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 much funding was allocated to his Department’s Excellence Plan to improve customer service performance in the (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
£NIL funding was allocated to the Excellence Plan in the years 2021-22 & 2022-33. The Excellence Plan was one year funded only for 2020-21, and the Plan closed in 2020-21. Because of COVID interruption to DWP business, some initiatives from the Plan were subsumed into DWP operational work in later years, however they became contained within normal operational budgets, so did not represent ‘extra funds’.
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 progress his Department has made on delivering its Excellence Plan since its introduction; what work his Department has undertaken to deliver that plan; and what outcomes have been achieved to date.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2019 the Department made a bid, through the Spending Review process, for additional funding in the financial year 20/21 to implement the Excellence Plan. This funding was to improve support for vulnerable customers and their interactions with the Department.
In March 2020, prior to the beginning of the 20/21 financial year, and like many other organisations, we had to reprioritise our operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the following work has been undertaken in the time since.
We have introduced more than 30 Advanced Customer Support Senior Leaders (ACSSLs) who have now been appointed across Great Britain.
The Department has also created central teams in the Customer Experience Directorate to focus on strategically supporting our most vulnerable customers.
In August 2020 the Internal Process Review Group was established to increase oversight of Internal Process Reviews at a more senior level.
The Serious Case Panel was set up in late 2019 to consider systemic themes and issues that have arisen from serious cases.
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 report entitled Independent Case Examiner for the Department for Work and Pensions: annual report 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022, published on 16 December 2022, if he will make an assessment of the reasons for which there was an increase in the number of complaints accepted for examination received by the Independent Case Examiner in 2021-22.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The ICE report is retrospective and many of the cases referenced date back to the pandemic or even earlier, this was a challenging time for DWP and we expect volumes to decrease now the service has stabilised. We continue to value ICE and we learn from the cases, helping us to put things right.
The report reflects the experience of a small proportion of DWP customers as the vast majority of complaints are handled by DWP, with only a small proportion escalating to the Independent Case Examiner who provide an independent avenue for customers.
Overall complaints to DWP remain significantly lower than pre-pandemic. Complaints equate to less than 1% of the department’s caseload.
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 paper entitled Completing the move to Universal Credit: Learning from the Discovery Phase, published by his Department on 10 January 2023, whether his Department has taken steps to support legacy benefit claimants who did not make a claim for Universal Credit within three months of their migration notice and had their existing entitlement terminated without a replacement income being in place.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has provided significant support to claimants as part of the Discovery Phase of the Universal Credit Programme.
For the Discovery cohorts, claimants were granted an automatic one-month extension to their deadline date. If a claimant did not claim by their extended deadline, they were notified that their current benefit(s) would be terminated unless they had significant support needs requiring a further extension.
To encourage and support claimants to claim Universal Credit, the Department sent text messages and phone calls during the one-month extension period. Where appropriate, the Department provided enhanced support, including home visits, to engage claimants face-to-face.
For those claimants who require significant support, the Department holds case conferences with local Advanced Customer Support Senior Leaders who provide local expertise, working with different organisations to take a multi-agency approach to supporting our most vulnerable claimants.
For claimants who have their benefits terminated, if they then make a claim to UC within one month of their benefit(s) being terminated, their claim is then backdated to their deadline date and they will still receive Transitional Protection where entitled.
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, pursuant to the Answers of 22 November 2022 to Question 86473 and of 2 December 2022 to Question 101705 on Department for Work and Pensions: Complaints, if he will set a maximum target for the length of time taken to assign an Independent Case Examiner complaint to an investigator.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no service standard for the period of time a complaint is awaiting allocation to an investigator. This is because ICE has no control over the number of complaints it receives, which can vary significantly from month to month and year to year. Other factors which affect the rate of allocation of complaints are the complexity of the individual complaint to be investigated, the evidence required to do that, the available investigative resource and the volume of work on hand. The ICE office is, nevertheless, continuously reviewing its processes and operating model to improve productivity.
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 Universal Credit recipients had (a) Limited Capability for Work and (b) Limited Capability for Work-related Activity in each month since May 2016.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The table shows the number of Universal Credit (UC) claimants classified as having Limited Capability for Work (LCW), and those classified as having Limited Capability for Work Related Activity (LCWRA) across Great Britain on the second Thursday of each month from April 2019. The second Thursday of the month is used in the creation of our UC caseload information.
Prior to April 2019, some UC claims were recorded on an interim operational system called UC Live Service (UCLS). Figures for UCLS Health claimants are not currently collated and to develop that information would incur disproportionate cost.
These figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and produced using internal MI, are not quality assured to Official Statistics standards, and may be subject to revision.
