Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people who have been affected by the underpayment of benefits after transitioning from incapacity benefit to unemployment and support allowance in North Tyneside constituency.
Answered by Chloe Smith
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19th January to question number 104377.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many disabled people who first claimed personal independence payment in 2020 are waiting for their claim to be processed.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Data to 30th July 2021 will be published on 14th September 2021, as part of the next scheduled release of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Official Statistics.
At 30th April 2021 (the latest available data) 59,000 initial claims for Personal Independence Payment registered in 2020 were awaiting clearance. This includes both new claims to PIP and reassessments from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to PIP and is 10% of the 614,000 initial claims for PIP registered in 2020.
We are committed to ensuring that people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner. We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence. We are currently operating within expected levels.
Notes
Data Source: PIP Atomic Data Store (ADS)
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to ensure that contracted assessment providers provide high quality customer service while they process delayed personal independence payment claims.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are absolutely committed to improving the overall Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimant experience, as this is what claimants rightly expect and deserve. Assessment providers use feedback from support organisations and individuals to improve their customer service, and have used this feedback to make improvements to appointment letters and directions.
PIP assessment providers have consistently exceeded the Claimant Satisfaction target of 90% since the measurement began in 2016. This is measured by a survey, commissioned from a third party research company by the providers on behalf of the department.
Reducing end to end customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for DWP. We continue to work closely with both assessment providers, amending and refining current
processes and work closely with them to improve the waiting times whilst maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to reduce delays in the processing of Personal Independence Payment claims.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are committed to ensuring that people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment in a timely manner. We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence.
We are currently operating within expected levels. Average clearance times from initial claim to a decision being made for new claims at the end of April 2021 is 19 weeks, which is the same as average clearance times achieved in March 2020, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the amount of support a disabled person who first claimed personal independence payment in 2020 has foregone as a result of delays in processing those claims.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are committed to ensuring that people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner. We always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to collect and review all available evidence. Once a decision has been made on a new claim to PIP, payment can be backdated to the date of claim in most instances.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the deployment of IT equipment to allow more of her Department’s staff to work from home during the covid-19 outbreak (a) how many pieces of IT equipment are currently on order and (b) when staff are planned to receive them.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DWP does not currently have a need to procure additional IT equipment to enable more people to work from home. Over 74,000 colleagues are already able to work remotely and DWP are planning to roll out the remaining PCs to up to 28,000 members of staff by the end of March depending on demand. We are repurposing existing DWP devices to enable them for home working in order to fulfil demand.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in her Department are working in an office setting, and what the roles are of those staff.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since March 2020 we have increased the number of colleagues with the IT to enable them to work more flexibly by over 50,000, meaning almost 74,000 people in total have equipment to enable them to work from home. This is approximately 81% of our workforce. Every day more colleagues are able to work from home as we continue to roll out more IT equipment to ensure that everyone in DWP is enabled to work from home where appropriate by the end of March 2021.
We are limiting how many colleagues remain working in an office setting in order to balance the need to provide essential public facing services for citizens, whilst maintaining safe social distancing in line with Government guidelines. Examples of such roles are some of our Jobcentre services (which provide vital face to face support for our most vulnerable citizens), and clerical processes such as Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit applications.
Currently, around 31,000 DWP employees are consistently working from an office, with approximately a further 5,000 working from a combination of home and a DWP office location. Combined, this accounts for around 42% of the DWP employees who currently attend an office during the working week.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether delays have occurred in the roll-out of IT equipment across her Department since the first covid-19 lockdown was announced in March 2020.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Since March 2020 the Department has increased the number of colleagues with IT which enables them to work more flexibly, including from home, by over 50,000. This means almost 74,000 people in total now have kit to enable them to work this way, which is approximately 81 per cent of our workforce.
The Department continues the roll-out of IT kit as quickly as it can, delivering over 2,500 pieces of IT equipment a week to ensure that everyone in DWP is enabled to work flexibly by the end of March.
The roll out has been delivered according to a carefully planned set of priorities in order to keep our colleagues safe whilst keeping our services running and has been delivered to plan.
Some job roles can only be done in the office or individuals’ personal circumstances mean they do not wish to work from home - these colleagues will continue to use their existing desk-based IT. Where colleagues are required to work in an office, please be assured that measures are in place which follow all Government guidance on social distancing to ensure the safety of colleagues.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the planned length is of the trial of the digital system for issuing national insurance numbers; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The digital system ‘Apply for a NINo’ is for citizens to make an on-line application for a National Insurance number. The limited trial started in mid-October 2020 and is scheduled to run until January 2021. Once we receive confirmation that the service meets Government Digital Standards, we will then be able to extend the service to all applicants.
When applying for a National Insurance number, all applicants are required to have their identity verified. This verification is completed through attendance at a face to face interview with DWP unless we are able to confirm another Government Department has already done this.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - North Tyneside)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of British citizens who are waiting for a national insurance number to be allocated.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The department does not hold information on the numbers of British Citizens who are waiting for a National Insurance Number (NINo) to be allocated.
The vast majority of British Citizens receive a NINo from HMRC shortly before their 16th birthday if they have been part of a Child Benefit Claim.