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 were assessed as having Limited Capability for (a) Work and (b) Work and Work-related Activity in each month since May 2016; and how many such recipients had an outstanding Work Capability Assessment referral other than Limited Capability for Work and Work and Work-related Activity in each of those months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The table below shows the latest Universal Credit (UC) Work Capability Assessment (WCA) decisions recorded between April 2019 and September 2022 by the month the decision was recorded on the UC system. 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.
| LIMITED CAPABILITY FOR WORK | LIMITED CAPABILITY FOR WORK RELATED ACTIVITIES |
Apr-19 | 3,150 | 6,010 |
May-19 | 2,850 | 7,140 |
Jun-19 | 3,600 | 7,770 |
Jul-19 | 4,680 | 10,110 |
Aug-19 | 3,570 | 15,530 |
Sep-19 | 3,910 | 14,320 |
Oct-19 | 2,380 | 9,050 |
Nov-19 | 2,060 | 18,270 |
Dec-19 | 3,320 | 16,640 |
Jan-20 | 13,570 | 18,290 |
Feb-20 | 12,480 | 29,140 |
Mar-20 | 10,880 | 18,780 |
Apr-20 | 3,940 | 7,060 |
May-20 | 1,250 | 8,690 |
Jun-20 | 1,060 | 9,200 |
Jul-20 | 980 | 10,230 |
Aug-20 | 810 | 10,140 |
Sep-20 | 1,060 | 12,210 |
Oct-20 | 2,490 | 18,080 |
Nov-20 | 3,410 | 11,260 |
Dec-20 | 7,690 | 18,280 |
Jan-21 | 3,990 | 13,530 |
Feb-21 | 5,300 | 16,170 |
Mar-21 | 6,310 | 21,050 |
Apr-21 | 4,720 | 16,360 |
May-21 | 6,070 | 19,850 |
Jun-21 | 5,590 | 18,580 |
Jul-21 | 6,860 | 20,490 |
Aug-21 | 5,570 | 15,120 |
Sep-21 | 6,520 | 19,830 |
Oct-21 | 7,090 | 20,960 |
Nov-21 | 6,230 | 19,390 |
Dec-21 | 6,070 | 20,230 |
Jan-22 | 8,210 | 23,220 |
Feb-22 | 7,610 | 24,890 |
Mar-22 | 9,050 | 29,280 |
Apr-22 | 6,830 | 22,060 |
May-22 | 8,830 | 29,990 |
Jun-22 | 8,770 | 27,490 |
Jul-22 | 7,750 | 25,450 |
Aug-22 | 8,700 | 26,870 |
Sep-22 | 8,240 | 26,380 |
Please note:
(i) Where a claimant has more than one decision relating to a Work Capability Assessment recorded (for example, if a Mandatory Reconsideration or Appeal resulted in a change of decision) then only the latest decision will be included;
(ii) In order to allow sufficient time for retrospection and for the analytical datasets to be created, volumes for September 2022 is the latest information we have available for WCA decisions;
(iii) All volumes have been rounded to the nearest 10;
(iv) These figures are produced using internal MI, are not quality assured to Official Statistics standards, and may be subject to revision.
The table below outlines the outstanding UC WCA cases, as recorded at each month end, from May 2016. Total outstanding WCA cases includes all UC referrals in the process at that point in time. This can include claimants who have been asked to return a Capability for Work questionnaire and have still to do so, those yet to be referred to a health assessment provider and those who already have an assessment scheduled. UC started to replace income-related Employment and Support Allowance for new claims from January 2016, resulting in an increase in outstanding UC WCAs over the subsequent years. In addition, most WCAs were paused for several months starting in March 2020 as a result of the COVID pandemic, leading to a further increase in outstanding WCAs, which started to fall from late 2020.
