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 he is taking to ensure that all Jobcentre Plus premises are fully accessible for people on the autism spectrum, in terms of both environment and staff awareness of autism; and what plans he has to evaluate the progress being made in achieving such accessibility.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
We are committed to supporting all customers so that they are fully able to access our services, and will do this by assessing their individual needs and providing tailored support.
We are continuing to progress the commitments detailed in the Think Autism Strategy and have undertaken a significant amount of work to improve our services for people with Autism/ Hidden Impairments. We are working with Autism Alliance UK to develop greater capacity when supporting people with autism; creating a more appropriate environment and supporting the identification of reasonable adjustment solutions.
The Hidden Impairment Toolkit, which I have sponsored, is available to all DWP staff. This resource helps staff to better understand how to support people with autism and associated hidden impairment conditions. I have attached a copy of this for ease of reference.
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 he will take greater steps to help UK nationals access pensions which have been earned abroad.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The UK already participates in a comprehensive EU-level system of regulations which allows people to claim their state pension from every EEA country they have lived or worked in.
There are further international agreements with countries outside the EEA and taken together with the UK's own bilateral social security agreements, the large majority of people are covered for claims to state pension earned abroad.
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 he will take greater steps to help UK nationals access pensions which have been earned abroad.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The UK already participates in a comprehensive EU-level system of regulations which allows people to claim their state pension from every EEA country they have lived or worked in.
There are further international agreements with countries outside the EEA and taken together with the UK's own bilateral social security agreements, the large majority of people are covered for claims to state pension earned abroad.
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 he will take steps to help UK nationals access pensions which have been earned abroad.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The UK participates in EU regulations which allow a person to submit a single claim to pension in the EEA country where they last worked or the country of residence if it is different. That country will then coordinate with all the EEA countries where the claimant has a right to a pension so that each country can determine entitlement under its national legislation.
Respecting the right of other countries to determine their own pension rules, the UK has also entered into a number of bilateral social security agreements with countries outside the EEA which allow people to protect the pension entitlements they may have earned in each country.
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 he will provide assistance to women who have depended on their husband's national insurance pensions contributions and will consequently suffer financial loss as a result of the increase in their retirement age; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
There is transitional protection in place for women whose ability to build their own State Pension could have been affected because they elected to pay married women’s and widow’s reduced-rate National Insurance contributions on the understanding that they would be able to claim on their husband’s contributions.
We will shortly be making the regulations that will enable individuals married to, or in a civil partnership with, a member of the Armed Forces to qualify for National Insurance credits for past periods during which they were accompanying their serving spouse or civil partner on assignments overseas.
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 he will make it his policy to reverse the decision to remove derived entitlements to the basic state pension; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The ability to derive a basic state pension or increase of basic state pension based on the National Insurance contributions of a spouse or civil partner is a feature of the current state pension scheme. It will continue to be available to people who reach state pension age before the introduction of the new state pension on 6 April 2016 and who will, therefore, remain in the current scheme.
This provision, which dates from the 1940s, is rapidly becoming redundant as the majority of individuals who have spent most of their working lives in the UK have the opportunity to build up a state pension in their own right, either through working or credits that recognise a wide range of circumstances, including caring responsibilities. The new state pension is designed to reflect the working lives of people reaching state pension age now and in the future. It will accordingly be based on an individual’s own National Insurance contributions.
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 he has made of the prevalence of the use of dividends as income in order to reduce liabilities under Child Support Agency calculations; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The Department does not make assessments of prevalence of the use of dividends as income to reduce child maintenance liabilities as it is not possible to ascertain that the reason for the use of dividends has been solely to reduce a maintenance liability.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason a person's National Insurance number is printed on a bank statement as a prefix to a monthly pension entry; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The provision of the national insurance number to a bank or building society is an essential part of paying benefits and pensions direct. All benefits and pensions administered by the Department for Work and Pensions use the customer's national insurance number as a payment reference. The national insurance number provides a unique audit trail of individual transactions so that, for example, returned or other queried payments can be quickly traced and customer enquiries dealt with effectively. Customers are made aware on claim forms that their National Insurance number (NINO) may be shown on bank/building society account statements.
We actually provide the banks with a payment reference up to 18 characters (which incorporates the national insurance number). The Department is aware that banks use the information in the exact format provided to them by DWP, but ultimately how much of it appears on the customer’s statement is the responsibility of the bank. DWP does not request or instruct banks to show the national insurance numbers on their customer’s bank statements.
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 help he plans to provide to women who will be adversely effected by the ending of access to derived basic state pensions; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Webb
We have put transitional arrangements in place for those women whose ability to build their own State Pension could have been affected because they opted to pay the “married woman’s stamp” on the understanding that they would be able to claim on their husband’s contributions. They will be able to get a pension of about the same as the basic pension they could have got in the current scheme plus any additional State Pension they built up themselves by April 2016, if that is more than they would get under the new rules on their own contributions.
We have acted on concerns raised about the potential impact of these changes on the spouses and civil partners of military personnel and accordingly will provide new credits to cover periods of accompanied service abroad prior to April 2010.
We are also seeking to support those reaching State Pension age after the reforms are introduced to understand how they will be affected, as well as actions people may be able to take to increase their State Pension, through a multi-channel communications campaign.
We estimate that only around 2% of individuals reaching State Pension age in Great Britain between 2016 and 2030 will be adversely affected at some point in their retirement by the removal of derived entitlement to the basic State Pension, of whom around three-quarters (130,000) are women. This estimate does not take account of those who may gain additional qualifying years by making voluntary National Insurance contributions under the easements to the rules we have introduced for people reaching State Pension age from April 2016.
Asked by: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2014 to Question 211684, whether the planned exemption from the three month residency test for people claiming jobseeker's allowance will apply to the family members of people posted abroad while serving in the armed forces.
Answered by Esther McVey
Currently, family members of HM forces, Crown servants and other types of posted worker are required to satisfy the three month residence requirement before they can claim Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) unless they personally fall within the scope of the exemption, for example, by having paid Class 1 or Class 2 National Insurance Contributions. Partners of members of the armed forces are however credited with UK National Insurance contributions and can also benefit from an easement to the first contribution condition for contributory JSA or Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). This can help secure an entitlement to these benefits should either be required upon any return to the UK.