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 he has made of the potential merits of increasing the weekly earning limits for Carer’s Allowance.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to question UIN 21148 given on 22 April 2024.
Carer’s Allowance is a devolved benefit in Scotland.
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 his Department has made of the potential merits of extending the eligibility criteria for Carers Allowance for carers with overpayments of National Insurance contributions.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Entitlement to Carer’s Allowance is not based on having paid, or been credited with, National Insurance contributions, or on passing a means test. Rather, the basic entitlement conditions largely relate to the care being provided; whether the carer is in gainful employment or studying full-time; and residency tests.
Carer’s Allowance is a devolved benefit in Scotland.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question
To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the House of Commons Commission, what the cost to the public purse has been of maintenance work on the Estate in each financial year since 2019-20; and whether the Commission has made an estimate of maintenance costs for the next two financial years.
Answered by Charles Walker
The costs of maintenance work on the Estate in each financial year since 2019–20, and the estimate of maintenance costs for the next two financial years are as follows:
2019/20 (Actual Cost): £89m
2020/21 (Actual Cost): £76.5m
2021/22 (Actual Cost): £63.2m
2022/23 (Actual Cost): £96m
2023/24 (Forecast Cost): £79.6m
2024/25 (Forecast Cost): £78.7m
2025/26 (Forecast Cost): £95.1m
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 potential cases of overpayments of carer’s allowance were flagged by the Verified Earnings and Pensions service system in each of the last five financial years; and how many such cases were investigated in each of those years.
Answered by Paul Maynard
Rounded | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
The number of cases flagged as potentially in need of investigation by the VEPs system | 91,000 | 73,000 | 96,000 | 107,000 | 67,000 |
The number of cases investigated | 35,000 | 38,000 | 46,000 | 50,000 | 35,000 |
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 full time equivalent staff in his Department worked on investigation of earnings alerts for carer’s allowance in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2022-23, (d) 2022-23 and (e) 2023-24.
Answered by Paul Maynard
The Department allocated the following resources to full time equivalent to the investigation of earnings alerts for carer’s allowance as outlined below;
| FTE |
19/20 | 46.43 |
20/21 | 55.20 |
21/22 | 80.92 |
22/23 | 59.75 |
23/24 | 48.70 |
Data is correct as of March for each of the following Financial Years: (a) 2019/20, (b) 2020/21, (c) 2021/22, (d) 2022/23 and (e) 2023/24.
Figures were derived from the Department’s Activity Based Model (ABM), which provides Full Time Equivalent (FTE) figures based on point in time estimate by Line Managers. They cover only FTE of staff with paid employment.
The number of colleagues employed in these directorates is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. As the Department holds the information, we have released it.
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 carer’s allowance overpayments over (a) £5,000 and (b) £20,000 there were in (i) 2022-23 and (ii) 2023-24.
Answered by Paul Maynard
We recognise the significant contribution of carers to supporting those most in need, which is why we have increased Carer's Allowance by almost £1,500 since 2010.
As with all DWP benefits, claimants have a responsibility to ensure they are entitled to the benefit they claim and to inform the DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award. For Carer’s Allowance, eligibility is partly dependent upon claimants earning £151 or less a week after tax, National Insurance and allowable expenses. This is set out at: Carer's Allowance: Eligibility - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Where overpayments do occur due to not being entitled to the benefit, the Department has a duty to the taxpayer to protect public funds and to ask for money to be paid back. We remain committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and will always look to negotiate sustainable and affordable repayment plans.
Our most recent statistics show that Carer's Allowance overpayments relating to earnings/employment represents 2.1% of our £3.3bn Carer’s Allowance expenditure.
The information requested has been provided in the table below.
Carer’s Allowance Overpayment Value Grouping | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
£5000.00 - £20,000.00 | 1,310 | 1,300 |
Over £20,000.00 | 60 | 40 |
Total | 1,370 | 1,340 |
The data has been sourced from internal DWP management information, which is intended only to help the Department to manage its business. It is not intended for publication and has not been subject to the same quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.
Note that the year relates to when the debt was raised on Debt Manager, and therefore not necessarily the period as to when Carer’s Allowance was overpaid. The overpayments may span periods of many years.
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 frequently HM Revenue and Customs provides his Department with earnings alerts on potential overpayments of carer’s allowance.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
HMRC provides DWP with 4 daily alerts to changes of earnings, based off a set of business logic/rules which covers Carers Allowance, Housing Benefit and Pension Credit. The earnings notified do not take account of allowable expenses which people in receipt of Carer’s Allowance may wish to deduct.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, if he will provide a list of ministerial visits to the Midlothian constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lord Jack of Courance
Scotland Office Ministers have conducted one visit to the constituency of Midlothian in the past five years. This was by Iain Stewart MP, while Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Scotland Office, to Midlothian Council Projects on 4 February 2022.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department is providing additional support to carers to help with rising energy costs.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
Energy prices have fallen significantly since last winter, and the Q2 2024 price cap has fallen by nearly 60% since Q1 2023 when the price cap peaked.
The Government’s cost-of-living support package between 2022 to 2025 is worth £108 billion, or £3,800 per household on average, one of the largest support packages in Europe.
In addition, the Government continues to provide support through the Warm Home Discount, which provides eligible low-income households with an annual £150 rebate off their energy bill every winter.
Carer’s Allowance is also available to provide a measure of financial support to those not able to work full time due to their caring responsibilities. The rate of Carer’s Allowance is £81.90 a week. In addition to Carer’s Allowance, carers on low incomes can claim income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information her Department holds on the number of fixed-odds betting terminals there were in Midlothian constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Fixed-odds betting terminals refer to Category B2 gaming machines. In April 2019, the maximum stakes on these machines were reduced from £100 to £2. Following this reduction in maximum stakes there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of physical B2 machines in operation. The Gambling Commission’s industry statistics indicate that from April 2020 to March 2023 there were zero Category B2 gaming machines in operation across Great Britain.