Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what research her Department has undertaken into the universal credit claimant experience.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
83% of claimants are satisfied with their experience in Universal Credit. The latest published claimant satisfaction survey can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-claimant-service-and-experience-survey-2016-to-2017.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress she has made on implementing the changes to the 2017 Personal Independence Payment Regulations advised by the High Court in December 2017.
Answered by Sarah Newton
On the 19th January, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced that she would not appeal the High Court judgment regarding part of the 2017 amending regulations relating to eligibility to the Mobility Component of Personal Independence Payment. The Secretary of State also confirmed that the Department will implement the law on the mobility component, as set out in the MH Upper Tribunal judgment. The Department is now working at pace to make the necessary guidance changes, in order to implement the MH judgment safely and effectively.
For information on the indicative timescales for this, I refer the Hon. Member to a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document that the Secretary of State has laid in the House Library (Deposit reference: DEP2018-0345).
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have been affected by the under-occupancy penalty in North West Durham constituency.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Figures on the number of households receiving Housing Benefit (HB) affected by the removal of the spare room subsidy (RSRS) by parliamentary constituency are publically available through the DWP Stat Xplore website:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml
Guidance for users is available at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Figures on DWP Stat Xplore do not include claimants on Universal Credit (UC) with a removal of the spare room subsidy (RSRS) deduction, as this data is not currently available.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of universal credit on the number of people in rent arrears in (a) the UK, (b) the North East and (c) North West Durham.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We are currently carrying out further analysis of this issue with a number of housing providers, to investigate and understand the true level of rent arrears for their tenants, what is causing them and any impacts Universal Credit may be having. It will be published when completed.
We also know that arrears are usually temporary and the majority of claimants do succeed in paying their rent, managing their monthly payments and clearing their arrears over time. In our published research available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/481865/universal-credit-extended-gateway-evaluation.pdf, the proportion of Universal Credit claimants who were in arrears at the start of their claim fell by a third after four months. To note, the relevant section is Page 33, Table 3.5. This report is from 2015.
Lastly, research carried out by the National Federation of ALMOs shows over three quarters of their tenants come onto Universal Credit with pre-existing rent arrears. This research can be accessed at http://www.almos.org.uk/include/getDoc.php?did=7944&fid=9326. To note, the relevant section is page 10, section 3.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her oral contribution of 23 January 2018, what the evidential basis is for her statement that the Government is spending more on personal independence payments than it did on disability living allowance.
Answered by Sarah Newton
My Rt. Hon Friend, the Secretary of State, made clear in her statement that the figures she referred to applied to the main disability benefits: Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment. These figures are taken from the latest release of the benefit expenditure and caseload tables available from here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-expenditure-tables.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people who had a lifetime award for disability living allowance have had a reduction in the amount they are entitled to as a result of transferring to personal independence payment.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of personal independence payment there are in North West Durham constituency.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The latest available data on PIP claims in payment, including by parliamentary constituency and main disabling condition are published on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk.
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.
Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer system. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these published statistics.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West 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 that have mental health conditions.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The latest available data on PIP claims in payment, including by parliamentary constituency and main disabling condition are published on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk.
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.
Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer system. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these published statistics.
By the end of Oct-17 the PIP Caseload stood at approximately 1,607,200 of which 553,900 (34%) were recorded with a mental health or behavioural related illness.
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people have had their Motability car removed after being transferred from disability living allowance to personal independence payment.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The details of people returning Motability vehicles and the reasons behind this are Motability’s Management Information, and the Department has no right to access as Motability is an independent organisation.
The Department worked closely with Motability to introduce a £175 million Transitional Support package for people leaving the scheme following PIP reassessments. Customers who are eligible for a transitional support payment are able to retain their car for up to 6 ½ months, including during the processes of reconsideration or appeal. For those who take advantage of this option, the level of transitional support payment will be reduced.
The transitional support package is paid for by Motability at no cost to the taxpayer and gives significant help:
Asked by: Laura Pidcock (Labour - North West Durham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what qualifications health professionals completing a Personal Independence Payment medical assessment should possess to be able to assess people with a mental health issue.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Health Care Professionals (HCPs) undertaking PIP assessments must have at least 2 years post full registration experience (this refers to either UK registration or equivalent overseas registration for non-UK HCPs) or less than 2 years post full registration experience by individual, prior, written agreement with the Department. Requests by providers to employ HCPs with less than 2 years post full registration experience is rare and exceptional.
All HCPs receive training on how to identify the impact of mental health conditions on claimants. This is followed by on-going professional training and support which continues for the duration of their employment in the role.
In addition, Mental Health Champions support HCPs by providing additional expertise about mental health, cognitive, developmental and learning disabilities and can be referred to at any time during the assessment process.
HCPs make every attempt to obtain the best evidence available to assist them in undertaking the assessment. This includes accessing evidence from Community Mental Health Teams, psychologists, psychiatrists and other medical professionals.
Health Assessment Providers frequently engage with medical experts, charities and relevant stakeholders to strengthen review and update training programmes for all their assessment staff.