Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Disability Cost of Living Payment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further, decisive action to support them providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals, including disabled people, with the rising cost of living.
The Energy Price Guarantee is supporting millions of households with rising energy costs in addition to other cost of living support delivered last year, which includes:
For those who require additional support the current Household Support Fund, running in England from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, is providing £421 million of funding. The devolved administrations have been allocated £79 million through the Barnett formula.
The Household Support Fund will continue until March 2024. This year long extension allows Local Authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the significantly rising cost of living. The guidance for Local Authorities for this next iteration has now been published and can be found here: 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024: Household Support Fund guidance for county councils and unitary authorities in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The Devolved Administrations will receive consequential funding as usual to spend at their discretion.
This month we uprated benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions, the benefit cap levels are also increasing by the same amount.
In addition, for 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments. This will be split into three payments of around £300 each across the 2023/24 financial year. The first payment is due to be paid to eligible households from tomorrow (25th May). A separate £300 payment will be made to pensioner households on top of their Winter Fuel Payments and individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits will receive a £150 payment. Further to this, the Energy Price Guarantee will be extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, meaning a typical household bill will be around £3,000 per year in Great Britain.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which consultations published by their Department are awaiting a response; and when each of those responses (a) were initially planned to and (b) will be published.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All government consultations and calls for evidence are published on gov.uk, which also provides an update on whether government has responded to these.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will provide a breakdown of the total amount of money given out in Support for Mortgage Interest by (a) Parliamentary Constituency and (b) Local Authority.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Regional breakdowns are published quarterly and are available here.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of eligible people received the Cost of Living Payment 2022 in each region.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of the package of support announced in May 2022, households in receipt of means tested benefits were eligible to receive a one-off Cost of Living Payment of up to £650, made in two payments, and people who receive non-means tested disability benefits were eligible for a one-off Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150.
The Department for Work and Pensions has published management information on the total number of Cost of Living Payments made. The information can be found here Cost of Living Payment management information - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
In line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, the number of Cost of Living Payments made in specific regions is the subject of an upcoming statistical release, and cannot be released before that publication is ready, subject to usual quality assurance.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff his Department has employed to work on the Support for Mortgage Interest Scheme in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not available and to provide would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many individuals have applied for support with mortgage interest payments and are waiting for a decision.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not record the information requested because eligible benefit claimants are offered a loan when they become eligible for Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) which they can choose to accept.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish the (a) number and (b) destinations of all domestic flights taken by officials in his Department in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The following table shows the number of commercial flights taken by Departmental officials in each of the last five years, along with the destinations. The number of flights relate to the whole trip and in some cases covers several stages. Staff are only permitted to fly when this is deemed the most efficient and cost effective method of travel.
Destination | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | Grand Total |
Aberdeen | 60 | 21 | 23 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 111 |
Anglesey | 17 | 12 | 1 |
|
|
| 30 |
Belfast City | 194 | 166 | 57 |
| 46 | 11 | 474 |
Belfast International Airport | 177 | 196 | 40 |
| 32 | 4 | 449 |
Benbecula | 5 | 1 |
|
|
|
| 6 |
Birmingham | 225 | 255 | 50 | 10 | 39 | 2 | 581 |
Bristol | 112 | 136 | 27 | 1 | 48 | 11 | 335 |
Campbeltown | 3 | 7 | 1 |
|
|
| 11 |
Cardiff | 58 | 39 | 5 |
| 9 | 1 | 112 |
