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Written Question
Cost of Living Payments
Monday 24th April 2023

Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to provide individuals who receive means-tested Council Tax support with cost of living support payments.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Cost of Living Payments are targeted at low-income households in receipt of a qualifying means tested benefit.  Low income households who are in receipt of Council Tax support are able to apply for one of these qualifying means-tested benefits which may provide them with entitlement to a Cost of Living Payment.

To receive a Cost of Living Payment the individual must be entitled to payment of a qualifying means-tested benefit during the qualifying periods, or a payment of Universal Credit for an assessment period ending within the qualifying periods.


Written Question
Cost of Living Payments: Self-employed
Thursday 30th March 2023

Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to ensure that self employed people are able to access cost of living payments.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Self-employed people on a low income could be eligible for cost of living payments of up to £900 if they are entitled to a means-tested benefit, such as Universal Credit, in the relevant qualifying period. To qualify for the first payment of £301 an individual would need to have been entitled to a payment of either Universal Credit for an assessment period ending between 26 January and 25 February 2023 a payment of another DWP means-tested benefit for any day between 26 January and 25 February 2023; or have received (or later be found to have been entitled to) a payment of tax credits for any day in the same period. As with the first payment, the qualifying dates for the second and third payments of £300 and £299 will be set out in secondary legislation and announced once these regulations have been made.

We have kept the eligibility rules for the cost of living payments as simple as possible in order to deliver them promptly and accurately. Whatever eligibility dates are selected there will be always be some individuals who are ineligible in the qualifying period – whether that is due for example to their earnings, capital or other income, or for a combination of reasons. Our decision to make three separate payments over 2023/24 will however reduce the chance of someone missing out altogether.

To help households with the costs of essentials, including those who may not be eligible for cost of living payments, we are also extending the Household Support Fund in England. The Devolved Administrations will receive Barnett funding to spend at their discretion and with their local knowledge.


Written Question
Cost of Living Payments: Self-employed
Thursday 30th March 2023

Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the ability of self employed people to access cost of living payments.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Self-employed people on a low income could be eligible for cost of living payments of up to £900 if they are entitled to a means-tested benefit, such as Universal Credit, in the relevant qualifying period. To qualify for the first payment of £301 an individual would need to have been entitled to a payment of either Universal Credit for an assessment period ending between 26 January and 25 February 2023 a payment of another DWP means-tested benefit for any day between 26 January and 25 February 2023; or have received (or later be found to have been entitled to) a payment of tax credits for any day in the same period. As with the first payment, the qualifying dates for the second and third payments of £300 and £299 will be set out in secondary legislation and announced once these regulations have been made.

We have kept the eligibility rules for the cost of living payments as simple as possible in order to deliver them promptly and accurately. Whatever eligibility dates are selected there will be always be some individuals who are ineligible in the qualifying period – whether that is due for example to their earnings, capital or other income, or for a combination of reasons. Our decision to make three separate payments over 2023/24 will however reduce the chance of someone missing out altogether.

To help households with the costs of essentials, including those who may not be eligible for cost of living payments, we are also extending the Household Support Fund in England. The Devolved Administrations will receive Barnett funding to spend at their discretion and with their local knowledge.


Written Question
Asbestos: Industrial Diseases
Thursday 14th July 2022

Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the context of potential closure of her Department's Phoenix House office in Barrow-in-Furness, whether her Department has taken steps to maintain knowledge and experience of staff dealing with claims arising from asbestos exposure.

Answered by Julie Marson

Following the plans to close Phoenix House being announced in 2017, resources have been increased other locations, and capability is being built in these locations which includes those cases arising from asbestos exposure.

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) is delivered by experienced teams in three sites, the planned closure of Barrow-in-Furness means that work currently undertaken in this site will be delivered from our other IIDB teams based in Barnsley and Bradford.

Transfer of work will be done in a seamless way, with no degradation of service to our customers, including those customers who claim with asbestos related diseases, or under schemes such as the “Workers’ Compensation Scheme, Pneumoconiosis (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979 and the 2008 Mesothelioma Scheme.”


Written Question
Children: Maintenance
Monday 27th June 2022

Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether there is a statutory basis for the Child Support Agency to write off debt; and whether that Agency can reinstate debts it has written off.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

In 2012, powers were introduced which allowed the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to write off Child Support Agency (CSA) and CMS debt in specific scenarios where it would be unfair or inappropriate to enforce liability.

Further powers were then introduced in 2018 which allowed remaining cases on the CSA to be closed following the collection or write off, of historic arrears, as part of the closure of the scheme. The debt must meet certain criteria relating to the amounts owed and the effective date of the maintenance calculation to be considered for write off.

The CMS can reinstate debt that has been written off in very specific and exceptional cases, for example, if the debt was written off in error.


Written Question
Personal Independence Payment: Appeals
Thursday 3rd March 2022

Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what provisions her Department has made for monies to fund tribunal cases involving applicants appealing against the refusal of Personal Independent Payments.

Answered by Chloe Smith

The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.


Written Question
Personal Independence Payment: Appeals
Thursday 3rd March 2022

Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment (PIP) claimants (a) were refused PIP, (b) appealed against the refusal of PIP and (c) were successful in appealing against the refusal of PIP in each of the last five financial years.

Answered by Chloe Smith

The number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claims disallowed at initial decision is available on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. In particular, you may be interested in the ‘PIP Clearances’ table, which, under ‘Clearance Type Detail,’ contains the breakdown of PIP claims awarded and disallowed at initial decision.

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.

PIP dispute customer journey statistics are available for new PIP applications as part of the PIP Official Statistics quarterly release. The latest release is available here:

Personal Independence Payment statistics to October 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

In the accompanying tables Table 5D shows the disputes journey for those who receive a disallowance at initial decision, for each financial year, including the number lodging an appeal and how many receive each appeal outcome. Note that these appeal numbers may include some decisions which were changed at the Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) stage (MR data also shown in Table 5D). Additionally, Table 5A shows appeal figures separately for awards changed and unchanged at MR following an initial disallowance decision, though this table does not show data by financial years. Note that these figures include only decisions following a PIP assessment or evaluation so exclude claims which end before this, such as where there is a failure to return required paperwork or attend an assessment, or withdrawals / relinquishments.


Written Question
State Retirement Pensions
Wednesday 1st December 2021

Asked by: Tony Lloyd (Labour - Rochdale)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people affected by delays in initiating payment of the state pension to those who reach the appropriate retirement age; and if she will make a statement.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

This information is not collated as part of normal business and is only available at disproportionate cost to the Department.

Normal processes have now returned and payments are back to normal times. Where we are awaiting additional information to process a customer’s claim, these claims will be actioned on receipt of the required information.