Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support is available to people whose covid-19 symptoms have extended beyond two weeks and are unable to return to work as a result.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Individuals should tell their employer that symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) persist and that they must continue to self-isolate.
Individuals will be eligible for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if they have tested positive for coronavirus and are staying at home and self-isolating for 10 days, or until they no longer have symptoms, and they are not able to work as a result. Other SSP eligibility criteria will apply. Individuals should continue to self-isolate beyond 10 days if they still have symptoms other than a cough or loss of sense of smell or taste.
Where an individual’s income is reduced while off work sick and they require further financial support, for example where they are not eligible for SSP, they may be able to claim Universal Credit and new style Employment and Support Allowance, depending on their individual circumstances.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she is putting in place during the covid-19 outbreak to support students in part-time work who are unable to claim universal credit.
Answered by Will Quince
Students who do not ordinarily have entitlement to Universal Credit (UC) and who receive a maintenance loan or grant through the student finance system, will continue to be able to draw upon this financial support until the end of this academic year.
Those who do not receive student finance and who would ordinarily not have entitlement to UC, such as those undertaking a part-time course which would otherwise not be considered as compatible with the requirements for them to look for and be available for work, will have entitlement to UC. We have disapplied UC and both legacy and new style JSA work preparation, work search and availability requirements and related sanctions. This will initially be for a three-month period. After three months, consideration will be given as to whether a further extension is required.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2020 to Question HL 457 on universal credit, whether her Department plans to evaluate in the Move to universal credit pilot the effect of the managed migration process on disabled people and people with health conditions.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has already committed to undertaking an evaluation of the Move to UC pilot process. This will include an assessment of how the process works for groups of claimants including those with disabilities and health conditions.
We will be publishing the evaluation strategy for the Move To UC process in Spring 2020.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the proportion of people in North Durham constituency who have (a) opted out after being automatically enrolled into a workplace pension and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving, and reversing the decline in workplace pension participation in the decade prior to these reforms. Workplace pension participation rates are being transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into one in 2018, up from 55% in 2012.
The DWP 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. However, 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 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates.
In the North Durham constituency, since 2012, approximately 6,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1,090 employers have met their duties.
Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.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
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the appropriateness of requiring claimants with mental health conditions to attend face-to-face interviews as part of the social security benefits assessment process.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We recognise that attending a face-to-face assessment can be a stressful experience for some people, including for people who have a mental health condition. That is why we do not require people to attend face-to-face consultations where there is enough existing evidence to determine benefit entitlement.
Furthermore, where a face-to-face consultation is required, we encourage claimants to bring another person with them where they would find this helpful, for example, reassure them or to help them during the consultation. The person chosen is at the discretion of the claimant and might be, but is not limited to, a parent, family member, friend, carer, or advocate.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many complaints Stanley Job Centre has received in relation to disabled access throughout the building in the last five years.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Due to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), information about complaints is only held for the last 14 months, not the last five years that has been requested. For this period we have identified one complaint that was raised about disabled access in Stanley Jobcentre.
DWP is committed to meeting the needs of all disabled customers and has a legal duty to ensure all services are accessible to them. Staff at Stanley Jobcentre have access to a range of comprehensive guidance that covers the key areas of customer accessibility needs. These include customer accessibility instructions, general rules regarding access to benefits and services, customer access to Jobcentre staff lift facilities and customer access to Jobcentre staff toilet facilities.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance her Department has issued to staff at Stanley Job Centre in relation to disabled access in advance of arranging appointments with claimants.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Due to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), information about complaints is only held for the last 14 months, not the last five years that has been requested. For this period we have identified one complaint that was raised about disabled access in Stanley Jobcentre.
DWP is committed to meeting the needs of all disabled customers and has a legal duty to ensure all services are accessible to them. Staff at Stanley Jobcentre have access to a range of comprehensive guidance that covers the key areas of customer accessibility needs. These include customer accessibility instructions, general rules regarding access to benefits and services, customer access to Jobcentre staff lift facilities and customer access to Jobcentre staff toilet facilities.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will evaluate the provision of disabled access at Stanley jobcentre in County Durham.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Facilities are available and adjustments have been made that ensure that Stanley Jobcentre has access for claimants who are disabled. These include ramps, automatic sliding doors, private interview rooms and services available on the ground floor level.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people claiming personal independence payment who at the point of the original decision scored points by satisfying descriptor b under Activity 9 (engaging with other people face to face) who have (a) anxiety and depressive disorders - mixed, (b) depressive disorder, (c) schizophrenia, (d) bipolar affective disorder (Hypomania/Mania), (e) personality disorder, (f) post traumatic stress disorder, (g) psychotic disorders/other/type not known, (h) alcohol misuse, (i) anxiety disorders/other/type not known, (j) generalised anxiety disorder, (k) agoraphobia, (l) schizoaffective disorder, (m) obsessive compulsive disorder, (n) cognitive disorders/other/type not known, (o) mood disorders/other/type not known, (p) drug misuse, (q) panic disorder, (r) anorexia nervosa, (s) cognitive disorder due to stroke, (t) phobia-social, (u) psychiatric disorders of childhood/other/type not known, (v) eating disorders not otherwise specified, (w) conduct disorder (including oppositional defiant disorder), (x) bulimia nervosa, (y) stress reaction disorders/other/type not known, (z) dissociative disorders/other/type not known, (aa) body dysmorphic disorder, (ab) phobia specific, (ac) somatoform disorders/other/type not known and (ad) conversion disorder (hysteria).
Answered by Sarah Newton
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Kevan Jones (Labour - North Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people with Parkinson’s who were awarded 10 points or lower for the moving around activity of personal independence payment were previously in receipt of the highest rate of the mobility component of disability living allowance.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.