| LIMITED CAPABILITY FOR WORK | LIMITED CAPABILITY FOR WORK RELATED ACTIVITIES |
Apr-19 | 59,010 | 146,960 |
May-19 | 63,520 | 157,010 |
Jun-19 | 69,520 | 172,770 |
Jul-19 | 75,850 | 186,610 |
Aug-19 | 81,240 | 202,910 |
Sep-19 | 86,480 | 231,250 |
Oct-19 | 89,600 | 247,570 |
Nov-19 | 91,410 | 262,400 |
Dec-19 | 92,940 | 288,750 |
Jan-20 | 94,180 | 303,710 |
Feb-20 | 114,580 | 332,250 |
Mar-20 | 125,780 | 363,350 |
Apr-20 | 143,800 | 381,840 |
May-20 | 146,640 | 392,710 |
Jun-20 | 147,540 | 402,390 |
Jul-20 | 147,670 | 411,820 |
Aug-20 | 146,960 | 426,340 |
Sep-20 | 139,260 | 438,880 |
Oct-20 | 139,230 | 454,100 |
Nov-20 | 140,780 | 476,790 |
Dec-20 | 146,940 | 490,880 |
Jan-21 | 153,100 | 512,890 |
Feb-21 | 157,270 | 529,760 |
Mar-21 | 162,350 | 549,790 |
Apr-21 | 167,540 | 571,950 |
May-21 | 172,930 | 596,960 |
Jun-21 | 177,390 | 618,750 |
Jul-21 | 180,820 | 637,230 |
Aug-21 | 187,290 | 660,670 |
Sep-21 | 191,590 | 676,860 |
Oct-21 | 198,540 | 703,950 |
Nov-21 | 203,050 | 723,170 |
Dec-21 | 207,900 | 743,720 |
Jan-22 | 212,780 | 765,430 |
Feb-22 | 219,010 | 789,470 |
Mar-22 | 224,070 | 814,420 |
Apr-22 | 231,200 | 846,370 |
May-22 | 235,060 | 865,500 |
Jun-22 | 241,290 | 894,900 |
Jul-22 | 248,390 | 925,280 |
Aug-22 | 253,150 | 946,380 |
Sep-22 | 258,460 | 969,970 |
Oct-22 | 264,640 | 997,080 |
Nov-22 | 270,540 | 1,022,540 |
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 Universal Credit recipients had (a) Limited Capability for Work and (b) Limited Capability for Work-related Activity in each month since May 2016.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The table shows the number of Universal Credit (UC) claimants classified as having Limited Capability for Work (LCW), and those classified as having Limited Capability for Work Related Activity (LCWRA) across Great Britain on the second Thursday of each month from April 2019. The second Thursday of the month is used in the creation of our UC caseload information.
Prior to April 2019, some UC claims were recorded on an interim operational system called UC Live Service (UCLS). Figures for UCLS Health claimants are not currently collated and to develop that information would incur disproportionate cost.
These figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and produced using internal MI, are not quality assured to Official Statistics standards, and may be subject to revision.
| LIMITED CAPABILITY FOR WORK | LIMITED CAPABILITY FOR WORK RELATED ACTIVITIES |
Apr-19 | 59,010 | 146,960 |
May-19 | 63,520 | 157,010 |
Jun-19 | 69,520 | 172,770 |
Jul-19 | 75,850 | 186,610 |
Aug-19 | 81,240 | 202,910 |
Sep-19 | 86,480 | 231,250 |
Oct-19 | 89,600 | 247,570 |
Nov-19 | 91,410 | 262,400 |
Dec-19 | 92,940 | 288,750 |
Jan-20 | 94,180 | 303,710 |
Feb-20 | 114,580 | 332,250 |
Mar-20 | 125,780 | 363,350 |
Apr-20 | 143,800 | 381,840 |
May-20 | 146,640 | 392,710 |
Jun-20 | 147,540 | 402,390 |
Jul-20 | 147,670 | 411,820 |
Aug-20 | 146,960 | 426,340 |
Sep-20 | 139,260 | 438,880 |
Oct-20 | 139,230 | 454,100 |
Nov-20 | 140,780 | 476,790 |
Dec-20 | 146,940 | 490,880 |
Jan-21 | 153,100 | 512,890 |
Feb-21 | 157,270 | 529,760 |
Mar-21 | 162,350 | 549,790 |
Apr-21 | 167,540 | 571,950 |
May-21 | 172,930 | 596,960 |
Jun-21 | 177,390 | 618,750 |
Jul-21 | 180,820 | 637,230 |
Aug-21 | 187,290 | 660,670 |
Sep-21 | 191,590 | 676,860 |
Oct-21 | 198,540 | 703,950 |
Nov-21 | 203,050 | 723,170 |
Dec-21 | 207,900 | 743,720 |
Jan-22 | 212,780 | 765,430 |
Feb-22 | 219,010 | 789,470 |
Mar-22 | 224,070 | 814,420 |
Apr-22 | 231,200 | 846,370 |
May-22 | 235,060 | 865,500 |
Jun-22 | 241,290 | 894,900 |
Jul-22 | 248,390 | 925,280 |
Aug-22 | 253,150 | 946,380 |
Sep-22 | 258,460 | 969,970 |
Oct-22 | 264,640 | 997,080 |
Nov-22 | 270,540 | 1,022,540 |
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if his Department will commission research into the impact of elements previously covered by rent in social housing now being paid for by service charges, including caretaking, and maintenance of lifts and door entry systems.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Further to the answer I gave to Question UIN 86547, on 23 November 2022, the Government believes very strongly that service charges should be transparent and communicated effectively. The way a service charge is organised (for example, what it covers and how it is worked out) is set out in the lease or tenancy agreement.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that social landlords do not circumvent the 7 per cent cap on rent increases in 2023-24 by increasing service charges.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Further to the answer I gave to Question UIN 86547, on 23 November 2022, the Government believes very strongly that service charges should be transparent and communicated effectively. The way a service charge is organised (for example, what it covers and how it is worked out) is set out in the lease or tenancy agreement.
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 his evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee on 30th November 2022, HC 549, for what reasons his Department estimates that 400,000 of the one million remaining Employment Support Allowance recipients will now naturally migrate onto Universal Credit through a change of circumstances by 2028.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department estimates there are currently around 1m Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) income-based claimants (who are not also on Child Tax Credits) and around 600k of these might still be claiming ESA in April 2028.
This number is lower because, claimants have a change of circumstances and naturally migrate to Universal Credit, (i) claimants leave benefit altogether (e.g., find a job), (ii) claimants reach State Pension age and are no longer eligible for working age benefits.