City of Derry Airport |
|
| 1 |
| 6 |
| 7 |
Dundee | 3 | 4 |
|
|
| 1 | 8 |
Durham Tees Valley Airport |
|
|
| 3 |
|
| 3 |
East Midlands | 20 | 7 | 1 |
|
|
| 28 |
Edinburgh | 275 | 202 | 76 | 18 | 73 | 5 | 649 |
Exeter | 27 | 34 | 5 |
| 8 |
| 74 |
Glasgow | 470 | 559 | 98 | 13 | 181 | 31 | 1352 |
Inverness | 144 | 150 | 40 | 28 | 68 | 8 | 438 |
Isles Of Scilly | 33 | 8 |
|
|
|
| 41 |
Kirkwall | 50 | 49 | 13 | 5 | 21 | 2 | 140 |
Leeds Bradford | 11 | 10 |
|
| 2 |
| 23 |
Liverpool | 4 | 2 |
|
|
|
| 6 |
London City | 248 | 236 | 36 | 23 | 59 | 11 | 613 |
London Gatwick | 286 | 185 | 26 | 6 | 56 | 4 | 563 |
London Heathrow | 94 | 141 | 45 | 11 | 49 | 14 | 354 |
London Luton | 13 | 16 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 42 |
London Southend | 4 | 8 |
|
|
|
| 12 |
London Stansted | 60 | 43 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 124 |
Londonderry | 9 | 17 |
|
|
|
| 26 |
Manchester | 168 | 166 | 53 | 3 | 36 | 12 | 438 |
Newcastle | 258 | 235 | 43 | 12 | 55 | 13 | 616 |
Newquay | 28 | 17 |
|
| 2 |
| 47 |
Norwich | 2 | 15 | 3 |
|
|
| 20 |
Shetland Isles | 53 | 24 |
|
|
|
| 77 |
Southampton | 116 | 101 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 3 | 245 |
Stornoway | 94 | 111 | 17 | 5 | 11 | 1 | 239 |
Sumburgh Airport |
| 1 | 11 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 28 |
Tiree | 1 |
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Grand Total | 3322 | 3174 | 691 | 152 | 842 | 142 | 8323 |
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made additional financial support available to pensioners who are not eligible for Pension Credit during the cost of living crisis.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Government understands the pressures people including pensioners are facing with the cost of living and has put in place a significant package of measures. This includes action to support people with their energy bills. The Government’s Energy Price Guarantee, running from October 2022-March 2023, will save a typical British household around £900 this winter, based on what the energy price would have been under the current price cap – reducing bills by roughly a third. This is in addition to over £37bn of cost of living support announced earlier this year which includes the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
To ensure stability and certainty for households, the Government is providing a further £26bn in cost of living support for 2023/24.
The Government recognises the rising costs felt by all pensioners and nearly 12 million pensioners will benefit from a 10.1% increase to their State Pension payments from April 2023, under the Triple Lock.
Pensioner households have received a £300 Cost of Living payment in 2022/23. In 2023/24 a further Cost of Living payment will be made. More than eight million pensioner households will receive an additional £300 to help with bills.
Pensioners can also benefit from the discretionary Household Support Fund for which the government has provided total funding of £2.5 billion.
This is a substantial package of support which recognises the current additional costs faced by pensioners.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish guidance on other sources of financial support for people who are not eligible for Pension Credit due to the level of their savings and live in rented homes.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The State Pension is the foundation of support for older people, providing the basis on which people can build additional private savings for their retirement. Under this Government, the full yearly amount of the basic State Pension is now over £2,300 higher than in 2010. From April 2023, this will rise to over £3,000.
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and that pensioners are more likely to suffer disproportionately from adverse health effects from living in a cold home, and many low-income pensioner households do not claim the means tested benefits they are entitled to.
That is why, in 2022/23 there was a pensioner cost of living payment of £300 per household paid as a top up to the Winter Fuel Payment. On 17 November 2022 the Chancellor announced as part of his Autumn Statement a further pensioner cost of living payment of £300 per household in 2023/24.
Information on other sources of financial support to help with the cost of living available to pensioners can be found here: https://helpforhouseholds.campaign.gov.uk
For those who live in rented homes, information on Housing Benefit can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/housing-benefit
Customers who want impartial money and pensions advice should visit: https://moneyandpensionsservice.org.uk
For those who want to plan their retirement and check their State Pension: https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
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 increasing the maximum income eligibility criteria for Pension Credit in the context of the rate of inflation.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Following the conclusion of the Secretary of State’s annual up-rating review and subject to Parliamentary approval, the Standard Minimum Guarantee in Pension Credit will increase by 10.1% from April 2023. This is in line with the increase in prices in the year to September 2022. It will extend CPI protection to those who rely on the Standard Minimum Guarantee in Pension Credit at a cost of £700 million above the statutory minimum requirement.
The same percentage increase will apply to the threshold for access to the Savings Credit for those who reached State Pension age before April 2016.