Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people claiming Personal Independence Payments with covid-19 classified as their primary reason for claiming that benefit are awaiting a tribunal hearing.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
As of March 2021, a new code, ‘Coronavirus Covid-19’, has been added to the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) disability coding system in the Infectious disease, Viral disease B01-B10 section with other viral diseases.
Claimants under ‘Coronavirus Covid-19’ are a group of people who remain unwell at 12 weeks, with a wide variety of symptoms whose long-term prognosis is unknown. These people meet the diagnostic criteria for post Covid-19 syndrome. Some may recover in a few more months, some may recover over a longer time period. Others may remain unwell or become more unwell over time. Fluctuating functional impairment and wide-ranging symptoms that change over time seem to be a feature of the condition. It is those claimants who have significant functional impairment at 12 weeks who do not seem to be recovering, who may have entitlement to PIP. Claimants do not have to have had a positive test result to be diagnosed with the syndrome. Testing has not always been easily available.
For Personal Independence Payment (PIP) initial decisions made up to 30th June 2022, where ‘Coronavirus Covid-19’ was recorded as a claimant’s primary condition, there were 290 lodged appeals (8% of initial decisions) with no appeal outcome recorded by 30th September 2022.
Please note:
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications have been received as of 24 February 2023 to waive Recoverable Hardship Payment repayments issued between 1 January 2014 and 11 January 2021.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
To date we have received one application.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many subscribers there are to Touchbase; how many and what proportion of subscribers work for his Department; and what proportion of his Department's staff subscribe to Touchbase.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are currently 15,554 subscribers to Touchbase of which 1,758 are DWP staff, which is 11.3% of the total subscribed.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to advertise the Recoverable Hardship Payment repayment waiver scheme to people entitled to it.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has placed an advert on Welcome to GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and have also publicised the exercise in Touchbase, an external DWP newsletter circulated to over 13,000 stakeholders.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the scheme for waiving recoverable hardship payment repayments only applies to payments made in the period between 1 January 2014 and 11 January 2021.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department’s records backdate to 1 January 2014 and the new process was introduced from 11 January 2021.
From 11 January 2021, claimants had the opportunity to review their hardship repayments.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason his Department is closing applications for waiving Recoverable Hardship Payment repayments between 1 January 2014 and 11 January 2021 on 19 June 2023.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
It is necessary to set an end date for a LEAP exercise.
The Department considered 6-months as an appropriate period of time for individuals to make an application.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department are taking steps to review internally decisions on waiving hardship payments.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is not reviewing decisions on hardship payments.
From January 2021 the Department implemented an affordability assessment process to which allows us to review decisions on imposing hardship repayments. Outcomes from this process may result in a sustainable repayment plan or in some exceptional cases we may waive the debt.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 22 November 2022 to Question 88884 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, how much was waived in each of the 25 instances of a discretionary waiver being applied.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The overall value of the 25 cases referenced in Question 88884, equates to £234,396.46.
Waivers are only granted in exceptional circumstances, typically where the recovery of the overpayment is causing substantial medical and/or financial hardship.
More information on the waiver process can be found at Chapter 8 of the department’s Benefit Overpayment Recovery Guide:
Benefit overpayment recovery guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
DWP remains committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms, and has a well-established process to support them to manage their debts.
Anyone struggling with their repayment terms is encouraged to contact the department to discuss a temporary reduction in their rate of repayment.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all claimants are made aware of permitted work and the PW1 form.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Employment and Support Allowance permitted work rules strike a balance between encouraging claimants to build their confidence, undertake some part-time paid work, and plan a gradual move to sustained employment, while continuing to receive benefits; and, on the other hand, providing the incentive to move off benefits entirely and into full-time work.
People can find information about permitted work and the PW1 form on GOV.UK, or by talking to their Work Coach. If GOV.UK is not an option, Work Coaches can issue a PW1 form and a guidance leaflet (DWPFO1) to the claimant.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
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 number of Universal Credit Official Error overpayments from 1 January 2018 to 6 December 2022, broken down by region.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) pays welfare benefits to around 23 million people.
We are unable to provide information on actual Universal Credit official error overpayments referred for recovery, as there is no longer a requirement to categorise a Universal Credit overpayment, other than where fraud has occurred. Overpayment data (both estimates and actuals) is not broken down by region.