Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of lowering the state pension age for construction workers.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government believes that the principle of having a State Pension age that is the same for everybody is fundamental in the UK. It has the merit of simplicity and clarity including giving a clear signal to those planning for retirement.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps he has taken to (a) review and (b) improve the accuracy of the decision making process at the Child Maintenance Service.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP manages quality through the DWP Quality Assurance Framework, conducting three separate tiers of quality assurance, allowing us to measure how well we are doing and identify any required improvements. Tier One checking is internal within the Child Maintenance Service and focuses checks on the more complex and high-risk decisions. The results provides both individual learning redressed through coaching support, and organisational learning to help us improve decision-making through for example improved instructions and learning products.
There are 2 Tiers of independent assurance, reporting ultimately to NAO (National Audit Office). Learning from both these layers of quality assurance is routinely fed back into our organisation to help us determine product and process improvement.
In January 2022 we introduced a new Learning and Innovation approach, making continual learning for colleagues more accessible for point of need in our decision-making process. This brings together self-paced learning products, guidance, tools, and videos to assist colleagues with their continuous learning journey. This was followed in May 2022 with a new Learning and Innovation Panel, with a remit to identify and address learning needs, review and ratify learning products – resulting in several improvements delivered year to date as a result of their scrutiny.
This work and focus continues to deliver a high level of accuracy in the decision-making process conducted by the Child Maintenance Service, with the monetary value of error confirmed by NAO as less than 1% in the last operational year.
The Department’s estimate of assessment accuracy for 2021/22 is 99.4%, which is unchanged from 2020/21 (99.4%). The Department expects automation to continue to have a positive impact on accuracy as the proportion of calculations carried out by the system rises relative to the manual activity of caseworkers. Whilst the risk of manual caseworker error cannot be removed, significant efforts are being made to reduce the likelihood of error.
Better Management Information (MI) has also contributed to improving accuracy through increased transparency of the CMS 2012 system. CMG operations has implemented targeted checking regimes, developed using this improved MI. This has allowed early identification of emerging trends, allowing greater focus on getting things right first time for the client. New and improved training materials have been developed and work is also being done to embed a culture of continuous improvement
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of decisions by the Child Maintenance Service have been appealed against in each of the last five years; and how many appeals have been successfully upheld at Tribunal.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes quarterly Child Maintenance Service (CMS) statistics, with the latest statistics available to September 2022, here: Child Maintenance Service statistics
The quarterly number of appeals and outcomes from April 2015 to September 2022 can be found in Table 11 of the National Tables
The department does not track the number of appeals as a proportion of decisions that potentially carry rights of appeal. Initial calculations made on applications carry rights of dispute and appeal as do annual reviews carried out annually on every case as do some change in circumstances. Either parent may raise a dispute or appeal on a decision and one decision can therefore be subject to two requests to appeal. Volumes of applications, cases and changes can be found in Table 1, Table 4 & Table 9. As we do not record how many changes in circumstances result in a new liability, we cannot give an accurate proportion of decisions made that leads to an appeal.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of levels of (a) public spending and (b) welfare payments on the (i) quality of life, (ii) mental wellbeing and (iii) physical wellbeing of disabled people.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is providing extensive support to disabled people and those with a health condition to help them live independent lives. In 2022/23 we will spend over £64bn on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions in Great Britain: spending on main disability benefits – PIP, DLA and Attendance Allowance – will be over £6bn higher in real terms than it was in 2010.
In response to cost of living pressures, the Government has already paid out the £650 Cost of Living Payment to over 7 million low-income households and the £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment to 6 million people receiving eligible disability benefits. Pensioner households will also receive an additional £300 on their Winter Fuel Payment this winter. This is alongside the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme in addition to the Energy Price Guarantee from now until April next year.
We have announced further cost of living support worth £26 billion in 2023-24, designed to target the most vulnerable households. In addition, benefits uprating is worth £11 billion to working age households and people with disabilities. This further cost of living support in 2023-24 includes:
There is no recent assessment of the impact of public spending and welfare benefits on quality of life or mental and physical wellbeing of disabled people.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has she made of the potential impact of not providing cost of living payments to Universal Credit claimants who have been sanctioned on levels of (a) poverty and (b) fuel poverty.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Claimants who are sanctioned but still have an entitlement to a payment of Universal Credit (UC) during the qualifying assessment period are eligible to receive a Cost-of-Living Payment. Sanctions are calculated with reference to the standard UC allowance only. If a sanction is applied, claimants continue to receive other elements such as housing or childcare costs.
If a sanction reduces a claimant’s Universal Credit to £0, a ‘nil award’, for the qualifying assessment period they are not entitled to receive a Cost-of-Living Payment. Those with a Universal Credit ‘nil award’ during the qualifying period who weren’t eligible could be entitled retrospectively if a sanction is successfully appealed and could still be entitled to the second Cost of Living payment.
