Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 February 2020 to Question 14677, on Local Housing Allowance, whether he plans to allocate additional funding to support claimants that are at risk of becoming homeless as a result of being unable to afford the difference between the amount they receive in local housing allowance and their rent in (a) Walthamstow constituency, (b) other London boroughs and (c) England.
Answered by Will Quince
We recently announced an extra £40 million in Discretionary Housing Payments for 2020/21, helping to tackle the most acute affordability pressures in the private rented sector.
Since 2011 we have provided over £1billion in Discretionary Housing Payment funding, enabling local authorities to protect the most vulnerable claimants.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
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 implement the ruling of the Supreme Court of 30 August 2018, [2018] UKSC 48, on extending bereavement support payments to unmarried couples.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise that we currently have incompatible legislation on the statute books relating to Widowed Parent's Allowance. My department is currently working on possible options to remedy this. As previously stated there are complex issues we have needed to actively consider which takes time. We will report back to Parliament as soon as we have agreed approach.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support is available during the three month wait for eligibility for limited capability for work and work-related activity for a person who was eligible for employment and support allowance but who was in a couple and not the main claimant, in the event of their separation.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Where a person makes a new claim for New Style Employment and Support Allowance (NS ESA) and satisfies the contribution conditions, they receive a basic rate of benefit at £73.10 a week (for a single person over 25) during the 13-week assessment phase while capability for work is established.
Where Universal Credit (UC) is claimed on health grounds, there is a 3-month relevant period which mirrors the 13-week assessment phase in ESA. Entitlement to UC is calculated on various factors including housing, childcare and the child element; however, the standard allowance per assessment period is £317.82 (for a single person over 25).
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received support for upfront childcare costs under the Flexible Support Fund; and what proportion of the Flexible Support Fund is used to pay for childcare.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support is in place for parents (a) who are in work to cover the cost of childcare costs during school holidays and (b) who have accessed the Flexible Support Fund in the month following that claim and who are not able to recoup the costs of childcare for that period via universal credit.
Answered by Will Quince
The Universal Credit childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare. Claimants can utilise both the free childcare entitlement and Universal Credit childcare costs in conjunction with each other. This offer means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work, even during school holidays. The Government is committed to supporting working parents and, as part of this, Universal Credit pays up to 85% of childcare costs, compared to 70% in legacy benefits.
Universal Credit claimants are able to upload digital copies of their childcare cost receipts or invoices through their online Universal Credit account. In October 2019, the Department introduced changes to give parents longer to report their childcare costs. Childcare costs can be claimed in the same assessment period they were paid, or by the end of the following assessment period.
Beyond the Universal Credit childcare element, claimants can be considered for two additional methods of funding childcare costs: the Flexible Support Fund (FSF) and Budgeting Advances.
The FSF can pay up to 100% of the upfront childcare costs (subject to payment limits) that the claimant incurs before starting work and receiving their first wage. Through FSF, Work Coaches can support claimants with barriers that may prevent them from moving into employment, such as childcare or travel costs. Each case is considered carefully on its own merits with financial help available in advance to eligible claimants.
A budgeting advance is available for one-off urgent financial events for eligible UC claimants, such as upfront childcare, and is repayable over a period of up to 12 monthly instalments.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of universal credit credit claimants whose childcare costs exceed the upper threshold for (a) one child and (b) two or more children.
Answered by Will Quince
Childcare costs should not be a barrier to getting into work; this Government is committed to helping parents into work. Universal Credit pays up to 85% of childcare costs, compared to 70% in legacy benefits and can be claimed up to a month before starting a job. In cases where people need to pay for childcare upfront, prior to starting work, Work Coaches can use the Flexible Support Fund to meet these costs until their first wage is received.
For all Universal Credit monthly payments made in 2019, around 520,000 included a childcare element:
a. For childcare costs claimed for one child in childcare, 5% of the time, childcare claims exceeded the maximum award of £646.35 (28,000 times).
b. For childcare costs claimed for two or more children in childcare, 1% of the time, childcare claims exceeded the maximum award of £1108.04 (6,000 times).
Notes:
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the effect of the limits on childcare costs claimable through universal credit on (a) women and (b) maternal employment rates.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost to the Department.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of uprating local housing allowance in line with inflation in areas where private rents have risen above CPI.
Answered by Will Quince
From April 2020 Local Housing Allowance rates will be uprated by inflation – an increase of 1.7% in line with wider benefit uprating. This means around 900,000 people across the UK could see their Housing support payments rise from April.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether funding is available to existing universal credit claimants to pay for childcare so that they are not required to pay up front and claim the money back.
Answered by Will Quince
The Universal Credit childcare policy aligns with the wider government childcare offer, which includes free childcare hours and tax free childcare. Claimants can utilise both the free childcare entitlement and Universal Credit childcare costs in conjunction with each other. This offer means that reasonable childcare costs should not form a barrier to work. The Government is committed to supporting parents with moving into work and, as part of this, Universal Credit pays up to 85% of childcare costs, compared to 70% in legacy benefits.
The Flexible Support Fund (FSF) can pay up to 100% of the upfront childcare costs (subject to payment limits) that the claimant incurs before starting work and receiving their first wage. Through FSF, work coaches can support claimants with barriers that may prevent them from moving into employment, such as childcare or travel costs. Each case is considered carefully on its own merits with financial help available in advance to eligible claimants.
Universal Credit claimants are able to upload digital copies of their childcare cost receipts or invoices through their online Universal Credit account. In October 2019, the Department introduced changes to give parents longer to report their childcare costs. Childcare costs can be claimed in the same assessment period they were paid, or by the end of the following assessment period.
Asked by: Stella Creasy (Labour (Co-op) - Walthamstow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Work and Pensions Select Committee report on Bereaved Support Payments, published on 22 October 2019, what the expected publication date is of the Government response to that report.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We will submit our response to the Work and Pensions Select Committee report on Bereavement Support Payment once the committee is fully up and running. Any decision on publication will be for the Committee to make.