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Written Question
Pensions: Means-tested Benefits
Tuesday 13th June 2023

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential (a) merits, (b) impact on pension saving and (c) impact on encouraging the economically inactive to return to work of excluding occupational pensions from the assessment of means tested employment benefits.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

It is entirely appropriate that means-tested benefits take account of occupational pension income. A guiding principle for means-tested benefits is that they are not paid to people who have sufficient other income available to meet the same need. However, this is normally only done where a person has reached the retirement age for the scheme in question. This enables the applicant to maximise their occupational pension in retirement and should not de-incentivise people with health conditions from taking steps to return to work.


Written Question
Pension Protection Fund
Wednesday 8th February 2023

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to enable the Pension Protection Fund to provide inflation protection for the Guaranteed Minimum Pension element of pensions in the schemes within its remit.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

While all legislation is kept under review as a matter of course, there are currently no plans to review the Pension Protection Fund legislation in relation to inflation protection on Guaranteed Minimum Pensions. The Secretary of State therefore does not intend to make such an assessment at this time.


Written Question
Pension Protection Fund
Wednesday 8th February 2023

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the context of recent increases in inflation, what recent assessment he has made of the impact on the value of pensions received by members of the Pension Protection Fund of the provisions of the Pensions Act 2005 on the non-indexation of defined benefits pension rights accrued prior to 6 April 2007.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

While all legislation is kept under review as a matter of course, there are currently no plans to review legislation relating to the indexation of payments from the Pension Protection Fund and the Secretary of State has made no such assessment at this time.


Written Question
Pension Protection Fund
Wednesday 8th February 2023

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the context of proposed reductions in levies charged by the Pension Protection Fund, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of maintaining levies and allocating any surplus to provide inflation protection to defined benefits pension rights accrued prior to 6 April 2007.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

Operational decisions about the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) levy are a matter for the Board of the PPF. The Secretary of State has made no assessment of potential merits to maintain the levies raised by the PPF, and re-allocating any surplus to provide inflation protection.


Written Question
Pension Protection Fund
Wednesday 8th February 2023

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to enable the Pension Protection Fund to provide inflation protection for pensionable service prior to 6 April 1997 for pensions in the schemes within its remit.

Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

While all legislation is kept under review as a matter of course, there are currently no plans to review the PPF indexation rules, or indeed the wider legislation to which they relate. The Secretary of State has therefore made no such assessment and does not intend to do so at this time.


Written Question
Social security benefits: Terminal illnesses
Monday 1st March 2021

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to (a) publish and (b) implement the recommendations from the Department’s review of the benefits system for terminally ill people and the Special Rules for Terminal Illness scheme announced in July 2019.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

The Department is committed to delivering an improved benefit system for claimants that are nearing the end of their lives and is working across Government to bring forward proposals following the evaluation. I remain committed to implementing the key areas identified in the evaluation; a consensus to change the six-month rule; improving ​consistency with other services used by people nearing the end of their lives; and raising awareness of the support that is available.


Written Question
Child Maintenance Service: Standards
Tuesday 8th September 2020

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to prevent silo working and improve information sharing within the Child Maintenance Service.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Child Maintenance Service is committed to keeping an open dialogue and providing a cohesive service with other departments and stakeholders. We also continue to take opportunities to improve sharing of information where legislation allows.

Some examples of this are obtaining Real Time Income information from HMRC to inform Maintenance Calculations and ongoing negotiations to share information relating to self-employed parents who have been furloughed as a result of COVID-19

In addition, we have worked closely with HM Passport Office and Border Agency to taken forward the removal of passports to enhance our enforcement powers. The Service is also creating closer working with HMCTS, as Courts Services are being digitised, to deliver a more efficient and cost effective service for our customers.


Written Question
Child Maintenance Service: Standards
Tuesday 8th September 2020

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

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 effectiveness of the Child Maintenance Service's Financial Investigations Unit.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Financial Investigations Unit (FIU) is equipped with powers to conduct full and in depth investigations in to allegations made against a paying parent’s financial circumstances. They will then determine the most appropriate action to get Child Maintenance Payments flowing to the receiving parent.

Please find attached statistics of actions taken by FIU. These can be found on Table 12 of the National Tables available on Gov.uk

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-maintenance-service-statistics-data-to-march-2020-experimental


Written Question
Child Maintenance Service: Standards
Tuesday 8th September 2020

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she will take to improve the ability of the Child Maintenance Service to scrutinise effectively new claims of hardship from a paying parent who has previously been proven by the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) to falsify their financial records.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Maintenance liabilities broadly continue to be based on the NRP’s historic income; this is largely gross annual income information provided by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the latest available tax year. This will enable calculations to be made more quickly minimising opportunity for inaccuracies.

The scheme is designed so that liabilities remain consistent over the year, with limited changes. The calculation is reviewed annually, and generally only changes during the year if a parents’ income increases or decreases by at least 25%. This threshold ensures calculations are relative stable for both the paying parent and receiving parent, so both parents know what to expect in terms of payments.

The Department recognises that some parents have more control over providing false income records which we use to calculate maintenance. In the first instance, we are working more closely with HMRC and making changes to prevent fraudulent behaviour. The CMS recently introduced changes to improve channels of communication between the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) who investigate cases with complex earnings queries and HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service (FIS).

Where an NRP’s gross income has been disputed, the Child Maintenance Group (CMG) can request a breakdown of the income figure provided by HMRC.

Those found to be abusing the system at this difficult time are subject to the full extent of our enforcement powers and the Child Maintenance Service will pursue these, where appropriate. The department remains committed to an effective child maintenance scheme that ensures all parents contribute financially for their children.


Written Question
Jobseeker's Allowance
Tuesday 26th May 2020

Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people who are (a) deemed to be employed but who are unable to work as a result of the effect of covid-19 on their employment or self-employment, (b) ineligible for universal credit as a result of means testing and (c) ineligible for Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme or Self Employment Income Support Scheme, are eligible for Jobseekers Allowance.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

a) Those deemed to be in employment as a result of receiving support through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and Self Employed Income Support Scheme will not be entitled to Jobseeker’s Allowance if they usually work 16 hours or more per week. In order to be entitled to Jobseeker’s Allowance, claimants must satisfy a number of entitlement conditions, one of which is not being engaged in full time work. Those who usually work less than 16 hours per week are part-time workers and can apply.

b) Jobseeker’s Allowance is a personal contribution-based benefit. Eligibility depends on someone having worked as an employee and having paid enough national insurance contributions, usually in the two full tax years before the calendar year in which they make their claim. They must also meet the following entitlement conditions:

  • are not engaged in work of 16 hours or more per week
  • do not have limited capability for work
  • are not receiving relevant education
  • are under pensionable age
  • are in Great Britain
  • have accepted a Claimant Commitment

c) Those ineligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme or Self Employment Income Support Scheme may be eligible if they meet the conditions as set out in b) above.