Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in receipt of a UK pension live in countries without a reciprocal social security agreement with the UK by (a) the country they live in and (b) their gender.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
This information is published on Stat-Xplore https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk and currently extends to November 2020.
The number of people in receipt of a UK State Pension living in countries without a reciprocal social security agreement with the UK is 298,294.
The breakdown by country and gender are shown in the tables below:
Country of State Pension receipt | Male | Female |
Antigua | 141 | 166 |
Albania | 8 | 7 |
Algeria | 13 | 5 |
Andorra | 91 | 74 |
Anguilla | 33 | 48 |
Antilles (Netherlands) | 20 | 19 |
Argentina | 128 | 132 |
Aruba | .. | 6 |
Ascension Island | 7 | .. |
Australia | 100,047 | 122,289 |
Bahamas | 116 | 139 |
Bahrain | 79 | 48 |
Bangladesh | 175 | 795 |
Belize | 57 | 38 |
Bolivia | 17 | 12 |
Botswana | 89 | 55 |
Brazil | 485 | 284 |
Brunei | 16 | 8 |
Burkina Faso | .. | .. |
Burma (Myanmar) | .. | .. |
Cameroon | 6 | 5 |
Cape Verde Islands | .. | 6 |
Cayman Islands | 111 | 78 |
Chile | 168 | 141 |
China People's Republic | 249 | 74 |
Colombia | 128 | 127 |
Cook Islands | 9 | .. |
Costa Rica | 65 | 38 |
Dom Commonwealth (Dominica) | 217 | 244 |
Dominican Republic | 26 | 17 |
Country of State Pension receipt | Male | Female |
Ecuador | 54 | 33 |
Egypt | 189 | 116 |
El Salvador | 8 | 5 |
Equatorial Guinea | .. | .. |
Ethiopia | 22 | 7 |
Falkland Islands & Dep | 47 | 26 |
Faroe Islands | 5 | 7 |
Fiji | 63 | 28 |
French Polynesia | .. | .. |
Gambia | 44 | 23 |
Ghana | 451 | 388 |
Greenland | .. | .. |
Grenada | 402 | 500 |
Guatemala | 7 | 5 |
Guyana | 110 | 101 |
Honduras | 6 | 8 |
Hong Kong | 1,510 | 904 |
India | 2,145 | 2,113 |
Indonesia | 314 | 42 |
Iran | 21 | 11 |
Iraq | 5 | .. |
Japan | 4,644 | 2,158 |
Jordan | 72 | 46 |
Kampuchea | 40 | .. |
Kenya | 345 | 305 |
Kuwait | 10 | 5 |
Laos | 19 | .. |
Lebanon | 73 | 49 |
Lesotho | 6 | 7 |
Macau | 7 | .. |
Country of State Pension receipt | Male | Female |
Malagasy Republic | 6 | 5 |
Malawi | 39 | 31 |
Malaysia | 1,072 | 1,159 |
Mexico | 241 | 228 |
Monaco | 246 | 143 |
Montserrat | 29 | 40 |
Morocco | 112 | 70 |
Mozambique | 9 | .. |
Namibia | 49 | 42 |
Nepal | 29 | 13 |
Nevis, St Kitts-Nevis | 131 | 148 |
New Caledonia | 8 | 10 |
Nicaragua | 15 | 6 |
Nigeria | 1,090 | 804 |
Norfolk Island | .. | .. |
Oman | 71 | 29 |
Pakistan | 1,103 | 1,579 |
Panama | 23 | 14 |
Papua New Guinea | 8 | 5 |
Paraguay | 14 | 8 |
Peru | 66 | 64 |
Qatar | 41 | 15 |
Republic of Azerbaijan | 11 | .. |
Republic of Belarus | 13 | 12 |
Republic of Georgia | 19 | .. |
Republic of Kazakhstan | 12 | .. |
Republic of Kyrgyzstan | 5 | .. |
Republic of Moldova | 5 | .. |
Republic of Yemen | 172 | 501 |
Russian Federation | 95 | 41 |
San Marino | .. | .. |
Saudi Arabia | 75 | 20 |
Senegal | .. | 8 |
Seychelles | 73 | 78 |
Sierra Leone | 18 | 27 |
Singapore | 514 | 359 |
Country of State Pension receipt | Male | Female |
Solomon Islands | .. | .. |
Somalia | 9 | 13 |
South Africa | 12,932 | 17,411 |
South Korea | 288 | 91 |
Sri Lanka | 557 | 572 |
St Helena & Deps | 56 | 48 |
St Lucia | 376 | 454 |
St Vincents & Grenadines | 221 | 229 |
Sudan | 5 | .. |
Surinam | 5 | .. |
Swaziland | 42 | 37 |
Syria | 5 | .. |
Tahiti | 7 | .. |
Taiwan | 88 | 20 |
Tanzania | 54 | 23 |
Thailand | 4,777 | 586 |
Togo | .. | .. |
Tonga | 8 | 6 |
Trinidad & Tobago | 456 | 843 |
Tunisia | 62 | 53 |
Turks & Caicos Islands | 17 | 6 |
Uganda | 47 | 26 |
Ukraine | 59 | 33 |
United Arab Emirates | 431 | 180 |
United States Minor Outlying Islands | .. | 5 |
Uruguay | 35 | 27 |
Vanuatu | 24 | 13 |
Venezuela | 24 | 16 |
Vietnam | 105 | 14 |
Virgin Islands (British) | 28 | 19 |
Western Samoa | .. | .. |
Zambia | 79 | 86 |
Zimbabwe | 311 | 546 |
Please note:
1. The ".." denotes a nil or negligible number of claimants or award amount based on a nil or negligible number of claimants.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of unpaid carers in receipt of Universal Credit and the carer element also have earnings from paid employment.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested for Universal Credit is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of unpaid carers in receipt of (a) carer’s allowance and (b) the carer element of Universal Credit are of working age.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
As of August 2022, around 945,000 working age unpaid carers were receiving Carer’s Allowance. Around 99% of those receiving Carer’s Allowance are of working age.
