Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, If she will publish the key performance indicators her Department will use to monitor the performance of the Universal Credit Managed Migration programme.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
Formal performance monitoring is not appropriate to a discovery phase where the aim is to learn what works best, rather than achieve a specific volume of cases.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she expects (a) 10,000, (b) 100,000, (c) 250,000, (d) 500,000 and (e) 1,000,000 legacy benefit claimants to have been issued with a migration notice to move to Universal Credit.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
In May 2022 we started a multi-location approach across the country with a small number of claimants, being issued with migration notices. We will continue to develop our processes and systems to ensure the transition to Universal Credit works as smoothly as possible before we proceed to scale the migration process. Government is committed to ensuring the final phase of Universal Credit is rolled out safely and is responsibly delivered by the end of 2024.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people in receipt of universal credit will have access to short courses of between six weeks to a year in areas where there are skills gaps, starting from September 2022.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Credit (UC) does not duplicate the financial support provided by the student loan system. This system of student loans and grants are designed to meet their needs.
Where learning meets the work-related requirements, as described in their claimant commitment, UC claimants can participate in learning opportunities designed to improve their prospects of securing work and progressing.
Using existing flexibilities within UC, DWP’s Train and Progress (TaP) initiative expands claimants’ access to training, including new offers under the Lifetime Skills Guarantee, for example, being able to undertake Skills Bootcamps, ensuring they gain new skills and access better employment opportunities. DWP TaP better aligns the employment and skills support offer and increases the amount of time UC claimants can take part in suitable full-time training. Claimants could take up to 12 weeks for work-related course and up to 16 weeks in areas where Skills Bootcamps exist.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
When her Department will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a 12 month eligibility definition for the Special Rules for Terminal Illness.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Department plans to implement the 12-month end-of-life approach across five DWP benefits, beginning in Universal Credit alongside Employment and Support Allowance next year. This will be followed by Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment subject to Parliamentary processes.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of changing the universal credit childcare payments system to allow parents looking for work to claim costs upfront.
Answered by Will Quince
No assessment has been made. There is currently an on-going Judicial Review on Universal Credit childcare and the payment of upfront costs. An appeal hearing took place in the Court of Appeal in July and a decision is awaited. It is therefore not appropriate to comment directly on this matter at this time. It should be noted there are no changes to the current processes and the legislation remains the same.
Childcare costs should not be a barrier to getting into work – this Government is committed to helping parents into work. Universal Credit pays up to 85% of childcare costs for working parents, compared to 70% in legacy benefits, and childcare costs can be claimed up to a month before starting a job.
In cases where people need to pay for childcare upfront, prior to starting work, Work Coaches may be able to use the Flexible Support Fund for eligible claimants to meet these costs until their first wage is received. Budgeting advances are also available to eligible claimants who require help with upfront costs, for example when altering hours worked or changing childcare providers. Claimants on Universal Credit are encouraged to manage their own finances and budgets to better mirror the world of work and the majority of claimants can, and do, manage their childcare payments effectively.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of universal credit claimants had deductions made to their monthly payment (a) in March 2020 and (b) in the most recent month for which figures are available, by (i) categories of third party debt deductions, (ii) advance payments and (iii) benefit overpayments and (iv) other types of deductions.
Answered by Will Quince
We carefully balance our duty to the taxpayer to recover overpayments, with support for claimants. Safeguards are in place to ensure deductions are manageable. From 12 April 2021, we further reduced the cap on deductions from Universal Credit awards to 25 per cent and lengthened the period from 12 to 24 months, meaning in effect someone can receive 25 payments over 24 months, giving them more flexibility over the payments of their Universal Credit award. This will also allow claimants to retain more of their award, giving additional financial security, and follows a previous change in October 2019 that reduced the cap from 40% to 30%.
Customers can contact the Department if they are experiencing financial hardship to discuss a reduction in their rate of repayment, depending on their financial circumstances, whilst work coaches can also signpost claimants to other financial support.
The information requested is provided in the attached spreadsheet.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Department for Education’s Skills for Jobs: Lifelong Learning for Opportunity and Growth White Paper, published in January 2021, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that people move into good quality employment; and what relationship officials in her Department has with the Department for Education's Skills and Productivity Board.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department works closely with Department for Education and others, including the Skills Productivity Board, to understand current and future skills shortages. Our DWP Train and Progress initiative expands claimants’ access to training, with new offers under the Lifetime Skills Guarantee such as the Skills Bootcamps, ensuring they gain new skills and obtain good jobs.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has plans undertake a review of the state pension age in accordance with the provisions of section 27 of the Pensions Act 2014.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Yes. The statutory deadline for the publication of the next Government Review of State Pension age is May 2023.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of reinstating the state pension for 1950s women; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Changes to State Pension age were made over a series of Acts by successive governments from 1995 onwards; including the Coalition 2010-2015, Labour 1997-2010 and the Conservatives 1995-1997, following public consultations and extensive debates in both Houses of Parliament. Through the welfare system, the Government is committed to providing financial support for people at every stage of their life, including when they near or reach retirement.
Women born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1953 were affected by State Pension age equalisation under the Pensions Act 1995. The Pensions Act 2011 accelerated the equalisation of State Pension age, and included transitional arrangements limiting State Pension age delays, affecting women born between 6 April 1953 and 5 December 1953. It also brought forward the increase in State Pension age from 65 to 66 which affected women born between 6 December 1953 and 5 April 1960.
The Department published estimates on the cost of reversing the women’s State Pension age to 60 and men’s State Pension age to 65 on the 7th June 2019.
The publication shows the estimated cost of reversing women’s State Pension age back to 60 and men’s State Pension age back to 65 over the period 2010/11 to 2025/26, to be £181.4bn for women and £33.8bn for men with an overall cost estimate of £215.2bn.
Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of increasing by 25 pence the state pension for people over the age of 80.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Age Addition is paid to people who reached State Pension age prior to 6th April 2016 when they claim their State Pension and attain 80 years of age. It is not payable to those people who reached State Pension age on or after 6th April 2016.
In March 2019, the most recent date for which data are available, there were approximately 3.3m people in receipt of the payment, at a weekly cost of approximately £820,000.
Source: DWP Administrative data, March 2019