Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting survivors of domestic abuse from repaying advances of Universal Credit payments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made of exempting survivors of domestic abuse from repaying advances of Universal Credit payments. However, the Government is committed to reviewing Universal Credit so that it makes work pay and tackles poverty.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will introduce separate Universal Credit payments by default to help ensure domestic abuse perpetrators cannot gain control over joint household income.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department have no plans to introduce separate Universal Credit payments by default. Where domestic violence has been reported split payments can be made.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training work coaches receive on domestic abuse; and how often.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All Work Coaches new to DWP receive mandatory learning to support vulnerable customers and complex needs as part of their induction and onboarding. This includes completion of 30-minutes of self-paced learning on domestic abuse.
The Work Coach learning journey includes an additional 90-minutes of facilitated learning on domestic abuse. The aim of this learning is to explain what support we can offer to a victim, or survivor, of domestic abuse. After completing their facilitated learning Work Coaches have access to self-paced learning to enable them to continue to build their knowledge and understanding in their day-to-day role.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce barriers facing single parents looking for (a) work and (b) increased hours.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to helping everyone find a job, progress in work and thrive in the labour market. We know that single parents face unique barriers to work including access to affordable childcare and flexible working arrangements.
Our Plan to Get Britain Working will create more good jobs, make work pay, transform skills, and overhaul jobcentres, alongside action to tackle the root causes of worklessness including poor physical and mental health. In addition, our work coaches are committed to delivering a quality service to ensure all claimants, including single parents, receive the best possible support that takes account of their individual circumstances, helping to identify and address the barriers they may have in looking for or increasing their hours of work. This would include childcare.
Eligible Universal Credit customers can be reimbursed up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month up to the maximum amounts, regardless of the number of hours they work.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to reform child maintenance services by (a) abolishing fees for survivors of violence against women and girls and (b) implementing robust enforcement measures for non-paying parents.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
A consultation on proposed reforms to the CMS was published by the previous Government on 8 May 2024. This included removing Direct Pay and changing the charging structure, with all CMS cases managed in one service to allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster. The consultation also explores how victims and survivors of domestic abuse can be better supported.
This Government has extended the consultation to the 30 September 2024 to ensure full stakeholder engagement can take place. We will then consider the next steps for CMS.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will extend the Domestic Violence Easement available to survivors claiming (a) Job Seekers’ Allowance and (b) Universal Credit to disabled survivors who (i) claim Employment Support Allowance and (ii) are in the Support Group for Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Claimants in the Support Group for legacy Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and for those with Limited Capability for Work and Work-related Activity (LCWRA) in New Style Employment Support Allowance (NS ESA) or Universal Credit have no work-related requirements imposed on them.
Where a legacy ESA or NS ESA claimant in the work-related activity group (WRAG) has recently been a victim of domestic abuse, any work-related requirements are paused for a period of 13 consecutive weeks from when the claimant notifies the department. This is the same as the compulsory easements prescribed in Universal Credit legislation where work coaches must switch off work availability and work search requirements for the prescribed length of time. The work coach will decide if the break can be extended beyond 13 weeks in extreme circumstances.
The arrangements are described here Help available from the Department for Work and Pensions for people who are victims of domestic violence and abuse - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
To keep our easement policies clear, fair, and effective in supporting vulnerable claimants, we keep the conditionality and sanctions policies and processes under continuous review.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will bring forward legislation to introduce target dates to eradicate poverty for vulnerable groups.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to tackling poverty. As set out in our manifesto, good work will be the foundation of our approach for people of working age. Our New Deal for Working People, including ensuring that the minimum wage is a genuine living wage, along with reformed employment support will mean that many more people will benefit from the dignity and purpose of employment.
We have also announced a number of initial steps to support children and families including free breakfast clubs in every primary school so children don’t go hungry, protecting renters from arbitrary eviction and banning exploitative zero hours contracts.
Our Ministerial Taskforce, jointly chaired Work and Pensions and Education Secretaries, has started urgent work on an ambitious Child Poverty Strategy and will explore all available levers to drive forward actions across government to reduce child poverty, tackle its root causes and give every child the best start in life. The Strategy will be published in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to close the disability employment gap by 2030.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has ambitious plans relating to employment, including disability employment, and we will be setting this out through a forthcoming White Paper, the Employment Rights Bill and the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill. We know that there is more to do to address the labour market challenges of today and tomorrow. A fully inclusive labour market that enables disabled people and people with health conditions to have access to the same opportunities as everyone else to the benefits of work is crucial to meeting our ambition for an 80% employment rate.
Asked by: Tom Hayes (Labour - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people applying for child Disability Living Allowance waited longer than 20 weeks in Bournemouth East constituency in the last 12 months for which data is available; and what proportion of benefit decisions for applicants from residents of Bournemouth East constituency were not made within the target timeframe set by her Department in each of the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested on waiting times for a child disability living allowance decision is not readily available. To provide this would incur a disproportionate cost.
The current waiting period at national level for child DLA claims, under normal rules, is 86 days on average. Whilst we do not have a target timeframe, we aim to make decisions as quickly as possible to ensure that families of disabled children receive the support to which they are entitled and are always working towards reducing waiting times.