Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 average time taken by the Independent Case Examiner to review cases submitted by claimants; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to increase the take-up of pensions credit by people who are entitled to claim it; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Guy Opperman
It is important to highlight that there are over 1.6 million people already claiming some £5.4 billion in Pension Credit but the Government wants to ensure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled.
On a national basis the DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances. The DWP uses a wide range of channels to communicate information about benefits to potential customers; including information on https://gov.uk/, in leaflets and by telephone. DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres including visiting officers are able to provide help and advice about entitlement to benefits, as are staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit.
Potential customers can use the Pension Credit https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator to check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive. People wishing to claim Pension Credit can do so by calling the Freephone number 0800 99 1234.
One of the best ways to reach eligible customers is through trusted stakeholder working in the community and we have developed the Pension Credit toolkit, as an on-line tool for agencies and welfare rights organisations to use in order to encourage Pension Credit take-up. It can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit
The toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. The toolkit also provides links to information about disability and carers benefits.
Most recently we have provided to relevant stakeholders a fact sheet about Pension Credit and the changes introduced on 15 May for mixed age couples to ensure that accurate information is available in the places where people are most likely to seek information.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to make it easier for sufferers of motor neurone disease to access the Special rules for terminal illness; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
We understand that cases where someone has applied for benefit under the Special Rules for Terminal Illness must be treated with speed and sensitivity. In partnership with stakeholders, including the Motor Neurone Disease Association, we recently reviewed and updated guidance for clinicians who complete the DS1500 form, including making clearer that it can be completed for patients who have any terminal condition, not only cancer.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 motor neurone disease sufferers who were able to fast-track access to benefits for the latest period for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
You may be interested to know that the number of people allocated to the Support Group of Employment and Support Allowance, who are terminally ill, can be found in the ‘ESA WCA by completed assessment’ at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml
There are published statistics available on Stat-Xplore on PIP Clearances (whether the claim was awarded, disallowed or withdrawn by the claimant) which can be broken down by disability for claimants who attended an assessment (this can be found using the Clearance Detail and selecting the options, “Awarded” and “Disallowed post referral to the Assessment due to Failing the Assessment”) and by whether the claim was cleared under Normal Rules and Special Rules. Stat-Xplore can be found at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/:
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
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 time applicants wait for their first payment of universal credit; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Our latest published data shows that around 85% of new claimants are being paid in full and on time. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/universal-credit-29-april-2013-to-14-february-2019
In many cases where full payment is not made on time, it may be due to unresolved issues such as: claimants not accepting their Claimant Commitment or passing identity checks; or having outstanding verification issues, such as housing costs and self-employed earnings. In order to support claimants to claim, we have taken steps to improve verification processes. For example, we have listened to feedback and built processes into the system to make it easier and quicker for people to verify their housing costs, for example through the landlord portal.
From 1 April 2019 Citizens Advice (England and Wales) and Citizens Advice Scotland are delivering the new ‘Help to Claim’ support to claimants making a new Universal Credit (UC) claim or moving from a legacy benefit to UC because of a change of circumstances. The Citizens Advice Help to Claim offers tailored, practical support to help people make a UC claim up to receiving their first full correct payment on time. It will be available online, through web-chat, through a Freephone number and face to face through local Citizens Advice services.
New claimants can also apply for a UC advance and can receive payment within a day if needed. The Department has previously increased the maximum amount available for advances from 50 per cent to 100 per cent of the claimant’s total indicative award, and have increased the repayment period from 6 months to 12 months.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will write to women affected by changes to the state pension age to alert them to the effects of those changes.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Since the 1995 Pensions Act, successive Governments have gone to significant lengths to communicate State Pension age changes, including campaigns and writing directly to those affected. This also included issuing around 16 million automatic pension forecasts between 2003-2006, accompanied by a leaflet on State Pension age, which included information on how it was increasing for women;
We wrote to those people affected by State Pension age equalisation and the increase in State Pension age from 65 to 66 as follows:
- Between April 2009 and March 2011 we sent letters to 1.2 million women affected by the changes introduced in the Pensions Act 1995, (those born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1953) informing them of the change to their State Pension age.
- We wrote to those men and women affected by the Pensions Act 2011 (those born between 6 April 1953 and 5 April 1960) informing them of the change to their State Pension age between January 2012 and November 2013. This involved mailing more than 5 million letters with accompanying leaflet to those affected.
In addition, we have just completed writing to people who are affected by the rise in State Pension age from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028. This involved sending letters to around 1 million people between December 2016 and May 2018.
We will continue to build on our communication strategies, making the most of digital technologies, to ensure we have a clear plan for communicating future changes to State Pension age and to assist with wider financial and later life employment planning.