Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to alter the timetable to roll out universal credit in Liverpool; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The national roll-out of Universal Credit is nearing completion with over 85% of job centres already live, with this process set to fully complete by the end of 2018.
Stopping roll-out would result in confusion for claimants already receiving Universal Credit, and for others who would be trapped for longer in a legacy benefit system consisting of 6 different benefits, each with separate rules, interacting in complicated ways, and creating perverse incentives. Universal Credit replaces these benefits simplifying the system and making work pay. As a result, people claiming Universal Credit move into work faster, stay in work longer and spend more time looking to increase their earnings.
Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2018 to Question 158169 on personal independence payment, what estimate she has made of the average time taken between a submission for an appeal and the resolution of that case; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Sarah Newton
Statistics on the average length of time for Personal Independence Payment appeals to be cleared are provided in Table T.3 of the quarterly bulletin “Tribunals and gender recognition certificate statistics quarterly – April to June 2018” published by the Ministry of Justice. These can be found here:
Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the proposed roll-out of universal credit in Liverpool Riverside constituency on the household finances of claimants of benefits in that constituency; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Sharma
When fully rolled out, Universal Credit will support low income families with around £60 billion a year across the whole of Great Britain. In addition, Universal Credit covers up to 85% of childcare costs, up from 70% in the old system.
The Department has made no assessment in Liverpool Riverside specifically. However we continue to evaluate progress as we roll out Universal Credit nationally in a careful and co-ordinated way, reviewing against key measures, to ensure safe and secure delivery.
We know that work is the best route out of poverty, and Universal Credit is designed to strengthen incentives to move into and progress in work. The impact of Universal Credit cannot be considered in isolation– it is a key component of a broader strategy to move Britain to a higher wage, lower welfare, lower tax society.
Asked by: Louise Ellman (Independent - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of (a) the number of outstanding personal independence payments assessments, and (b) the length of time each such assessment has been pending; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Sarah Newton
At the end of April 2018, 39,200 Personal Independence Payment (PIP) new claims and 36,200 Daily Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP reassessment claims which had been referred to the assessment provider were awaiting an assessment.
The average (median) outstanding time for both new claims and reassessments was 3 weeks from the point of referral to the assessment provider.
Notes:
1. Outstanding assessments are defined as claims which have been referred to an assessment provider but which have not yet had a decision.
2. Outstanding time is measured as the average time between the date of referral to the Assessment Providers and the date at the end of the reported calendar month, for all claims awaiting a return from the Assessment Provider, i.e. we check the number of claimants that were outstanding on the last day of each month and measure the period for which they have been outstanding.
3. The median time is the middle value if you were to order all the times within the distribution from lowest value to highest value. The median is presented here instead of the mean because the mean can be unduly affected by outlying cases (e.g. cases where the person has been hard to reach due to being in prison, hospital, or failed to attend the assessment on numerous occasions.
4. The status of claims as 'normal rules' and 'new claim/reassessment' is the most recent known status for each claim.
5. Data exclude Award Reviews
6. Unpublished figures taken from the PIP Atomic Data Store.
7. Figures exclude claims made under Special Rules for the Terminally Ill.
8. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100 and whole number of weeks.
9. Great Britain only.