Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 23 November 2023 to Question 3412 on the Household Support Fund, when he expects a further decision on the future of the fund to be taken.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The current Household Support Fund runs until the end of March 2024, and the government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.
We have regular conversations with the Treasury about a range of issues relevant to the work of the Department.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the future of the Household Support Fund after March 2024.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The current Household Support Fund runs until the end of March 2024, and the government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.
We have regular conversations with the Treasury about a range of issues relevant to the work of the Department.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether levels of pay for administrative staff in his Department at (a) AA, (b) AO and (c) EO grades are (i) below, (ii) equivalent to or (iii) higher than the Living Wage Foundation's real living wage.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The following is based on the UK’s real living wage rates of £12.00 per hour and £13.15 per hour for London as of 14 November 2023.
Pay levels for DWP administrative staff are as follows:
a) All AA employees in Inner London are below the London rate.
b) Some AO employees on Legacy Terms and Conditions in Inner London are below the London rate. All other AO employees are above these rates.
c) All EO employees are above these rates.
This Government is committed to paying people a decent living wage, which is being addressed through the statutory National Living Wage. The real living wage is not a statutory requirement unlike the National Living Wage, which applies to those aged 23 and over. From 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage increased to £10.42 an hour. All DWP employees are paid above this rate.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department's policy is on a person being entitled to a share of their partner’s disability benefits as part of a divorce settlement.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Disability benefits, that is, Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance, are personal benefits – the law does not provide for joint claims - and would remain with the existing claimant at the point of divorce. There are no plans to change this policy.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of universal credit payments on working claimants who are paid by their employers on a four-weekly basis; and whether his Department has plans to change Universal Credit payments to four-weekly instead of monthly.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Department has no plans to change either Universal Credit assessment periods or payment structures.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December to Question 96602 on Cost of Living Payments and Universal Credit, if he will take steps to collate the cost of living payment and Universal Credit payments so that claimants avoid benefit overlap which would require them to reapply for Universal Credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman
I refer the Hon member to the response I gave to her last PQ 96602, the cost of living payments have no impact on existing benefit awards, and so they do not cause claimants to have to reapply for Universal Credit.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
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 of the cost of living payment on Universal Credit payments made every four weeks.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Cost-of-Living Payments are tax free and have no impact on existing benefit awards or on the benefit cap.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason her Department is making a cost of living payment to people living in a residential care home settings.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
We have kept the rules for the Cost-of-Living payments as simple as possible. This includes paying a flat rate to those in receipt of means-tested benefits regardless of household circumstance and paying the Disability Cost of Living Payment to those being paid the relevant benefit on the qualifying date. This was to ensure that we were able to develop the processes to deliver these payments quickly to those who most need the help with increased inflation. This includes those being paid a benefit where they were in a resident care home.
Asked by: Mary Glindon (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
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 - Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend)
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
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)