020/21 due to the impact the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had on data quality.
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of actions that Government can take to help raise awareness among UK employers of the issue of in-work poverty.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise the importance of engaging with employers to tackle the issue of in-work poverty and are considering the recommendations set out in the In-Work Progression Commission report and will respond formally in due course.
We are in the early stages of rolling-out DWP’s new in-work progression offer. This offer will be supported by the recruitment of 37 Progression Champions. Progression Champions will work with key partners, including local government, employers, and skills providers to identify and develop local progression opportunities.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 total social security cost for people in-work.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not keep this information centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the research by Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith entitled Supporting progression out of low pay: a call to action, published on 1 July 2021, which recommendations she has (a) accepted and (i) is implementing and (ii) will implement in future and (b) rejected.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government recognises the importance of supporting people to progress in work and welcomes Baroness McGregor-Smith’s report. We have considered her recommendations carefully and the response setting out this government’s approach to progression will be published shortly.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Ninth Report of the Public Accounts Committee, Session 2022–23, on Child Maintenance, when her Department plans to respond to the recommendation that her Department undertake a detailed review of the child maintenance system.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Department’s response to the Ninth Report of the Public Accounts Committee was published on September 29th 2022.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 September 2022 to Question 47643, on Department for Work and Pensions: Staff, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the increase in her Department's spend on staff working on Mandatory Reconsideration between 2020/21 and 2021/22.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
During 2020/21 approximately 200 staff working in the Disputes Resolution Service (DRS) in DWP, including those working on Mandatory Reconsiderations and appeals, were redeployed to other critical parts of DWP to support delivery of vital frontline customer and payment services in the Pandemic. Costs were attributed to the other parts of DWP e.g. Universal Credit, and not recharged to DRS.
For 2021/22 DRS people had returned to delivering Mandatory Reconsiderations and therefore their costs were attributable to DRS. DRS also recruited 52 FTE in 2021/22 to support Dispute Resolution Services.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of retaining the spare room subsidy rules on recipients of Housing Benefit, in the context of the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
There are no plans to abolish the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy policy as it strengthens work incentives, is intended to create parity with those in receipt of benefits and renting in the private sector and seeks to encourage greater mobility within the social rented sector.
The policy allows for the provision of an additional bedroom for disabled people and carers, foster carers, parents who adopt, parents of service personnel, and people who have suffered a recent bereavement. Additionally, those in receipt of pension age housing benefit are exempt.
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP’s) are available for those who need additional support with housing costs. Since 2011 we have provided almost £1.5billion in DHP’s to local authorities.
The Government announced over £37bn of cost of living support earlier this year which includes an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £421m, running from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. This is in addition to the energy bill support announced in September.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish a percentage breakdown of the liabilities or debt deductions that are being applied to Universal Credit claims.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The table below provides the proportions of UC households with each of the main deduction types and also the average proportion of the UC standard allowance.
May-22 | % of all UC households with deduction | Average proportion of UC standard allowance deducted each month |
Advances | 29% | 12% |
Government Deductions | 25% | 13% |
Third Party Deductions | 12% | 10% |
For DWP Debt deductions, if a claimant is struggling financially, they can contact DWP Debt Management to discuss a reduction in their repayment, or temporary suspension, depending on financial circumstances.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
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 potential effect on recipients of not increasing social security benefits in line with inflation.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has a statutory obligation to undertake an annual review of State pensions and benefits. Her review will commence shortly, based on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) in the year to September 2022, and on earnings growth in the year to May-July 2022. The latter figure was published on 11 October by the Office for National Statistics. The CPI figure will be published on 19 October. The Secretary of State’s decisions will be announced to Parliament shortly.
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to require Personal Independence Payment assessment providers to provide staff with training on long covid.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
All Health Professionals (HPs) carrying out Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments are clinically qualified practitioners. They are subject to a rigorous recruitment process followed by a comprehensive training programme in disability assessment
Long Covid is a medically recognised condition associated with a range of disabling effects which depend upon the severity of the condition. Both Capita and Independent Assessment Services (IAS) ensure that Long Covid training is provided for HPs undertaking PIP assessments on behalf of the department.