Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment claimants in Aberavon constituency have had a decision from her Department overturned at Tribunal in each of the last three years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Of the 8,250 initial decisions following a PIP assessment since PIP was introduced up to June 2019, for claimants from Aberavon Parliamentary Constituency, 9% have been overturned at a tribunal hearing.
Statistics on the number of initial decisions following a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment which have been overturned at a tribunal hearing, for claimants from Aberavon Parliamentary Constituency, are shown in the table below.
Financial Year of appeal clearance | Number of decisions overturned at a tribunal hearing |
2016-17 | 230 |
2017-18 | 240 |
2018-19 | 90 |
Total | 560 |
Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Statistics on appeal outcomes in relation to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Work Capability Assessments by claim start date and Parliamentary Constituency is available on Stat-Xplore.
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of all PIP and ESA decisions overturned at a tribunal hearing by tribunal venue, available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many employment support allowance claimants in Aberavon constituency have had a decision by her Department overturned at Tribunal in each of the last three years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Of the 8,250 initial decisions following a PIP assessment since PIP was introduced up to June 2019, for claimants from Aberavon Parliamentary Constituency, 9% have been overturned at a tribunal hearing.
Statistics on the number of initial decisions following a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment which have been overturned at a tribunal hearing, for claimants from Aberavon Parliamentary Constituency, are shown in the table below.
Financial Year of appeal clearance | Number of decisions overturned at a tribunal hearing |
2016-17 | 230 |
2017-18 | 240 |
2018-19 | 90 |
Total | 560 |
Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Statistics on appeal outcomes in relation to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Work Capability Assessments by claim start date and Parliamentary Constituency is available on Stat-Xplore.
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html
The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of all PIP and ESA decisions overturned at a tribunal hearing by tribunal venue, available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much has been paid to personal independence payment claimants in back-dated payments in Aberavon constituency, in each of the last three years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The information requested on how much has been paid to Personal Independence Payment claimants in back-dated payments is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much has been paid in back-dated payments to employment support allowance claimants in Aberavon constituency in each of the last three years.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
The information requested on amounts paid in back-dated payments to Employment and Support Allowance claimants is not readily available at constituency level. It would incur disproportionate cost to derive this information.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much pension credit was unclaimed in (a) Aberavon constituency, (b) Wales and (c) the UK in each of the last three years.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Official statistics on the take-up of income-related benefits at Great Britain level, including Pension Credit, can be found in the ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up in 2016 to 2017’ publication.
The next report containing 2017/18 data is due to be published on 27th February 2020. It will be available here:
The information requested on the amount of Pension Credit which remains unclaimed is only available at the Great Britain level. Below are the figures on the amount of unclaimed Pension Credit within Great Britain over the past 3 years of data available.
Year | Estimated Amount Unclaimed (Millions of Pounds) | Range (Millions of Pounds) |
2016/17 | 3,050 | 2,620 – 3,520 |
2015/16 | 2,720 | 2,330 – 3,140 |
2014/15 | 2,760 | 2,400 – 3,140 |
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Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners lived in (a) poverty and (b) extreme poverty in (i) Wales and (ii) Aberavon constituency in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The tables below provide estimates of the number of pensioners in Wales living in households where equivalised income is a) below 60% of median income and b) below 50% of median income. Information is only available for regions on an average of three financial years as the sample sizes in the survey used to collect income data are not large enough to provide robust single year estimates.
Estimates for constituencies are not possible due to sample sizes so it is not possible to provide estimates for Aberavon.
Relative low income sets a threshold as a proportion of the UK average (median) income and moves as average income changes over time. Absolute low income takes the 60% of median income threshold from 2010/11 and moves this in line with inflation. This is designed to assess how low incomes are faring with reference to inflation.
Number (millions) of pensioners living in households with equivalised income below 60% of median income in Wales | ||||
3 year average | Relative Low Income (Before Housing Costs) | Relative Low Income (After Housing Costs) | Absolute Low Income (Before Housing Costs) | Absolute Low Income (After Housing Costs) |
2015/16 to 2017/18 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2014/15 to 2016/17 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2013/14 to 2015/16 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2012/13 to 2014/15 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2011/12 to 2013/14 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2010/11 to 2012/13 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2009/10 to 2011/12 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2008/09 to 2010/11 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2007/08 to 2009/10 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2006/07 to 2008/09 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
Number (millions) of pensioners living in households with equivalised income below 50% of median income in Wales | ||||
3 year average | Relative Low Income (Before Housing Costs) | Relative Low Income (After Housing Costs) | Absolute Low Income (Before Housing Costs) | Absolute Low Income (After Housing Costs) |
2015/16 to 2017/18 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2014/15 to 2016/17 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2013/14 to 2015/16 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2012/13 to 2014/15 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2011/12 to 2013/14 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2010/11 to 2012/13 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2009/10 to 2011/12 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2008/09 to 2010/11 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2007/08 to 2009/10 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
2006/07 to 2008/09 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
Numbers are rounded to the nearest 0.1million children
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of universal credit claimants in (a) Aberavon constituency and (b) Wales have received an advanced payment.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit is now the main system of working age welfare support across the country. It is available in every Jobcentre, with a caseload of 2.8 million claimants, growing every month, now able to access the additional support and flexibilities it offers.
New Claim Advances are available to support those in immediate financial need until their first Universal Credit payment is made. Around 60 per cent of new claims take an advance payment. Subject to some fluctuation, this rate of advance take-up has been broadly consistent over the last 12 months. As the overall Universal Credit caseload grows, we expect the volume and value of advance payments to increase in correlation. This shows that claimants are being made aware of advances and are using it where they need this help.
The below table shows the number of claims paid and those who received at least one advance payment in Wales and the Aberavon parliamentary constituency.
| Number of paid claims | Of which; Have had at least one advance | Proportion of claims paid an advance |
Wales | 181,120 | 100,050 | 55% |
Aberavon parliamentary constituency | 6,470 | 3,530 | 55% |
Notes |
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1. Figures relate only to Universal Credit full service, from inception to November 2019 inclusive |
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2. Numbers are rounded to the nearest 10 |
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3. Figures include all types of advances, including advances paid after the first assessment period |
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Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants who have received an advanced payment have subsequently reported financial difficulty to their work coach in each of the last three years.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much has been paid in back-dated payments to universal credit claimants in Aberavon constituency in each of the last three years.
Answered by Will Quince
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The Department does not centrally collate records of back-dated payments by constituencies.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberafan Maesteg)
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 ensure that universal credit claimants paying rent weekly do not face a one-week shortfall in their UC housing element in 2020.
Answered by Will Quince
Neither tenants or landlords lose a week’s rent in a 53 weekly rent payment year as has been alleged; no year contains 53 weeks. The problem is alignment between weekly and monthly cycles. Each month the UC housing element is a constant figure but claimants with weekly tenancy agreements will be required to make either four or five rent payments within this period. If the claimant always pays their rent on time, in five payment months they are effectively making payment for part of the following month. That month will always be a four rent payment month, so the combination of the advance payment and the ‘overpayment’ of housing support during that month will result in the correct amount of housing element being paid.
Where a landlord charges rent weekly on a Monday, because of the way the calendar falls every 5 or 6 years, they will seek 53 rent payments in a year, with the 53rd payment in part covering the tenancy for the first few days of the following year. The effect of this is that, over the course of the next housing association rental year, a tenant’s UC payments will accurately reflect their liability, irrespective of the 53 payment weeks.