Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria her Department uses to calculate the value of an advance under universal credit provided to claimants awaiting their first universal credit instalment.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The maximum value of an advance payment of Universal Credit is the claimant’s standard allowance plus any additional amounts to provide for extra needs such as housing, children or disability, up to 100% of the claimant’s indicative award and can be repaid over 12 months.
There is not a prescriptive list of exceptional circumstances to allow the deferral of the advance repayment. Consideration is given to whether the household would face genuine hardship.
During the recovery of the advance, exceptional circumstances may occur that were not foreseen when the advance was taken out. For example hospital visits resulting in unexpected and regular bus/taxi fares. If these circumstances push the claimant into genuine hardship resulting in difficulty repaying the advance over the agreed recovery time, a maximum 3 month deferral can be considered. Full recovery must currently be made within 12 months. However, from October 2021, the recovery period for advances will increase from 12 to 16 months.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of (a) legacy benefits, (b) personal independence payment and (c) universal credit in the Garston and Halewood constituency have been given an advance benefit payment to cover a delay in the receipt of their benefit instalments in the last 12 months.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Advances are available in legacy benefits and Universal Credit to help claimants ahead of their first benefit payment. The number of advances made for claimants in the Garston and Halewood constituency is not readily available and can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Our latest internal management information data as of July 2018 shows that, nationally, over 60% of new claims currently receive either a ‘New Claim’ or ‘Benefit Transfer’ advance which shows claimants are getting the support they need.
There is no provision for advance payments when applying for Personal Independence Payment, as entitlement has to be established first.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with housing associations in South Liverpool on the potential effect of the introduction of universal credit on tenants' ability to make rental payments.
Answered by Lord Sharma
We work extensively with stakeholders, including housing associations in South Liverpool, to support Universal Credit claimants to pay their rent. Several Liverpool based housing associations are enrolled as Trusted Partners on the Landlord Portal, including Riverside Housing which took part in the Trusted Partner Pilot, and which was one of the first housing associations to enrol on the Landlord Portal. Jobcentres in Liverpool have been working closely with a wide range of partners including Registered Social Landlords throughout the preparation and delivery stages of Universal Credit, to help tenants and identify areas where further support may be required.
The best way to ensure people pay their rent is to help them into work. Under Universal Credit, people are moving into work faster and staying in work longer than under the previous system. The changes announced as part of the £1.5bn package of improvements in the Autumn 2017 Budget support claimants during the first assessment period to prevent them from falling into arrears while their claim is assessed.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will take steps to collect official statistics on food bank usage in the UK following the national roll-out of universal credit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
We review research carried out by organisations including the Trussell Trust to add to our understanding of food bank use, and are considering requirements to add to our evidence base.
We have no current plans to develop official national statistics on food bank use. However, the Office for National Statistics is leading a project to improve statistics on household food insecurity by reviewing all existing official and non-official sources of data and looking at options to fill data gaps in partnership with government departments, including the Department for Work and Pensions.
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Liverpool Garston)
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 national roll-out of universal credit on the incidence of food bank usage in the UK.
Answered by Lord Sharma
People use food banks for many reasons, and it would be misleading to link them to any single cause. We are constantly reviewing research carried out by organisations including the Trussell Trust, to add to our understanding of food bank use, and will consider requirements to add to our evidence base. Work offers people the best opportunity to get out of poverty and Universal Credit gets people to work faster and staying in work longer than the outdated legacy benefits system.
As a safeguard for people needing more support, we have a well-established system of hardship payments, benefit advances and budgeting loans. We have introduced a further package of measures this year for Universal Credit claimants which were announced at Autumn Budget 2017. This comprehensive package worth £1.5 billion to help people in their first assessment period included, the abolition of waiting days, the introduction of advances up to 100% of a claimant’s indicative award (repayable over a period of up to 12 months), and a two week transitional payment for those previously claiming Housing Benefit.