Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
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 prevent cases of third-party universal credit fraud taking place during managed migration.
Answered by Guy Opperman
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants initially refused employment support allowance have subsequently been awarded that allowance under regulation 29 or regulation 35 at (a) the mandatory reconsideration stage and (b) following an appeal hearing in each of the last four years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the process is for ensuring that the outcomes of appeals against the refusal of (a) employment support allowance and (b) personal independence payments are reported to those who made the original decision.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
DWP has processes in place to feedback to original decision makers where a decision is changed at Appeal, this includes feedback from Presenting Officers who have been in attendance at the Appeal.
This is fed back to the relevant decision makers and line managers through a structured mechanism that is used to advise appropriate conversations and quality actions.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants have been awarded employment support allowance under (a) regulation 29 and (b) regulation 35 of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations in each of the past four years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Statistics on the number of people that have been awarded Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) following a Work Capability Assessment by ESA group allocation and reasons can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/login.xhtml
Guidance for users is available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her evidence of 24 July 2019 to the Work and Pensions Committee on increased support with upfront childcare costs, whether work coaches use the Flexible Support Fund to provide that additional support after the first month.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Work Coaches can use the Flexible Support Fund (FSF) to pay 100% of the upfront childcare costs up to the payment limits set that the claimant incurs between starting work and receiving their first wage. This is paid directly to the childcare providers and is not repayable. Examples of what it can be used to cover include:
Once a claimant has received their first wage, we have given Work Coaches the flexibility to use Budgeting Advances to help pay for further upfront childcare costs where required and where a claimant is eligible. This includes - during school holidays, change of childcare provider, or additional childcare in order to increase work hours. Budgeting Advances do have to be repaid, however, up to 85% of these childcare costs can be reimbursed through the UC childcare offer (up to caps) once a paid receipt is submitted.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her oral evidence of 24 July 2019 to the Work and Pensions Committee on increased support with upfront childcare costs on Wednesday 24 July, whether work coaches will be given greater flexibility to use the Flexible Support Fund.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
Work Coaches can use the Flexible Support Fund (FSF) to pay 100% of the upfront childcare costs up to the payment limits set that the claimant incurs between starting work and receiving their first wage. This is paid directly to the childcare providers and is not repayable. Examples of what it can be used to cover include:
Once a claimant has received their first wage, we have given Work Coaches the flexibility to use Budgeting Advances to help pay for further upfront childcare costs where required and where a claimant is eligible. This includes - during school holidays, change of childcare provider, or additional childcare in order to increase work hours. Budgeting Advances do have to be repaid, however, up to 85% of these childcare costs can be reimbursed through the UC childcare offer (up to caps) once a paid receipt is submitted.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether work coaches will be provided with additional training to ensure that they can effectively advise universal credit claimants on meeting upfront childcare costs.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
DWP is committed to providing the best possible support for all our claimants to meet their individual circumstance.
Our Work Coaches and Decision Makers undergo a comprehensive learning journey designed to equip them with the tools, skills and behaviours required to provide a high quality service, which includes training on children, childcare and payment of upfront childcare costs.
In addition, DWP supporting information is available on Universal Credit Guidance and Universal Learning sites which enhances learning, and is available at the point of need for each individual personal requirement.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants have been offered a flexible support fund payment between 1 January 2019 and 25 July 2019 to assist with upfront childcare costs.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The information requested is not held in a format that can be easily disaggregated and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her oral contribution to the Work and Pensions Committee, of 24 July 2019, what criteria will be used for claimants to receive upfront childcare costs.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Government is committed to supporting parents with moving into work and, as part of this, we have increased the level of ongoing financial support for childcare costs from 70 per cent in legacy benefits to up to 85 per cent in Universal Credit, which is called the ‘childcare element’. The Universal Credit childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare. This offer means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work.
Beyond the Universal Credit childcare element, there is other financial support to help with childcare costs: the Flexible Support Fund and Budgeting Advances. Claimants are able to discuss eligibility for these with their jobcentre work coach.
Where initial upfront childcare costs or deposits may prevent a claimant from starting work, work coaches have the discretion to use the Flexible Support Fund to support the transition into work until a claimant receives their first wage. Individual claimant circumstances are considered each time assistance may be appropriate.
A budgeting advance can help with one-off urgent financial events for Universal Credit claimants, such as upfront childcare, and is repayable over a period of up to 12 monthly instalments. Only one Budgeting Advance will be paid at a time and further advances will be unavailable until the balance of the previous Budgeting Advance is cleared.
The Department is working hard to ensure that the Universal Credit childcare offer continues to operate effectively for claimants. Since February 2018, Universal Credit claimants have been able to upload digital copies of their childcare cost receipts or invoices through their online Universal Credit account. When parents have good reason for late reporting of their childcare costs, the Department is piloting a more flexible approach to enable parents to be reimbursed at a later point.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her oral contribution to the Work and Pensions Committee, of 24 July 2019, what guidance her Department provides to work coaches on how to apply discretionary support for upfront childcare costs.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The Department maintains guidance for its work coaches surrounding the eligibility and processes for awarding discretionary support to assist with claimants’ upfront childcare costs for those claiming Universal Credit.
There are two discretionary sources of financial support to help with childcare costs: The Flexible Support Fund and Universal Credit Budgeting Advances. Claimants are able to discuss eligibility for these with their jobcentre work coach.
Budgeting Advances provide valuable access to interest free payments for one-off items. They are designed to help claimants with irregular expenses including upfront childcare costs. Budgeting Advance payments are discretionary subject to eligibility conditions and must be repaid. Work coaches also have the discretion to use the Flexible Support Fund to support the transition into work until a claimant receives their first wage and is not repayable. Individual claimant circumstances are considered each time assistance may be appropriate.
The Department deposits guidance to the House’s library on a range of Universal Credits topics including the below. This was last updated on 28 March 2019 and we are currently working to share the latest guidance.
Childcare costs: http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2019-0465/Childcare_costs_v11.0.pdf
Budgeting Advance: http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2019-0465/Advances-_Budgeting_Advances_v2.0.pdf
Flexible Support Fund: http://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2019-0465/Flexible_Support_Fund_v4.0.pdf