Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure people over the age of 75 are supported financially to afford the TV licence fee.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The policy for the TV licence concession for those aged 75 and over is currently the responsibility of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and will pass to the BBC in June 2020.
We are forecast to spend over £120 billion on benefits for pensioners in 2019-20, this includes over £99 billion of expenditure on the State Pension.
We are committed to the Triple Lock for the remainder of this Parliament, guaranteeing that up to the full amounts of the basic and new State Pensions will rise by the highest of average earnings growth, price inflation, or 2.5% and in 2019/20 the increase was 2.6%.
The full rate of the basic State Pension will be worth over £1,600 more in 2019/20 than in 2010 in cash terms - £675 more than if it had been increased only in line with earnings.
Pension Credit and Housing Benefit for pensioners provide support for poorer pensioners. From April 2019, the Standard Minimum Guarantee in Pension Credit has also been increased by earnings. This will be the equivalent of over £1,800 per year higher in cash terms for single people and over £2,700 per year higher in cash terms for couples than it was in 2010.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps she has taken to increase the uptake of pension credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to ensuring that older people receive the support they are entitled to and the DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances. The DWP uses a wide range of channels to communicate information about benefits to potential customers; including information on https://gov.uk/, in leaflets and by telephone. DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres including visiting officers are able to provide help and advice about entitlement to benefits, as are staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit.
Potential customers can use the Pension Credit https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator to check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive. People wishing to claim Pension Credit can do so by calling 0800 99 1234.
One of the best ways to reach eligible customers is through trusted stakeholder working in the community and we have developed the Pension Credit toolkit, as an on-line tool for agencies and welfare rights organisations to use in order to encourage Pension Credit take-up. It can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit
The toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. The toolkit also provides links to information about disability and carers benefits.
Most recently we have provided to relevant organisations a fact sheet about Pension Credit and the recent changes for mixed age couples to ensure that accurate information is available in the places where people are most likely to seek information.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the process is through which eligibility for child maintenance payments is verified.
Answered by Will Quince
In order to make a child maintenance assessment the Child Maintenance Service must identify a receiving parent, a paying parent and at least one qualifying child.
It is not necessary for a person to be receiving Child Benefit for them to be treated as a receiving parent. However, entitlement to Child Benefit is based on an overall care test which is broadly similar to the Child Maintenance policy on day to day care. Payment of Child Benefit is therefore a very good indicator of who should be treated as the receiving parent. Where Child Benefit is not in payment, the Service will request additional evidence from both parents.
For child maintenance purposes, a child must be under 20 years of age and in full time non-advanced education or approved training, and eligible for Child Benefit. They also need to be habitually resident in the UK and usually living in the same household as the receiving parent.
Child Benefit may stay in payment for a period after a child under 20 ceases education or training until a 'terminal date' is reached. Child Benefit will remain payable from the date education or training ceased up to and including the week that includes the first terminal date.
Both paying and receiving parents have a responsibility to inform the Child Maintenance Service of any change in circumstances. If parents inform the Service that a qualifying child has left education, the Child Maintenance Service will seek to verify this and update the maintenance calculation accordingly.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what safeguards her Department have put in place to ensure that the system for child maintenance payments is not open to abuse by people who have left full time education.
Answered by Will Quince
In order to make a child maintenance assessment the Child Maintenance Service must identify a receiving parent, a paying parent and at least one qualifying child.
It is not necessary for a person to be receiving Child Benefit for them to be treated as a receiving parent. However, entitlement to Child Benefit is based on an overall care test which is broadly similar to the Child Maintenance policy on day to day care. Payment of Child Benefit is therefore a very good indicator of who should be treated as the receiving parent. Where Child Benefit is not in payment, the Service will request additional evidence from both parents.
For child maintenance purposes, a child must be under 20 years of age and in full time non-advanced education or approved training, and eligible for Child Benefit. They also need to be habitually resident in the UK and usually living in the same household as the receiving parent.
Child Benefit may stay in payment for a period after a child under 20 ceases education or training until a 'terminal date' is reached. Child Benefit will remain payable from the date education or training ceased up to and including the week that includes the first terminal date.
Both paying and receiving parents have a responsibility to inform the Child Maintenance Service of any change in circumstances. If parents inform the Service that a qualifying child has left education, the Child Maintenance Service will seek to verify this and update the maintenance calculation accordingly.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the introduction of universal credit on trends in the level of household debt in the West Midlands.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We do not hold data on the levels of household debt.
The Government is committed to ensuring that people, especially those who are experiencing financial difficulties, have access to the information and guidance they need to make effective financial decisions throughout their lives.
Once fully rolled out, Universal Credit is forecast to be £2 billion per year more generous than the legacy system it replaces.
The Money and Pension Service has replaced three providers of government-sponsored financial guidance – the Money Advice Service, the Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise – which has brought together the provision of debt advice, money guidance and pension guidance for the first time, streamlining the services offered and reducing confusion for members of the public on who they should contact.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the correlation between increasing food bank dependence in the West Midlands and the roll-out of universal credit.
Answered by Will Quince
Whilst we have always said that there are many reasons people use Food Banks and that their growth cannot be linked to a single cause, we have long acknowledged that there were issues with the early roll out of UC. We have listened to feedback on how we can support our claimants and acted quickly, making improvements such as extending advances, removing waiting days, and introducing housing benefit run on. These changes are giving support to vulnerable people who need it most, whilst at the same time helping people get into work faster.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department offers to people over 25-years old to re-enter the job market.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Jobcentre Plus has a flexible support model to provide support and District Managers have discretion on how to target interventions. The model has three elements: a core regime of regular face-to-face meetings; flexible work coach support; and a flexible menu of support options.
Where Jobcentre Plus District Managers identify gaps in skills or other provision they have discretion to purchase extra support to meet particular needs using the Flexible Support Fund.
Jobcentre Plus work coaches can advise claimants on the localised provision and support available, either by employment sector or skills/employability.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons people receiving Access to Work grants do not receive a monthly statement setting out the amount of their remaining allowance.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The IT that is currently used to administer Access to Work (AtW) is not configured to issue monthly statements. We are continuing to develop the AtW digital service and we are testing new features and improvements with users as part of this process.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether hoists are refundable under the Access to Work scheme.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
The support that Access to Work provides is considered on a case-by-case basis, dependent on individual work-related needs caused by disability or health conditions. Support can include specialist equipment, which may potentially include a ‘hoist’ if such an item is deemed to be necessary for the individual’s needs and appropriate within the terms of Access to Work guidance.
Asked by: Shabana Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Ladywood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons Access to Work claim handlers make separate payments to customers who have multiple such allowances rather than making a single payment.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
We have interpreted this question to relate to the current process for making payments to customers.
At present, once an award has been agreed, individual costs are reimbursed retrospectively rather than a single lump sum payment being issued in advance.
We recently conducted a voluntary trial of a cash ‘Personal Budget’ model for Access to Work awards, which tested the response of Access to Work users to more direct control of their awards. We are using evidence from this trial to develop a further trial of personal budgets which we intend to launch shortly.