Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claims were made by people who were both homeless and in receipt of severe disability premiums in January 2017.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department does not centrally collate this data.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claims were made by people who were both homeless and in receipt of severe disability premium in 2017.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department does not centrally collate this data.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many new claims for universal claims were made between 2016 and 2019 by claimants already receiving the severe disability premium before their assessment period came up.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when her Department plans to publish the steps it will take in response to the Court of Appeal ruling in Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Johnson & Ors [2020] EWCA Civ 778.
Answered by Will Quince
The Court of Appeal judgment affects a small minority of claimants in very specific circumstances, those who receive two calendar monthly payments of earnings in one assessment period and lose out on the work allowance. We recognise the impact that having double earnings in an assessment period can have on individual claimants and their ability to manage their finances.
While the court judgment does not require us to fix this issue by a particular date, we are currently working on ways to resolve this for claimants as soon as possible. We will keep the House updated as progress is made.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether payments under the Windrush Compensation Scheme count towards the savings limit of universal credit and other means-tested benefits.
Answered by Will Quince
Any payment of capital from the Windrush Compensation Scheme or the Windrush Exceptional Payments Scheme will be disregarded indefinitely for the calculation of capital in Universal Credit and other means-tested benefits.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether savings for the tax liability of self-employed people held in personal bank accounts count towards the capital limit for universal credit.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Where a claimant has capital over £16,000 we will contact them to understand their circumstances and determine eligibility. If this money is to be used for business or tax purposes, it will not be counted towards their capital, but they may be asked to prove that the money is for these purposes.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-UK EEA citizens successfully appealed a failure of the habitual residency test between November 2017 and November 2018.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Eligibility for Universal Credit depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK. In line with EU law, EEA nationals must be exercising a legal right to reside, such as worker or self-employed status, and be habitually resident in the UK to be eligible for income-related benefits. EEA nationals may now apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to protect their entitlement to access UK benefits and public services.
The Department is committed to monitoring its policies, regularly reviewing and analysing the relevant data. Information on HRT appeals is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she made of the effectiveness of the habitual residency test for EEA nationals applying for universal credit.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Eligibility for Universal Credit depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK. In line with EU law, EEA nationals must be exercising a legal right to reside, such as worker or self-employed status, and be habitually resident in the UK to be eligible for income-related benefits. EEA nationals may now apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to protect their entitlement to access UK benefits and public services.
The Department is committed to monitoring its policies, regularly reviewing and analysing the relevant data. Information on HRT appeals is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.