Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce (a) delays and (b) waiting times for those in the PIP application process.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner, taking into account the need to review all available evidence. Reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the Department and we are working constantly to make improvements to our service, including using a blend of phone, video and face-to-face assessments, increasing case manager and assessment provider health professional resource and prioritising new claims, whilst safeguarding the continuity of existing awards to ensure they do not go out of payment.
We are seeing an improvement in average clearance times and the latest statistics show that the end-to-end journey has steadily reduced from 26 weeks in August 2021 to 18 weeks at the end of August 2022.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department will publish an update on its progress on the Health Transformation Programme.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Health Transformation Programme (HTP) is modernising Health and Disability benefit services. The Department has no plans to publish an update at present, due to ongoing Commercial activity and the Programme being in the early stages of developing the service.
The Programme will continue to provide key updates to Parliament at the appropriate time.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the the effectiveness of the facility on her Department's website for reporting a missing cost of living payment for facilitating (a) communications between her Department and recipients and (b) fast resolution of claims.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We do not have specific measurements of effectiveness in place in relation to the missing payment form on Gov.uk. However, over 161,000 people have contacted the Department through this channel throughout August and September. We have a team in place that has responded to over 90% of these queries to date.
This does not necessarily mean that payments have been missed. Many enquiries made through the GOV.UK form are resolved by payments being subsequently made as planned.
In some cases, on further investigation of an enquiry, it may be found that the claimant had no entitlement to a £326 Cost of Living Payment.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to establish a telephone helpline for people overdue cost of living payments.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
We are currently managing telephone contact within our existing telephony networks and have no future plans to introduce a telephone helpline for the cost of living payments
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support UK pensioners living overseas in countries without a reciprocal uprating agreement with the UK.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK State Pension is payable worldwide to those who meet the qualifying conditions. Entitlement is based on an individual’s national insurance record. State Pensions are up-rated abroad where there is a legal requirement to do so – for example where there is a reciprocal agreement that provides for up-rating.
There is information available in leaflets and on GOV.UK on how to claim State Pension from overseas and on what the effect of going abroad will be on a person’s UK State Pension.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to remove the qualifying date for the Winter Fuel Payment to ensure that all those in receipt of the State Pension will be eligible to receive this payment by the end of the calendar year.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The policy since the introduction of the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Amendment Regulations 1999 has been the same under all Governments: Labour; the Coalition; and Conservative.
It has always been the aim to make Winter Fuel Payments before Christmas. Therefore, having a September qualifying week allows the Department the time to make the required checks on entitlement, calculate the payment an individual is entitled to, issue the notifications and start to make the payments; a process which begins in November.
The DWP makes over 11 million Winter Fuel Payments every year. The majority - over 99% - are paid automatically without the need to claim before Christmas. A small number of pensioners need to claim the Winter Fuel Payment and have until 31 March 2023 to do so.
There are no plans to change the qualifying criteria for Winter Fuel Payments. For winter 2022/23 a person has to have reached State Pension age on or before the end of the September qualifying week which is set out in legislation and is 19-25 September 2022.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will change Universal Credit policy so that claimants whose assessment period misses the uprating date of the first Monday of the tax year do not have to wait two months before receiving an uplift.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Increases in Universal Credit come into force from the start of the first assessment period beginning on or after the first Monday of the tax year (or from the start of the first assessment period beginning on or after any earlier date in April). As Universal Credit is a calendar monthly assessed benefit that is paid in arrears, a claimant will receive their newly-uprated benefit award at their first full Assessment Period that follows the change. There are no current plans to alter how the uprating of benefits interacts with claimants’ assessment periods.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Health is everyone's business consultation, whether the commitments made in that consultation will be fully funded; when progress towards those commitments will be made public; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The UK Government committed to provide £1.3bn over the SR21 period for employment support for disabled people and people with health conditions in the Levelling-Up White Paper. This includes commitments set out in Health is Everyone’s Business. In addition, the White Paper committed to extend or expand other programmes which will help disabled people and people with health conditions get into or remain in work. These include the Work and Health Programme, Intensive Personalised Employment Support and employment support in NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapy services across England.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2022 to Question 119710 on Children: Maintenance, what steps her Department is taking to revise the step by step procedural instructions and training given to Child Maintenance Service caseworkers, in the context of the number of Deduction from Earnings Orders, instead of Deduction from Earnings Requests, to the Ministry of Defence’s Defence Business Services having increased between 2018-19 and 2020-21.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has introduced Modular learning products to re-enforce the correct process to follow in applying a Deduction from Earnings Request (DER). In April 2021, as part of a broader System automation improvement, there were additional education and supporting products implemented to support correct decision making, including the correct use of DERs.
CMS uses Customer Insight to ensure it learns from customer experience and has used this in developing these products and building colleague conversations around adherence to procedures and the impact of not doing so.
In the context of DERs, collaborative working with Ministry of Defence (MOD) through a dedicated Forces Focal point secures regular feedback to direct specific colleague upskilling and manage customer service. CMS Forces Focal Point work closely with MOD’s Joint Personnel Administration Centre (JPAC) and has responsibility for assuring correct implementation of DERs. This includes confirming if the Paying Parent is in receipt of full pay or if they deployed on Operations. This is designed to support the successful implementation of a DER.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the number of deductions of earnings orders, rather than deductions of earnings requests, being issued by the Child Maintenance Service to the Ministry of Defence's Defence Business Services.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Deduction from Earnings Orders (DEO) are applied as a method of payment where the Child Maintenance Service deducts maintenance directly from the Paying Parent’s wages. The DEO is primarily used to enforce payments but can be set up voluntarily. Deduction from Earnings Requests are similar to a Deduction from Earnings Order but used for Paying Parents who are serving members of the Armed Forces. The Child Maintenance Service can only request a deduction to the Ministry of Defence (MOD), unlike civilian employers they cannot order or enforce payment. MOD policy aims to comply with requests however if the Paying Parent is committed to operational duties MOD may suspend the collection of debt.
Child Maintenance Service takes action to ensure the correct method of payment is applied through identifying whether a Paying Parent is in the Armed Forces through its use of Real Team Information (RTI) Data taken from HMRC. This provides up to date information about Pay As You Earn income as the information submitted by employers online is displayed in RTI immediately. To ensure that the correct method of payment is used for a Paying Parent who is serving in the Armed Forces caseworkers are provided with step by step procedural instructions and training.
As at September 2021 Child Maintenance Service had 45,054 Deduction from Earnings Orders and 479 Deduction from Earnings Requests in operation. (source - Published stats – stat-xplore – CMS Paying Parents = method of payments).