Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that people transferred onto the Adult Disability Payment while awaiting his Department's decision to increase their mobility rate who are subsequently deemed by Social Security Scotland to be eligible for an enhanced mobility rate receive a backdated payment for the period following their notifying his Department of their change in circumstances and their transition to Adult Disability Payment.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
These are matters for the Scottish Government.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department issues on whether a Scottish Higher National Certificate is advanced education for child maintenance purposes.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes the Child Maintenance Decision Makers’ Guide on the gov.uk website. The guidance provides a list, although not exhaustive, along with information regarding advanced and non-advanced education and training. This information can be found here.
A Scottish National Certificate is equivalent to a National Higher Certificate (HNC) and counts as advanced education.
Child Maintenance payments cease when a child leaves full-time non-advanced education (non-advanced means up to A level or higher, or NVQ or SVQ Level 3 and below). Courses of degree level and above, Diploma of Higher Education, Higher National Certificate, Diploma of Higher Education or, NVQ and SVQ Level 4 and above, count as advanced education.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
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 establishing a remote ID verification process for people applying for Universal Credit from remote and island communities.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
When applying for Universal Credit (UC), a claimant is required to confirm their identity by using the on-line service, as part of the claim process. Where a claimant has not attempted online verification, or has attempted and failed, then they will be asked to attend a face-to-face interview (F2F). This process would be different for each claimant including those from remote and island communities. It is necessary to undertake this to ensure the claimant is who they say they are and to prevent fraud.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing payment period arrangements for Universal Credit to account for people who are not paid monthly.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
No such assessment has been made.
There are no planned changes to Universal Credit assessment periods or payment schedules.
Universal Credit has been designed with monthly assessment periods to reflect the world of work, where the majority of all employees receive wages monthly. Guidance is available to claimants, staff and representatives to raise awareness of different earnings patterns and their impact on Universal Credit.
The Department has been working closely with HMRC since Universal Credit went live in 2013 to support and inform employers on the importance of timely reporting via the Real Time Information (RTI) system to ensure payments of Universal Credit are accurate. This includes the updating of HMRC guidance to reiterate that where a payment falls on a non-banking day the payment should be shown as having been made on the regular payday.
Where a claimant wishes to dispute the earnings information, we have received from their employer, they can submit evidence to us, and we will look into the case to see if a change needs to be made.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will hold discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of enabling people of working age with a terminal illness to have early access their state pension.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
There are no plans for discussions with cabinet colleagues regarding early access to state pension for people with a terminal illness.
Hearing that your illness cannot be cured can be a frightening and devastating experience. For those at the end of their life, the Government’s priority is providing financial support quickly and compassionately. The main way that the Department does this is through special benefit rules, sometimes referred to as “the Special Rules”. These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment, serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit. For many years, the Special Rules have applied to people who have 6 months or less to live and now they are being changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment they have made of the potential impact of its policy on up-rating UK State Pensions overseas on 48 commonwealth countries, in relation to the Government’s Global Britain vision.
Answered by Julie Marson
The UK State Pension is payable worldwide and is up-rated annually in countries where there is a legal requirement to do so. This is a longstanding policy, which has been supported by successive governments for over 70 years. The Government has no plans to change the policy.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
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 implications for her policies of the recent incident where state pensions paid to UK pensioners living in Canada was suspended.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We understand that some customers in Canada did not receive life certificate forms sent to them by the Department. Our outbound postal supplier has confirmed that the life certificates were issued and dispatched from the UK.
In line with the process for all overseas state pension recipients, the Department suspended payment for those customers who did not return their form within the 16-week window. After being alerted to the failure to deliver within Canada, we reinstated all suspended payments and issued any arrears owed.
We have also extended the time period for Canadian customers to return their life certificate forms, having confirmed that certificates are now being delivered.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of Canada’s recent request to discuss a reciprocal social security agreement.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There are two separate social security arrangements in place between the UK and Canada, made in 1995 and 1998. The UK Government has no plans to change the social security relationship with Canada.
Asked by: Patricia Gibson (Scottish National Party - North Ayrshire and Arran)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that Bereavement Support Payments for unmarried couples with children will (a) come into effect from September 2022, (b) be fully backdated from August 2018 and (c) not be subject to further delivery delays.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The draft Bereavement Benefits Remedial Order proposes to extend Bereavement Support Payment and Widowed Parent’s Allowance to cohabiting partners with dependant children. We are currently considering representations received on the proposals during the Orders first laying period. On conclusion, the Order will be laid for a second and final 60-day sitting period. This will be followed by debates in both Houses of Parliament before the proposals can become law. Due to the nature of the Parliamentary processes, we cannot say at this stage when the Order will come into force.
DWP is working closely on the implementation of the Order, and we will be updating the GOV.UK website at key points during the parliamentary process: