Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of new claimants of universal credit in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency in (a) the next six months and (b) each year until 2022.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Forecasts for Universal Credit below national level are not available.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to make an assessment of the effect of the roll-out of universal credit in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
We have made no assessment in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath specifically, however we continue to evaluate progress as we roll out the full Universal Credit service nationally, in a careful and co-ordinated way, reviewing against key measures, to ensure safe and secure delivery.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all eligible claimants who have been on one of the legacy benefits take up universal credit.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Jobcentres engage ahead of and once Universal Credit Full Service has gone live to explain the changes. However, unless there is a relevant change of circumstance that would previously have prompted a new claim to another existing benefit, claimants will remain on their existing benefit until we begin transferring all claimants to Universal Credit in 2019.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the criteria is for claimants of universal credit to receive additional payments while waiting for their initial payment.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
All new Universal Credit claimants are offered personal budgeting support during their initial interview and those who cannot wait until their first payment are able to request up to half of their indicative award as an advance.
As a result we have taken steps to clarify guidance to ensure claimants get access to the right support. We have also provided communications to increase the visibility of Universal Credit Advances so claimants are made aware of their availability and how to apply for them and the maximum they can claim.
The eligibility criteria for a Universal Credit new claim advance is that the claimant must be likely to be entitled to Universal Credit, must be in financial need and be able to re-pay the advance over the agreed repayment period. Those moving to Universal Credit from legacy benefits can get a benefit transfer advance if they are likely to be entitled to Universal Credit and able to re-pay the advance over the agreed repayment period.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to promote awareness of financial assistance available to universal credit claimants awaiting their first full payment.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
All new Universal Credit claimants are offered personal budgeting support during their initial interview and those who cannot wait until their first payment are able to request up to half of their indicative award as an advance.
As a result we have taken steps to clarify guidance to ensure claimants get access to the right support. We have also provided communications to increase the visibility of Universal Credit Advances so claimants are made aware of their availability and how to apply for them and the maximum they can claim.
The eligibility criteria for a Universal Credit new claim advance is that the claimant must be likely to be entitled to Universal Credit, must be in financial need and be able to re-pay the advance over the agreed repayment period. Those moving to Universal Credit from legacy benefits can get a benefit transfer advance if they are likely to be entitled to Universal Credit and able to re-pay the advance over the agreed repayment period.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure prompt payment of (a) universal credit claims and (b) advanced payment claims over the Christmas period.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Department plans to advance the timing of all payments where people would be impacted by bank holidays, to ensure they have money over the festive period, also supporting those customers who request an advance payment during this time. This includes the careful assessment of technical system and banking system availability to ensure successful payments can be made. This year we have enhanced the functionality and added a faster payment contingency function in Universal Credit.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that claimants waiting for full payment of universal credit over Christmas 2017 are adequately financially supported.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Department plans to advance the timing of all payments where people would be impacted by bank holidays, to ensure they have money over the festive period, also supporting those customers who request an advance payment during this time. This includes the careful assessment of technical system and banking system availability to ensure successful payments can be made. This year we have enhanced the functionality and added a faster payment contingency function in Universal Credit.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what categories of claimants will be transferred onto the universal credit service in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency when the full service of universal credit is rolled out in December 2017; and what the dates of those transfers will be.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Both Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Jobcentres are due to move onto the Universal Credit full service in December 2017. We would normally begin transferring existing Universal Credit claimants to the full service after 3 months.
The Department is not currently transferring claimants from legacy benefits to Universal Credit. This process is not due to begin until 2019.
Some claimants on legacy benefits will experience a change of circumstance which means they will need to make a new claim to Universal Credit, and their entitlement will be re-calculated based on their new circumstances. All claimants in a full service area may naturally migrate following such a change.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobseekers who have been claiming universal credit or jobseeker's allowance for more than 13 weeks in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK have who have applied for (i) a jobcentre plus travel discount card and (ii) the Flexible Support Fund, have had their application rejected.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The questions above have been split in order that we can provide specifics where possible:
Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card:
Jobcentre Plus does not collate data on the number of jobseekers who have applied for the Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card –this information could only be obtained through scrutiny of individual jobseeker records– or the number of rejected applications. However usage of the scheme can be monitored via a monthly stock level report. For the period 30 September 2016 to 29 September 2017 a total of 16,185 cards have been replenished in Jobcentre sites nationally. Of those 907 were for Scotland (6%) Over the 12 months period, the currently weekly usage average is calculated at 286 nationally. These figures represent stock ordering, and as such do not automatically equate to the number of cards issued.
Flexible Support Fund: Use of FSF provision is at the discretion of work coaches who can use the provision for removing a range of barriers to employment and/or moving jobseekers closer to employment. As jobseekers do not apply directly for FSF there is no rejection, therefore this information is not readily available.
There would be a disproportionate cost in undertaking this activity.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many jobseekers who have been claiming universal credit or jobseeker's allowance for more than 13 weeks in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK have applied for (i) a jobcentre plus travel discount card and (ii) the Flexible Support Fund.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The questions above have been split in order that we can provide specifics where possible:
Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card:
Jobcentre Plus does not collate data on the number of jobseekers who have applied for the Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card –this information could only be obtained through scrutiny of individual jobseeker records– or the number of rejected applications. However usage of the scheme can be monitored via a monthly stock level report. For the period 30 September 2016 to 29 September 2017 a total of 16,185 cards have been replenished in Jobcentre sites nationally. Of those 907 were for Scotland (6%) Over the 12 months period, the currently weekly usage average is calculated at 286 nationally. These figures represent stock ordering, and as such do not automatically equate to the number of cards issued.
Flexible Support Fund: Use of FSF provision is at the discretion of work coaches who can use the provision for removing a range of barriers to employment and/or moving jobseekers closer to employment. As jobseekers do not apply directly for FSF there is no rejection, therefore this information is not readily available.
There would be a disproportionate cost in undertaking this activity.