Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employee settlement agreements there were in her Department in each year since 2020; and what the total value of such agreements is.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since April 2020 the DWP has agreed 127 employee settlements totalling £2,322,639.
Period | Number of settlements |
April 2020 – March 2021 | 26 |
April 2021 – March 2022 | 30 |
April 2022 – March 2023 | 29 |
March 2023 – April 2024 | 30 |
April 2024 - date | 20 |
All settlements are made following a robust value for money assessment and on the basis of legal advice.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the additional 500 staff deployed to process Pension Credit applications were new employees.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Since the announcement to means test Winter Fuel payments, to date we have increased the resource in Pension Credit claims by approximately 500 staff through a combination of internal redeployments, use of external providers and external recruitment. This is in line with the overall resourcing plan for Pension Credit claims and Winter Fuel payments.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Pension Credit applications have been made since 29 July 2024 by constituency.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We do not currently hold this information at Constituency level.
Data on how many Pension Credit applications made between 1 April 2024 and 22 September 2024 was recently published on gov.uk, Weekly Pension Credit claims received from 1 April 2024 to 22 September 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
On 28 October 2024, The Department announced updated Pension Credit applications and award statistics would be published on 28 November 2024. This publication provides application volumes up to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK
This shows we have received around 150,000 applications since the announcement on 29 July to 17 November 2024.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data her Department holds on steps councils are taking to support pensioners with the cost of living in winter 2024-25.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government does not hold any data on the steps that councils are taking to support pensioners with the cost of living in winter 2024-25.
In England, the Household Support Fund (HSF) is a scheme funded by the Department for Work and Pensions and delivered by all Upper Tier Local Authorities to support those most in need with the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water. The HSF is intended to cover a wide range of low-income households in need, including households with children of all ages, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers and disabled people, larger households, single-person households, and those struggling with one-off financial shocks or unforeseen events. Since October 2022, there has been no ring-fencing of funding for certain groups.
Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination that the Department for Work and Pensions have set out for the fund. This is because they have the ties and the knowledge to best determine how support should be provided in their local communities.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Household Support Fund in supporting pensioners with the cost of living in winter 2024-25.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
No assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Household Support Fund in supporting pensioners with the cost of living in winter 2024-25 and no estimate has been made of the amount local authorities will spend on supporting pensioners this winter.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the amount local authorities will spend on supporting pensioners with the cost of living in winter 2024-25.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
No assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Household Support Fund in supporting pensioners with the cost of living in winter 2024-25 and no estimate has been made of the amount local authorities will spend on supporting pensioners this winter.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average processing time for Pension Credit applications is by constituency.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Pension Credit application Average Actual Clearance Times (AACT) are measured weekly.
The information is not available at constituency level.
The table below the most recent national AACT data.
Week Date | 28/10/24 | 04/11/24 | 11/11/24 | 18/11/24 |
PC Claims AACT (Working Days) | 56 | 63 | 65 | 65 |
Please note.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
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 time taken to (a) recruit and (b) train 3,000 additional staff in fraud and error.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Currently the time taken from the job advert being created to the individual being onboarded is between 7 to 20 weeks. Training time varies by function with the majority of new staff needing three to six months to fully consolidate learning, whereas special investigator roles can require up to 18 months – although these only make up a small proportion of the 3,000 specified.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a Pension Credit uptake target.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The Government is committed to ensuring that older people receive the support they are entitled to. That’s why we have been running a nationwide communications campaign to promote Pension Credit since September. The latest phase of the campaign takes a new approach targeting friends and family - asking them to tell people they know about Pension Credit, encourage them to check their eligibility, as well as help them make a claim. It is running on TV, radio, social media such as Facebook and Instagram, on YouTube and on advertising screens, including on GP and Post Office screens.
As part of our wider stakeholder outreach campaign and in order to get the message out through as many channels as possible, we have engaged with key stakeholders and partners, including other government departments, local councils, housing associations, community groups, local libraries and service providers as well as charities and third sector organisations.
We have also directly targeted 120,000 pensioner households in receipt of Housing Benefit, identified as being potentially entitled to, but not currently claiming, Pension Credit.
We do not believe that setting targets for take-up of Pension Credit would be helpful or that they would work. However, we have committed to bringing together the administration of Pension Credit and pensioner Housing Benefit for new claimants as soon as operationally possible in order to ensure pensioners receive all the benefits to which they are entitled
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how long it takes to train a new staff member to process pension credit applications.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The current training for staff on Pension Credit New Claims is 10 days. The training includes focus on the steps to process an application, with more activities to help with engagement and understanding. The training has been designed using experience, advice, observations, and feedback from a wide range of stakeholders.