Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
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 her Department stops sending correspondence after a claimant has died.
Answered by Will Quince
DWP has recently introduced improvements to the way in which it actions Tell Us Once notifications following registration of a death with a Registrar. Improved automation supports timely action across DWP service areas with clearance routinely completing within 24 hours of receipt. This investment and ongoing focus on preventing multiple letters after the notification of death is proving successful, although it is accepted that there may be cases where external factors compromise this achievement.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
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 on universal credit claimants who have been awarded the limited work capacity (LWC) element in addition to their basic element of the wait to be awarded the extra element.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
People who claim Universal Credit due to having a health condition or disability, and have been determined to have limited capability for work (LCW) or limited capability for work and work related activity (LCWRA) following a work capability assessment, may be entitled to an additional amount of benefit. However, the additional amount for having LCW is not payable for a health related claim made on or after 3 April 2017. Only health related claims made on or after that date and where the claimant is determined as having LCWRA will have access to an additional amount of benefit.
The additional amount for having LCWRA may only become payable from the beginning of the assessment period following the assessment period in which the relevant period ends. The relevant period is the 3 month period starting from the first day on which the claimant provides evidence of their having a health condition or disability which limits their capability for work. This means that all claimants who are determined to have LCWRA - with some exceptions, for example where the claimant is terminally ill and is not expected to live for more than 6 months - have to serve a three month relevant period.
The relevant period is used, before payment of the additional amount for having LCWRA can be made, to establish that the claimant has a long-term health condition or disability. During the relevant period the claimant is made financially secure through being paid the Universal Credit standard allowance, plus any additional amounts to which they may be entitled, such as those for children and housing costs.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants who have been awarded the limited work capacity (LWC) element in addition to their basic element have waited (a) one month, (b) two months and (c) three months or more before the extra LWC was awarded for each year for which figures are available.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not held by the Department.
The financial element of the limited capability for work award was removed in April 2017. Those who are found to have limited capability for work following a work capability assessment will not receive any additional payment of Universal Credit.
Universal Credit is more generous than the legacy system, with around one million disabled households gaining around £100 per month on average.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Sikhs are employed in her Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Department encourages all of its employees to provide details of their personal diversity information. This action is voluntary and information is captured via employee input onto the HR SOP system.
Details on whether someone is a Sikh is captured via input of religious belief information.
As at 31st December, 12,211 employees (14.8% of DWP’s workforce), have input information on their religious belief. This includes 166 employees who have recorded their information as Sikh, and 852 employees who chosen the ‘prefer not to say’ option.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many hours of training is planned to be given to her Department's decision-makers to identify people who may be vulnerable or have complex needs for the purposes of the universal credit managed migration.
Answered by Lord Sharma
All DWP staff working with customers complete training that prepares them for their role. This includes developing the skills they need to support and communicate with a diverse range of customers, and specific training is provided for working with different vulnerable groups.
We are taking a slow, measured approach to managed migration and this will allow for on-going evaluation of the process to ensure that it is working successfully, which will enable us to refine our methods to support claimants.
The revised draft regulations now before Parliament provide that we must give claimants a minimum of three months in which to make a claim for Universal Credit and sets no maximum period in which a claim must be made. With unlimited flexibility to extend claim periods we will work with representative groups to produce guidance that will ensure adequate support for each individual claimant’s needs.
Decision makers and all our customer facing staff undertake learning related to supporting vulnerable claimants. Decision Makers receive 19.5 hours of training on dealing with vulnerable groups and line managers review whether there is a need to refresh the knowledge / learning with individuals where appropriate.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to address the findings and recommendations in the Statement on the Visit to the UK by the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, published on 16 November 2018.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The Government will consider the Special Rapporteur’s findings carefully.
Under this Government, income inequality has fallen and remains lower than in 2010; the number of children in workless households is at a record low; and there are 1 million fewer people in absolute poverty (before housing costs) compared with 2010, including 300,000 children.
Work continues to offer people the best opportunity to move out of poverty. Children living in households where all adults are working are five times less likely to be in relative poverty after housing costs than those in workless families. That is why this Government will continue to reform the welfare system to ensure that those who can work are supported to move into and to remain in employment.
The Autumn Budget announced a number of changes to Universal Credit ahead of further expansion including an increase of £1,000 in work allowances from April 2019 allowing 2.4 million households to keep an extra £630 of income each year.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her oral contribution of 5 November 2018, Official Report, column 1260, what estimate she has made of the number of people that have been frightened to go into a jobcentre as a result of scare stories in (a) the UK, (b) the West Midlands and (c) Birmingham.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Department does not hold this information centrally on constituency correspondence.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her oral contribution of 5 November 2018, Official Report, column 1261, how many such letters she has received; and if she will publish those letters after redacting identifying information.
Answered by Lord Sharma
The Department does not hold this information centrally on constituency correspondence.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
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 reducing the waiting period for the payment of universal credit payment on foodbank usage in (a) Edgbaston, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
People use food banks for many reasons and it would be misleading to link them to any single cause.
We have made a number of improvements to the waiting period to ensure claimants have enough money to manage until the first Universal Credit payment is made.
New claimants to Universal Credit can apply for a 100% advance if they need some financial support until the first regular payment is made, which can be repaid over 16 months from October 2021.
Since April 2018, claimants have received a two week run-on of housing benefit payments. From July 2020, income related legacy benefits will continue for two weeks after a claim for Universal Credit has been made. This measure means that around 1.1 million people will see a one-off gain of approximately £200, between 2020/21 and 2023/24.