98.9% of sanctions are for failing to attend a mandatory appointment at a Jobcentre and can often be resolved quickly by claimants getting in touch with the Jobcentre and attending their next appointment. Hardship payments are available as a safeguard to claimants who demonstrate that they cannot meet their immediate and most essential needs (including accommodation, heating, food and hygiene) as a result of their sanction.
To support people who need additional help, from October 2022 the Government is providing an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, bringing the total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. Should people find that they need further support, they may wish to approach their Local Authority to ask about support under the Household Support Fund. For further information please see Cost of Living Payment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
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 provide cost of living payments to claimants of Universal Credit that have been sanctioned.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Claimants who are sanctioned but still have an entitlement to a payment of Universal Credit (UC) during the qualifying assessment period are eligible to receive a Cost-of-Living Payment. Sanctions are calculated with reference to the standard UC allowance only. We recognise some of the most vulnerable are those entitled to other elements in UC, such as housing or child costs. If a sanction is applied, claimants continue to receive these other elements.
If a sanction reduces a claimant’s Universal Credit to £0, a ‘nil award’, for the qualifying assessment period they are not entitled to receive a Cost-of-Living Payment. Those with a Universal Credit ‘nil award’ during the qualifying period who weren’t eligible could be entitled retrospectively if a sanction is successfully appealed and could still be entitled to the second Cost of Living payment.
98.9% of sanctions are for failing to attend a mandatory appointment at a Jobcentre and can often be resolved quickly by claimants getting in touch with the Jobcentre and attending their next appointment.
Hardship payments are available as a safeguard to claimants who demonstrate that they cannot meet their immediate and most essential needs (including accommodation, heating, food and hygiene) as a result of their sanction.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has she made of the potential impact of not providing cost of living payments to Universal Credit claimants who have been sanctioned on trends in the level of excess deaths.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
No assessment has been made by the Department for Work and Pensions of the potential impact of not providing Cost of Living Payments to Universal Credit claimants who have been sanctioned on trends in the level of excess deaths.
Claimants who are sanctioned but still have an entitlement to a payment of Universal Credit (UC) during the qualifying assessment period are eligible to receive a Cost of Living Payment. Sanctions are calculated with reference to the standard UC allowance only. We recognise some of the most vulnerable are those entitled to other elements in UC, such as housing or child costs. If a sanction is applied, claimants continue to receive these other elements.
If a sanction reduces a claimant’s Universal Credit to £0, a ‘nil award’, for the qualifying assessment period they are not entitled to receive a Cost of Living Payment. Those with a Universal Credit ‘nil award’ during the qualifying period who weren’t eligible could be entitled retrospectively if a sanction is successfully appealed and could still be entitled to the second Cost of Living payment.
98.9% of sanctions are for failing to attend a mandatory appointment at a Jobcentre, and can often be resolved quickly by claimants getting in touch with the Jobcentre and attending their next appointment. Hardship payments are available as a safeguard to claimants who demonstrate that they cannot meet their immediate and most essential needs (including accommodation, heating, food and hygiene) as a result of their sanction.
To support people who need additional help, from October 2022 the Government is providing an additional £500 million to help households with the cost of essentials, bringing the total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. The devolved administrations will subsequently receive £79 million through the Barnett Formula to spend at their discretion. The Scottish Government will receive £41m of this funding.
For further information please see Cost of Living Payment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Please note that the Department for Work and Pensions do not hold data on excess deaths as this is the responsibility of the Office of National Statistics.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment has she made of the potential merits of (a) lowering the state pension age and (b) increasing state pension payments in line with rises in the cost of living.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Work is underway on the second Government Review of State Pension age which, under the Pensions Act 2014, must be published by May 2023. This Review will consider a wide range of evidence, including findings from two independent reports, to assess whether the rules about State Pension age remain appropriate.
The Government has committed to implementing the Triple Lock in the usual way for 2023/24 and the remainder of the Parliament.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of qualifying persons have received a Cost of Living Payment to date; and when is rollout expected to be complete.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Department for Work and Pensions has published management information on the total number of means-tested benefit Cost of Living Payments made. As of 8 September 2022, 8,400,000 means-tested benefits Cost of Living payments, first payment, had been made. The information which will be updated as new payments are made can be found here:
Cost of Living Payment management information - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
It is not possible to determine what proportion of qualifying families have received a Cost of Living payment, as entitlement may not have been established at the time the payments were made. If an entitlement that would qualify for a payment is later established to have existed, a payment will then be issued at that time.
The timetable for when cost of living payments are made is published here: Cost of Living Payment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of qualifying persons have received a Disability Cost of Living Payment to date; and when is rollout expected to be complete.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Department for Work and Pensions has published management information on the total number of Disability Cost of Living Payments made. As of 8 September 2022, 6,000,000 Disability Cost of Living payments, first payment, had been made. The information which will be updated as new payments are made can be found here:
Cost of Living Payment management information - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
It is not possible to determine what proportion of qualifying people have received a Cost of Living payment, as entitlement may not have been established at the time the payments were made. If an entitlement that would qualify for a payment is later established to have existed, a payment will then be issued at that time.
The timetable for when cost of living payments are made is published here: Cost of Living Payment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)