Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to improve take-up of the Pension Wise guidance service.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Since launch, there have been over 2.4 million visits to the Pension Wise website and over 61,000 appointments, with the latest data showing a record number of appointments in March. To drive awareness of the service, Pension Wise has run three national marketing campaigns across TV, radio, print and digital media, the latest of which finished in April 2016.
In addition, pension providers are required to signpost to Pension Wise when issuing retirement wake-up packs and Pension Wise guiders engage with local businesses and services to further raise awareness of the service.
The Government recognises that people should have the freedom to access information in a way that is suitable to them.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government plans to take to help people who will access their pensions before the proposed new pension guidance service becomes available in April 2018.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The current Pension Wise service will continue to deliver guidance to people aged 50 years and over, with defined contribution pension pots, to help them understand their options under the pension freedoms.
The new pensions guidance body will take forward the services currently provided by three organisations: Pension Wise, The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) and the pension services offered by Money Advise Service (MAS). Until then these organisations will continue to support people in understanding and accessing their pensions.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of introducing an adoption allowance for self-employed adopters.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The Government is looking at what more could be done to support the self-employed, but do not have plans to introduce an adoption allowance for self-employed adopters.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of extending statutory (a) maternity pay, (b) paternity pay and (c) sick pay to self-employed people.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The Government is looking at what more could be done to support the self-employed, but do not have plans to extend Statutory Payments to self-employed people. Statutory payments are paid by employers to qualifying employees.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the effect of the reduction of work allowances under universal credit announced in the Summer Budget 2015 on the number of children living in relative poverty in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18, (c) 2018-19, (d) 2019-20 and (e) 2020-21.
Answered by Priti Patel - Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
The Government is committed to working to eliminate child poverty and improve life chances for children. Work remains the best route out of poverty, and Universal Credit is designed to strengthen incentives for parents to move into and progress in work. Early evidence shows claimants move into work significantly faster than under the current system. In addition, Universal Credit now provides for 85% of childcare costs meaning more support for hardworking families.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the cost of reinstating the qualifying age for pension credit to its 1995 timetable.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Pension Credit was designed to provide income related support for people without sufficient provision for their retirement and as such the qualifying age for both men and women has been linked to women’s State Pension age since its introduction.
Our initial estimates of the cost of retaining the 1995 timetable for the qualifying age for Pension Credit were published in response to a question from Lord Boswell in 2011 Hansard vol. 725, column 1607, 9 March 2011.
We have not formally updated this costing but we have reconsidered the evidence based on the latest information and our analysis indicates that the cost of breaking the link between the Pension Credit qualifying age and women’s State Pension age is likely to be significantly higher than previously estimated for a number of reasons including:
- Women under State Pension age would be entitled to larger amounts of Pension Credit than the original analysis assumed.
- This may incentivise more women to stop working and claim Pension Credit instead.
In addition to the impacts considered above there would also be increased expenditure on other benefits, most notably Housing Benefit, localised Council Tax Support, the Warm Home Discount and Cold Weather Payments which were not included in the original figures.
Asked by: Rachel Reeves (Labour - Leeds West and Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the average change in income for an individual as of the result of the delay in qualifying for pension credit resulting from the introduction of the revised state pension age timetable in the Pensions Act 2011.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Pension Credit was designed to provide income related support for people without sufficient provision for their retirement and as such the qualifying age for both men and women has been linked to women’s State Pension age since its introduction.
The information requested is not available. Any change in an individual’s income would be dependent on their specific circumstances.