The information requested for Universal Credit is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a dedicated work allowance for unpaid carers who are in receipt of Universal Credit and the carer element.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There are no plans to make an assessment. The carers element is an additional amount of benefit, payable in Universal Credit, to support carers who provide care of 35 hours or more each week for a severely disabled person, and as such have no work related requirements. This payment is made in recognition of the support provided by carers for relatives, partners and friends who may be ill, frail, or disabled.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the carer's allowance for supporting unpaid carers with their living costs.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
This Government recognises and values the vital contribution made by carers in supporting some of the most vulnerable in society.
The primary purpose of Carer’s Allowance is to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who give up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to provide regular and substantial care for a severely disabled person. It is not a “carer’s wage” or designed to fully replace the income from work that an unpaid carer may have foregone. The current rate of Carer’s Allowance is £69.70 per week. From April, the rate will increase to £76.75 per week. This means that, since 2010, it will have increased from £53.90 to £76.75 a week, providing around an additional £1200 a year for carers through Carer’s Allowance.
In addition to Carer’s Allowance, carers on low incomes can claim income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit. These benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the carer element and the additional amount for carers respectively. From April, the Universal Credit carer element will be £185.86 per monthly assessment period, and the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit will be £42.75 a week.
Around 489,000 (November 2022 data) carer households on Universal Credit can currently receive around an additional £2,000 a year through the carer element and this will increase to an additional £2,200 a year from April. The Government has chosen to focus extra support on those carers who need it most.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
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 impact of (a) HM Revenue and Customs mileage rates, (b) uniform costs, (c) car parking charges and (d) other unavoidable costs of working on universal credit claimants who are in low-paid frontline public service roles.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No such assessment has been made as the Department does not routinely collect data on the sectors in which Universal Credit claimants work, because this does not affect entitlement to UC However, we are currently exploring what additional information we could collect to help work coaches support claimants in their search for work.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications made to the Access to Work Scheme had not been processed within the service delivery period in each month from January 2022 to date; and how many of those applications related to (a) claims for payment of existing awards, (b) new awards, (c) renewals, (d) changes of circumstance and (e) any other type of claim.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested about Access to Work applications that have been received but not processed within the service delivery period in each month from January 2022 to date; and how many of those applications related to (a) claims for payment of existing awards, (b) new awards, (c) renewals, (d) changes of circumstance and (e) any other type of claim, is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact on the Government's Global Britain agenda of the policy of not uprating pensions paid to UK pensioners living in commonwealth countries where there is no requirement to do so.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The policy on the up-rating of UK State Pensions overseas is longstanding and has been supported by successive Governments for over 70 years.
There are no plans to change the policy. The UK State Pension is payable worldwide, and we continue to up-rate it abroad where there is a legal requirement to do so; for example, where recipients are living in countries where there is a reciprocal agreement in place that provides for up-rating.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners living outside of the UK had their pensions stopped in the last six months owing to postal issues and life certificate forms broken down by current country of residence.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
DWP does not maintain data regarding the temporary suspension of International State Pensions owing to postal issues, as this is not something the Department is able to determine.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made a recent assessment of the impact of the cost of living and inflation on British pensioners living overseas in countries without a reciprocal uprating agreement with the UK.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
DWP does not make such assessments. The UK State Pension is payable worldwide to those who meet the qualifying conditions. Entitlement is based on an individual’s national insurance record. The policy on up-rating UK State Pensions overseas is long-standing and has been supported by successive post-war Governments for over 70 years. We continue to up-rate UK State Pensions abroad where there is a legal requirement to do so – for example where there is a reciprocal agreement that provides for up-rating. There are no plans to change this policy.