Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
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 potential merits of reforming the qualification criteria for the State Pension to include part year National Insurance contributions.
Answered by Guy Opperman
There are no plans to change the National Insurance qualifying year definitions for State Pension purposes.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
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 potential merits of reforming the qualification criteria for the State Pension to include part year National Insurance contributions.
Answered by Guy Opperman
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Dissolution.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 April 2021 to Question 179078, for what reason rapid response funding does not cover career change retraining for those who have been made redundant.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
RRS funding is demand led, and Districts have the discretion to decide whether offers of support, including vocational or non-vocational training, are appropriate to the local labour market, and subsequently are appropriate to move a person into employment.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
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 of delaying part of the grant which funds the Discretionary Housing Payment for 2020-21 until October 2021 on local authorities' ability to administer that payment effectively.
Answered by Will Quince
There has been no delay to Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) funding.
DHP funding for 2021/22 is a total of £140m, which will be allocated in two parts. £100m initial allocation at the start of the financial year, followed by £40m at mid-year which will be allocated based on the most up to date information available on each LAs individual needs; this approach aims to ensure that DHPs are targeted to areas with the greatest need.
We have been closely monitoring the DHP spend and we will continue to do this throughout 2021/22.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason rapid response funding does not cover retraining for those who have been made redundant.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Rapid Response Service can fund training on a case by case basis in supporting people serving their notice period, whether from compulsory redundancy or other workforce measures such as an early release scheme. They can access:
Those who don’t find alternative employment before losing their job can access the same support as those under notice of redundancy for a period of 13 weeks. This is whether they make a claim for benefit or not.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
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 potential merits of the proposal of Scope for an emergency support package to protect disabled people, published on 18 January 2021.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 09 February to question number 149299.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to implement alternative arrangements for face-to-face assessments for employment and support allowance.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
We continue to complete paper based assessments where possible and are now carrying out telephone Work Capability Assessments from which all outcomes are available. We are also trialling video assessments. Once completed the trial will be evaluated and a decision made on the feasibility to roll-out wider.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support she is putting in place for people (a) awaiting a face-to-face assessment for employment and support allowance, (b) whose contributory employment and support allowance is due to expire and (c) who earn above the threshold eligible for universal credit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The health and safety of our claimants and staff is our key priority. We suspended all face-to-face assessments for sickness and disability benefits in March 2020. This temporary suspension, brought in to protect people from unnecessary risk of coronavirus at the outset of the pandemic, remains in place, and is being kept under review in line with the latest public health guidance. Any re-introduction of face-to-face assessments would involve stringent Covid-19 related safety measures, supported by guidance for claimants and assessment providers to ensure compliance with the relevant public health guidance.
However, throughout the pandemic we have continued to assess people on paper evidence, using this route whenever possible. We also introduced telephone assessments, providing limited outcomes, in June 2020. We have continued building our capacity and capability since June enabling us to provide the full range of outcomes at volume from this February. This action will ensure that claimants receive their correct benefit entitlement as quickly as possible and reduce the time claimants who may be entitled to a higher award are waiting for their assessment.
Where an individual’s contributory ESA ends if they require further financial support they may be eligible for Universal Credit, depending on their personal circumstances.
For people who are ineligible for Universal Credit they may be eligible for other assistance such as Discretionary Housing Payments provided by their Local Authority, which helps the most vulnerable and supports renters with housing costs in the private and social rented sectors.
In addition, the Government has introduced a raft of temporary measures to support those hardest hit:
In addition, there is a Flexible Support Fund, which has been increased by £150 million, to support customers facing redundancy.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to provide increased support to employment and support allowance claimants awaiting face-to-face assessments for higher rate benefits.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The health and safety of our claimants and staff is our key priority. We suspended all face-to-face assessments for sickness and disability benefits in March 2020. This temporary suspension, brought in to protect people from unnecessary risk of coronavirus at the outset of the pandemic, remains in place, and is being kept under review in line with the latest public health guidance. Any re-introduction of face-to-face assessments would involve stringent Covid-19 related safety measures, supported by guidance for claimants and assessment providers to ensure compliance with the relevant public health guidance.
Eligible Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants will receive the Assessment Rate of benefit for the first 13 weeks (this rate will increase by 0.5% in April in line with the Consumer Price Index). At present, claimants may stay on this rate for longer than usual.
However, throughout the pandemic we have continued to assess people on paper evidence, using this route whenever possible. We also introduced telephone assessments providing limited outcomes in June 2020, building capacity and capability since then which has enabled us to provide the full range of outcomes from the beginning of February. By doing this, we will ensure that claimants receive their correct benefit entitlement as quickly as possible and reduce the time claimants who may be entitled to a higher award having to wait for their assessment.
Therefore, if a claimant qualifies for an additional amount following their Work Capability Assessment (WCA), it will be backdated to the 14th week to ensure no long-term loss.
Where an individual’s contributory ESA ends, if they require further financial support, they may be able to claim Universal Credit, depending on their personal circumstances.