Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average proportion of a person's net income is paid out in child maintenance by people in (a) employment and (b) self-employment.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We have made no estimate of the average proportion of net income paid out in Child Maintenance. Child Maintenance is calculated using a set percentage of a Paying Parent’s gross income. The percentages used are the same for those employed or self-employed.
The calculation process and rates are set out in:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-we-work-out-child-maintenance
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 causes of the changes in the number of claimants aged between 16 and 64 in Great Grimsby constituency between April 2017 and April 2018.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The number of unemployment related benefit claimants aged 16 and over in the Great Grimsby constituency was 2,885 as of April 2018 – up by 270 since April 2017 but down by 1,475 since April 2010.
The claimant count is currently designated as an experimental statistic by the Office for National Statistics as a result of the roll out of Universal Credit. Universal Credit full service expands the ‘Searching for Work’ conditionality group to cover a wider group of claimants, to encourage these claimants into work or to work more. This policy decision has the effect of bringing additional people into the claimant count compared to the pre-Universal Credit system and the number of people recorded as being on the Claimant Count is therefore likely to rise. DWP have published a consultation on developing a new measure for labour market performance over time. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposals-for-a-new-statistical-series-to-count-unemployed-claimants
Using estimates from the Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate in the Yorkshire and Humber region is at 4.6% for the period January to March 2018 - down 4.9 percentage points since the period February to April 2010. The number of people in employment is 2.59 million, up 211,000 since 2010.
This is consistent with the continuing improvements in the wider economy. The UK’s unemployment rate is currently 4.2% and has not been lower since 1975. The employment rate in the UK stands at a record high of 75.6% and there are a near record 806,000 vacancies throughout the economy.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 causes of the changes in the number of claimants aged between 18 and 24 in Great Grimsby constituency between April 2017 and April 2018.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The number of unemployment related benefit claimants aged 18-24 in the Great Grimsby constituency was 670 as of April 2018 – up by 30 since April 2017 but down by 690 since April 2010.
The claimant count is currently designated as an experimental statistic by the Office for National Statistics as a result of the roll out of Universal Credit. Universal Credit full service expands the ‘Searching for Work’ conditionality group to cover a wider group of claimants, to encourage these claimants into work or to work more. This policy decision has the effect of bringing additional people into the claimant count compared to the pre-Universal Credit system and the number of people recorded as being on the Claimant Count is therefore likely to rise. DWP have published a consultation on developing a new measure for labour market performance over time. this can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposals-for-a-new-statistical-series-to-count-unemployed-claimants
Using estimates from the Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate in the Yorkshire and Humber region is at 4.6% for period January to March 2018 - down 4.9 percentage points since the period February to April 2010. The number of people in employment is 2.59 million, up 211,000 since 2010.
This is consistent with the continuing improvements in the wider economy. The UK’s unemployment rate is currently 4.2% and has not been lower since 1975. The employment rate in the UK stands at a record high of 75.6% and there are a near record 806,000 vacancies throughout the economy.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress she has made on contact with claimants of Support for Mortgage Interest since the publication of conversion of support for mortgage interest from a benefit into a loan: claimant communication and intention to take up a loan on 23 March 2018.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 28 March 2018 to Question 134890 (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-03-28/134890/).
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 on the credit rating of claimants of Support for Mortgage Interest of that benefit being converted into a loan.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 12 March 2018 to Question 131365 (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-03-06/131365/).
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
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 contact claimants of Support for Mortgage Interest that do not have a telephone number.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
We write to those SMI claimants for whom we do not hold a phone number, requesting they contact us to give a friend or relative’s phone number. We follow this up with a reminder letter if we do not receive a response, and advise that Serco offer a call booking service to allow claimants to schedule a call about the SMI loan.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) failed and (b) unsuccessful contacts with claimants of Support for Mortgage Interest there have been.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Serco have made over 436,000 calls to SMI claimants, with approximately 307,000 successful contacts. Of the 129,000 unsuccessful contacts, 9,000 were where the telephone number was unobtainable. In these cases claimants are sent a letter, and a reminder letter where they do not reply, to the address where they are claiming benefit, asking them to contact Serco on the telephone number provided.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of Support for Mortgage Interests are part of the home ownership for people with long-term disabilities scheme.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
All existing SMI claimants including the representatives of HOLD claimants have been contacted about SMI loans. Data on the number of HOLD claimants who have taken up the loan offer is not available.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has revised the assumptions set out on page 8 of the impact assessment on Converting support for mortgage interest from a benefit into a loan that (a) 5 per cent of eligible working age claimants and (b) 8 per cent of eligible pension age claimants will not claim support for mortgage interest when it is converted into a loan.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Assumptions, including the take up rate, used to forecast annual payments in loans for Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans will be reviewed following the introduction of the loan.