Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to ensure that the Child Maintenance Service has the necessary power to ensure that employers release payments from the earnings of paying parents in their employment with deduction from earning orders applied to their salary in a more timely manner.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Child Maintenance Service encourages employers to release payments made via a deduction from earnings orders as soon as possible. Employers are required to pay deductions made for child maintenance by the 19th day of the month following that in which the deduction was made. There are no plans to reduce this period as this would place an unfair burden on employers.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there is a limit on how many times a paying parent is given the opportunity to pay direct through the Child Maintenance Service to the parent with care after failing to pay and enforcement action having been taken.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Paying parents deemed unlikely to pay must pay on time and in full by a non-enforced method for a period of at least six months via the Child Maintenance Service (the collect and pay service) before they can choose to revert to paying the receiving parent direct (Direct Pay). This provides a period of stability for the receiving parent, and requires the paying parent to demonstrate that they can be voluntarily compliant. There is no limit, however, to the number of times that a paying parent may be given the opportunity to pay direct to the receiving parent, as behaviour can change over time. A parent once deemed unlikely to pay, may now be willing to do so.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of (a) employment support allowance, (b) universal credit and (c) jobseeker's allowance in Scotland with a declared mental health problem have been subject to a benefits sanction since 2015.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
We engage at a personal and individual level with all of our claimants and are committed to tailoring the support that we give, and any conditionality requirements to the specific circumstances of the individuals.
We take a number of steps to make sure our decisions are fair. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence of good reason, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effect of benefit sanctions on the mental health of claimants.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
No assessment has been made on the impact of benefit sanctions on the mental health of claimants.
We engage at a personal and individual level with all of our claimants and are committed to tailoring support for specific individual needs, including agreeing realistic and structured steps to encourage claimants into the labour market. These conditionality requirements are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain appropriate for the claimant.
When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence of good reason, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he Department has made an assessment of the effect of the imposition on benefits sanctions on the mental health of claimants with an existing mental health condition.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
No assessment has been made on the impact of benefit sanctions on the mental health of claimants.
We engage at a personal and individual level with all of our claimants and are committed to tailoring support for specific individual needs, including agreeing realistic and structured steps to encourage claimants into the labour market. These conditionality requirements are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain appropriate for the claimant.
When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence of good reason, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's press release, personal independence payment assessment guidance updated, published on 2 November 2017, whether the review team has been set up to review claims of people with epilepsy made between 9 March 2017 and 13 November 2017; and when that new guidance was implemented.
Answered by Sarah Newton
As outlined in the Written Statement (HCWS793) on 25 June 2018, the Department has begun the administrative exercise to identify claims who may be affected by the Upper Tribunal judgment in RJ, which concerned how we consider whether an activity is carried out safely considers a claimant to be carrying out an activity safely and whether they need supervision to do soconsiders a claimant to be carrying out an activity safely and whether they need supervision to do so. Since November 2017, new claims for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) have been assessed under the new guidance.
For further information on the administrative exercise, I refer the Hon. Member to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document that I laid in the House Library on 2 July 2018 (Deposit Reference - DEP2018-0644).
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to review the personal independence payments applications process for cancer patients in order to backdate financial support from date of diagnosis.
Answered by Sarah Newton
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 June 2018 to Question UIN 148701.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2018 to Question 133903, what assessment her Department has made of the financial effect of the loss of equity caused by repaying the loan that has now replaced Support for Mortgage Interest at the point of sale of the home.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The average amount of SMI loan repayable upon the sale of the home is estimated at around £1,200 after a year, increasing to around £4,000 after 5 years.
DWP has produced tables that provide examples of how SMI loans might accrue over time and these are included in the Frequently Asked Questions that are issued to claimants after they have had the information call with Serco. In many cases the recovery of SMI loans will impact the beneficiaries of the recipients of SMI loans. Without the provision of the SMI loan it is possible that the property would have been repossessed by the mortgage lender.