UC – TOTAL OUTSTANDING | |
May-16 | 4,690 |
Jun-16 | 5,300 |
Jul-16 | 6,470 |
Aug-16 | 8,910 |
Sep-16 | 12,540 |
Oct-16 | 15,120 |
Nov-16 | 16,410 |
Dec-16 | 16,190 |
Jan-17 | 16,360 |
Feb-17 | 15,700 |
Mar-17 | 17,140 |
Apr-17 | 19,070 |
May-17 | 22,780 |
Jun-17 | 26,000 |
Jul-17 | 27,420 |
Aug-17 | 28,800 |
Sep-17 | 29,720 |
Oct-17 | 31,690 |
Nov-17 | 35,250 |
Dec-17 | 38,020 |
Jan-18 | 41,630 |
Feb-18 | 43,000 |
Mar-18 | 44,560 |
Apr-18 | 42,650 |
May-18 | 39,980 |
Jun-18 | 39,900 |
Jul-18 | 46,110 |
Aug-18 | 53,820 |
Sep-18 | 56,950 |
Oct-18 | 57,810 |
Nov-18 | 65,420 |
Dec-18 | 66,280 |
Jan-19 | 77,490 |
Feb-19 | 87,460 |
Mar-19 | 99,810 |
Apr-19 | 97,950 |
May-19 | 101,450 |
Jun-19 | 105,260 |
Jul-19 | 124,720 |
Aug-19 | 135,920 |
Sep-19 | 137,300 |
Oct-19 | 163,600 |
Nov-19 | 167,140 |
Dec-19 | 159,110 |
Jan-20 | 159,360 |
Feb-20 | 162,510 |
Mar-20 | 166,680 |
Apr-20 | 171,600 |
May-20 | 183,300 |
Jun-20 | 202,100 |
Jul-20 | 243,810 |
Aug-20 | 262,840 |
Sep-20 | 283,770 |
Oct-20 | 291,010 |
Nov-20 | 293,460 |
Dec-20 | 287,200 |
Jan-21 | 284,900 |
Feb-21 | 286,000 |
Mar-21 | 285,900 |
Apr-21 | 276,350 |
May-21 | 272,240 |
Jun-21 | 263,260 |
Jul-21 | 263,230 |
Aug-21 | 259,190 |
Sep-21 | 257,400 |
Oct-21 | 264,220 |
Nov-21 | 270,850 |
Dec-21 | 268,570 |
Jan-22 | 258,140 |
Feb-22 | 252,600 |
Mar-22 | 251,810 |
Apr-22 | 244,750 |
May-22 | 239,890 |
Jun-22 | 238,130 |
Jul-22 | 237,240 |
Aug-22 | 231,730 |
Sep-22 | 226,650 |
Oct-22 | 227,070 |
Nov-22 | 222,600 |
Please note:
(i) The total outstanding relates to the number of outstanding referrals as at a point in time, taken on the last day of each month;
(ii) All volumes have been rounded to the nearest 10;
(iii) All of the above data is derived from contractual management information produced by the WCA assessment provider;
(iv) The above data is derived from unpublished management information which is collected for internal departmental use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics Publication standards.
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, if he will publish data on the 28 per cent of local authorities that underspent their allocation of Household Support Fund.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
For the grant period 6th October 2021 to 31 March 2022, for the Household Support Fund, 43% of Local Authorities underspent, however this was only by a small amount for most Local Authorities and only 17% underspent by more than 0.5% of their allocation.
Management information data for Household Support Fund (6th October 2021 to 31 March 2022), which includes total HSF awarded to each Local Authority and total spend by each Local Authority, is published and can be found Here.
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, if he will provide a breakdown of how his Department calculated a £1 billion resulting from the delay in the managed migration from Employment Support Allowance to Universal Credit by (a) expenditure on Transitional Protection, (b) staff time and (c) other savings.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Information on this policy costing can be found within the Autumn_Statement_2022_Policy_Costings_.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk) document; page 45.
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 make an assessment of the potential merits of reintroducing Local Housing Allowance Targeted Affordability Funding where rents have fallen the furthest below the 30th percentile of average market rents since 2021.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Following an investment of £1b in 2020/21 to take Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile, they will be maintained at the elevated levels for financial year 2023/24 as assumed in the OBR baseline costings and therefore no savings are realised to re-invest in targeted funding.
We recognise rents are increasing but the challenging fiscal environment means that difficult decisions were necessary to ensure support is targeted effectively. The Chancellor announced at Autumn Statement a package of support worth £26 billion.
In 2023/24 around 8 million households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to a further £900 in Cost of Living Payments. The benefit cap will be increased by CPI to ensure that households will see an increase in their benefits following uprating.
For those who require extra support, the government is extending the Household Support Fund providing an additional £1bn to help with the cost of household essentials, for the 2023-24 financial year, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding for this support to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding.
For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and need further support. Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. Since 2011 the Government has provided almost £1.5 billion in DHP funding to local authorities.
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 place in the House of Commons Library a copy of the equality impact assessment carried out on the decision to maintain Local Housing Allowance rates of Housing Benefit at existing levels for tenants in the private rented sector.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An Equality Analysis has been undertaken for the decision to maintain LHA rates at their current level and will be published in due course.
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, whether local authorities will be allowed to roll over unspent Discretionary Housing Payment funding from 2022-23 to 2023-24 rather than return the sums to the Department.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are DEL funded and therefore in line with HM Treasury guidance, the DHP funding for a specific year is unable to be carried forward.
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 place in the Library a copy of the equality analysis referred to in the letter of 6 September 2022 from the Permanent Secretary of his Department to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This document contains information that could be used to defraud the benefit system and adversely impact the public purse, it is therefore not in the public interest to publish this. Our equality analyses are detailed live documents and change each time our models and projects change, which provides assurance that we are considering bias and balance at each stage of development of these initiatives.
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 it remains his Department's policy to not publish the evaluation of the lowered Benefit Cap completed in Spring 2019.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State's initial priorities have included very urgent decisions relating to the recent Autumn Statement. The Secretary of State will be receiving further advice regarding the evaluation of the lowered Benefit Cap, and he will make decisions about its publication in due course.
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, whether his Department has taken recent steps to help reduce the number of errors made by his officials in the administration of the benefits system.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Department maintains vigorous control of Official Error via its Quality Assurance Framework, which provides an assurance that the necessary quality controls are in place.
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 recent steps his Department has taken to improve the process of explicit consent used in Universal Credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department keeps the process under review.