Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Health and Disability White Paper, CP 807, published on 15 March 2023, whether he plans to introduce a Mandatory Reconsideration and appeal route against decisions made about a claimant’s ability to undertake work or work-related activity once the Work Capability Assessment has been replaced.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Our new approach will provide more personalised levels of conditionality and employment support, with the aim of helping people to reach their potential and live a more independent life. This more tailored approach will allow work coaches to build a relationship with an individual and determine what, if any, work-related activities an individual can participate in.
These activities could start from voluntary and dial up to mandatory where appropriate, with requirements added at a pace that is appropriate for the individual.
We will take time to carefully consider how best to implement these changes and take a test and learn approach with the new system before introducing it, to ensure it provides the taxpayer with value for money and is accessible and effective in delivering for our service users.
We will continue to listen to, and to work closely with, disabled people, people with health conditions and many other partners, on how to best deliver these reforms.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Health and Disability White Paper, CP 807, published on 15 March 2023, whether he intends to introduce a substantial risk test comparable to the test within the Work Capability Assessment regarding a claimant’s ability to undertake work or work-related activity, once the Work Capability Assessment has been replaced.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
As part of the new approach to support, work coaches will have personalised conversations with claimants to determine their individual circumstances and how their health condition impacts them. This will mean that people will have their requirements tailored to their needs, which can include having no work-related requirements at all while the claimant seeks mental health support.
Work coaches will provide appropriate support to claimants with health conditions and ensure that operational processes such as the six-point plan are followed to support the claimant.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Health and Disability White Paper, CP 807, published on 15 March 2023, whether a benefit sanction that reduced Universal Credit Standard Allowance to zero would remove a claimant's entitlement to the Health Element of Universal Credit.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are committed to reforming the system to better support people with health conditions overcome the barriers that prevent them from working. We are also committed to making work pay, and incentivising people to seek and stay in work.
The new health element will be awarded to people who are receiving the UC Standard Allowance and any PIP element. Entitlement to the new UC health element will only end when the functional impact of a person’s health condition improves and they are no longer eligible for PIP, or as people earn more money and their UC is tapered away, which ensures that they are financially better off in work.
As we develop our reform proposals, we will consider how some interactions with the UC system will be reflected in the reformed system. This will be carefully worked through and reported on before we introduce legislation in the next parliament.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Health and Disability White Paper, CP 807, published on 15 March 2023, whether receipt of a nil award of Universal Credit due to being paid twice in a month would remove entitlement to the Health Element of Universal Credit.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are committed to reforming the system to better support people with health conditions overcome the barriers that prevent them from working. We are also committed to making work pay, and incentivising people to seek and stay in work.
The new health element will be awarded to people who are receiving the UC Standard Allowance and any PIP element. Entitlement to the new UC health element will only end when the functional impact of a person’s health condition improves and they are no longer eligible for PIP, or as people earn more money and their UC is tapered away, which ensures that they are financially better off in work.
As we develop our reform proposals, we will consider how some interactions with the UC system will be reflected in the reformed system. This will be carefully worked through and reported on before we introduce legislation in the next parliament.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of how many of working disabled people in receipt of Employment Support Allowance will be worse off as a result of managed migration to Universal Credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As set out in Completing the move to Universal Credit - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), Policy paper, we committed to providing transitional financial protection for those who are moved onto Universal Credit through the managed migration process.
This means those eligible households with a lower calculated award in UC than their legacy benefits awards will see no difference in their entitlement at the point they are moved to UC, provided there is no change in their circumstances during the migration process.
We are also providing additional protection for those who had a change in circumstance and have been receiving Severe Disability Premium.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish the review of the Benefit Cap carried out under S96A of the Welfare Reform Act 2012.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State’s decision was set out in both the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022 and the Written Ministerial Statement following a statutory review of the benefit cap levels.
Following the review, affirmative regulations are required to amend the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and consequential amendments made to the Housing Benefit Regulations and the Universal Credit Regulations. The changes are grouped together in a single statutory instrument, which was laid before Parliament and is currently undergoing Parliamentary approval.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many overpayments of Universal Credit have been attributed to Official Error in each of the last three years; and what the total value of those overpayments.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We do not hold data on actual Universal Credit (UC) overpayments as requested, as there is no requirement to categorise UC debt because it is all recoverable in law.
However, our national statistics on Fraud and Error in the benefit system provide information on the estimated value of UC Official Error, both as a percentage of benefit expenditure and by value.
For UC the figures show that UC Official Error loss has fallen from 1.3% (£250m) in 2019/20, to 0.9% (£330m) in 2020/21, to 0.7% (£270m) in 2021/22.
The statistics do not cover the number of overpayments made across the year but indicate how many cases were estimated to have an overpayment of this type, at a point in time. In 2019/20 the figure stood at 4.1%; in 2021/22 it was 2.6%.
Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2021 to 2022 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
DWP remains committed to working with anyone who is struggling with benefit debt deductions and encourages customers experiencing hardship to contact DWP to discuss their repayment plan.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in how many cases where the claimant had previously been advised no overpayment had occurred a Universal Credit overpayment attributed to Official Error has been identified in each of the last three years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We do not hold data on actual Universal Credit (UC) overpayments as requested, as there is no requirement to categorise UC debt because it is all recoverable in law.
However, our national statistics on Fraud and Error in the benefit system provide information on the estimated value of UC Official Error, both as a percentage of benefit expenditure and by value.
For UC the figures show that UC Official Error loss has fallen from 1.3% (£250m) in 2019/20, to 0.9% (£330m) in 2020/21, to 0.7% (£270m) in 2021/22.
The statistics do not cover the number of overpayments made across the year but indicate how many cases were estimated to have an overpayment of this type, at a point in time. In 2019/20 the figure stood at 4.1%; in 2021/22 it was 2.6%.
Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2021 to 2022 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
DWP remains committed to working with anyone who is struggling with benefit debt deductions and encourages customers experiencing hardship to contact DWP to discuss their repayment plan.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the value is of overpayments within Universal Credit attributed to Official Error recovered In each of the last three years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We do not hold data on actual Universal Credit (UC) overpayments as requested, as there is no requirement to categorise UC debt because it is all recoverable in law.
However, our national statistics on Fraud and Error in the benefit system provide information on the estimated value of UC Official Error, both as a percentage of benefit expenditure and by value.
For UC the figures show that UC Official Error loss has fallen from 1.3% (£250m) in 2019/20, to 0.9% (£330m) in 2020/21, to 0.7% (£270m) in 2021/22.
The statistics do not cover the number of overpayments made across the year but indicate how many cases were estimated to have an overpayment of this type, at a point in time. In 2019/20 the figure stood at 4.1%; in 2021/22 it was 2.6%.
Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2021 to 2022 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
DWP remains committed to working with anyone who is struggling with benefit debt deductions and encourages customers experiencing hardship to contact DWP to discuss their repayment plan.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster 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 claiming Employment Support Allowance have permitted earnings; and how many and what proportion of those people are also in receipt of (a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
In May 2022, there were 120,610 claimants on ESA in permitted work, which is 7.2% of all ESA claimants.
Of these, there were: 700 (0.6%) with Working Tax Credits; 5,420 (4.5%) with Child Tax Credits; and 1,810 (1.5%) with both.