Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2022 to Question 67074 on Jobcentres: Pay, what recent estimate he has made of when holiday pay will be issued to Jobcentre staff.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
DWP is committed to making statutory holiday payments in respect of overtime and other similar payments to colleagues and continues to work to implement a solution to enable these payments as soon as is practicable. Work is continuing to overcome significant system challenges. As a result, the Department is not yet in a position to provide a definitive estimate of when these payments will be made to colleagues.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) individuals and (b) households in Inverclyde are eligible for claiming pension credits but are not claiming that benefit.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Estimates for Pension Credit take-up in a financial year are only available at the Great Britain level and are available in the “Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up” publication which can be found on the statistics section of gov.uk. The latest publication relates to the financial year 2019 to 2020.
Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Pension Credit provides vital financial support to our most vulnerable pensioners. In Inverclyde some 2,600 pensioners already receive Pension Credit, but we want all those who are eligible to claim it. That’s why the Department launched a £1.2m nationwide communications campaign in April to raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up. The campaign included:
In December further press and radio advertising and social media activity is planned. We will be focusing on highlighting to pensioners that if they apply for Pension Credit by 18 December, it will not be too late to qualify for a £324 Cost of Living Payment – subject to Pension Credit backdating rules.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Lords) and I have also written to MPs and Peers asking for their support and inviting them to a Pension Credit event on 7 December, where I intend to update them on our communications campaign.
In the new year, DWP will again write to over 11 million pensioners as part of the annual uprating of State Pension. The accompanying leaflet has been updated to include the prominent campaign messaging promoting Pension Credit.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to increase the uptake of pension credits in Inverclyde.
Answered by Laura Trott - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Estimates for Pension Credit take-up in a financial year are only available at the Great Britain level and are available in the “Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up” publication which can be found on the statistics section of gov.uk. The latest publication relates to the financial year 2019 to 2020.
Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Pension Credit provides vital financial support to our most vulnerable pensioners. In Inverclyde some 2,600 pensioners already receive Pension Credit, but we want all those who are eligible to claim it. That’s why the Department launched a £1.2m nationwide communications campaign in April to raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up. The campaign included:
In December further press and radio advertising and social media activity is planned. We will be focusing on highlighting to pensioners that if they apply for Pension Credit by 18 December, it will not be too late to qualify for a £324 Cost of Living Payment – subject to Pension Credit backdating rules.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Lords) and I have also written to MPs and Peers asking for their support and inviting them to a Pension Credit event on 7 December, where I intend to update them on our communications campaign.
In the new year, DWP will again write to over 11 million pensioners as part of the annual uprating of State Pension. The accompanying leaflet has been updated to include the prominent campaign messaging promoting Pension Credit.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what his Department's timescale is for issuing holiday pay to Jobcentre staff.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
There have been unforeseeable challenges that have prevented DWP from introducing a holiday pay solution in respect of overtime and other similar payments. Work is continuing in earnest to enable DWP to implement a solution as soon as is practicable. As a result, we are not yet in a position to confirm when DWP will be making statutory holiday pay payments in respect of overtime and other similar payments.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Jobcentre Plus employees are waiting to be paid their entitled Enhanced Holiday Pay.
Answered by Baroness Prentis of Banbury
Where voluntary overtime is worked with sufficient frequency and regularity, this normal remuneration should be reflected in pay in respect of the statutory annual leave. However, current legislation provides no definition of regularity. As DWP is still determining the elements that will form the basis of enhanced holiday payments and how regularity and frequency will be defined within DWP, it is not possible at this time to confirm exactly how many employees based in Job Centres are awaiting payment.
Asked by: Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party - Inverclyde)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Cold Weather Payments have been issued by her Department to households in Inverclyde in each of the last five years.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The Cold Weather Payment scheme is administered at weather station level rather than at a constituency or regional level. The coverage area for each weather station is determined by the Met Office, which assesses the most appropriate weather station for each postcode area. Cold weather payments are triggered when the average temperature recorded at the weather station has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0oC or below over seven consecutive days, during the Cold Weather season (November to March)
The constituency of Inverclyde covers all or part of the following postcode areas: PA11, PA13, PA14, PA15, PA16, PA17, PA18 and PA19.
These postcode areas are covered by the weather station Bishopton, which also include constituencies other than Inverclyde.
Table 1 Postcode districts mapped to Weather Stations | |
Weather station | Postcode Districts Covered |
Bishopton | G1-5, G11-15, G20-23, G31-34, G40-46, G51-53, G60-62, G64, G66, G69, G71-78, G81-84, ML4-5, PA1-19, PA21-27, PA32. |
Table 2 summarises the number of triggers in the Bishopton weather station over the last 5 complete Cold Weather Payment seasons and the estimated number of payments in the Bishopton weather station area.
Table 2 Estimated number of Cold Weather recipients linked to the Bishopton weather station | ||
Year | Triggers for Bishopton weather station | Estimated number of payments for Bishopton weather station |
20/21 | 1 | 139,000 |
19/20 | 0 | 0 |
18/19 | 1 | 137,000 |
17/18 | 2 | 276,000 |
16/17 | 0 | 0 |
Where there have been no cold weather triggers in the Bishopton weather station area, no payments were made to eligible recipients.
Notes