Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support people diagnosed with a terminal illness to access benefits; and what plans she has to bring forward legislation to amend (a) Attendance Allowance, (b) Disability Living Allowance and (c) Personal Independence Payments to reflect the Special Rules for Terminal Illness.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The Government wants to do all it can to alleviate the pressures on those nearing the end of their lives, and on their families.
The Social Security (Special Rules for End of Life) Bill completed all Commons and Lords stages on 8th September 2022 and is now awaiting Royal Assent.
The Bill will enable people who are thought to be in the final year of their life to get fast-tracked access to Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Attendance Allowance (AA). It amends the definition of end of life in existing legislation, which is based on the claimant having six months or less to live, replacing it with a new twelve-month definition that aligns with the end-of-life approach taken across the NHS. Similar changes were made to the definition of end of life used in Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance in April 2022.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 potential merits of reducing the taper rate of Universal Credit.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The Government has consistently said that the best way to support people’s living standards is through good work, better skills, and higher wages. We want people to see their income increase when they start working or earn more, so we reduce their Universal Credit award by less than they are earning.
These policies are kept under regular review with the most recent changes announced at the Autumn Budget 2021 when decisive action was taken to make work pay by cutting the Universal Credit taper rate from 63% to 55%, meaning that claimants will keep more of their earnings. We also increased the Work Allowance by £500 a year, this is the amount that households with children or a household member with limited capability for work can earn before their Universal Credit award starts to be tapered, meaning many claimants will be able to earn over £550 each month before their Universal Credit begins to be reduced.
These two measures mean 1.7m households will keep on average, around an extra £1,000 a year. These changes represent an effective tax cut for low income working households in receipt of Universal Credit worth £1.9 billion a year in 2022-23. They will allow working households to keep more of what they earn and strengthen incentives to move into and progress in work.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which policies have been paused by the Government following the High Court declaration on the National Disability Strategy.
Answered by Chloe Smith
In January 2022, the High Court declared that the Strategy was unlawful because the UK Disability Survey, which informed it, was held to be a voluntary consultation that failed to comply with the legal requirements on public consultations
We strongly disagree with the finding and the Work and Pensions Secretary of State has sought permission to appeal the High Court’s declaration. We are awaiting the Court of Appeal’s decision on whether permission to appeal is granted.
To comply with the High Court’s declaration pending the outcome of the appeal, the Government has paused the delivery, implementation and communication of some policies, activities, and actions that are contained in the Strategy. The Work and Pensions Secretary of State wishes to minimise the risk of acting inconsistently with the declaration. This means that out of over 100 policies in the strategy, we have paused 14. A full list of these policies is as follows:
I will set out further detail in a letter and I will place a copy in the House library.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have found employment as a result of the Way to Work campaign as of June 21 2022.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the honourable Member to the answer given to PQ19742.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 potential merits of extending the £650 support for the rise in energy prices to people who receive (a) Personal Independence Payments and (b) Carer's Allowance.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The £650 means-tested benefit one-off Cost of Living Payments have been designed to target support for 8 million households with low incomes, on means-tested benefits. Personal Independence Payment and Carer’s Allowance are not means tested, but customers in receipt of these, and other, non-means tested who are also entitled to an eligible means-tested benefit will receive the payment. This means nearly 60% of those who are working age on Carer’s Allowance will get a Cost of Living Payment.
In addition, 6 million disabled people who receive an eligible non-means tested disability benefits, including Personal Independence Payments, will receive a one-off disability Cost of Living Payment of £150. Where people met the criteria for both types of payments, they will receive both the £650 and the £150, and carers living in the same household as the disabled person for whom they care will benefit from the disability Cost of Living Payment. The payments will be made automatically in September, bringing total support for households this year to £37 billion.
These payments are part of the government’s £15bn package of support and sits alongside the £400 per household universal support being provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme, an increased Winter Fuel Payment and the extension of the Household Support Fund, on top of the £22bn the government has already announced to support households with the cost of living.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 and effect of permitting the exclusion of a one-off bonus for carers, awarded after the covid-19 pandemic by the Welsh Government, when calculating universal credit entitlement.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No such assessment has been made.
A Universal Credit award is calculated on the basis of the set benefit rate against money coming in to ensure fairness of treatment for all claimants against the money that they have earned. This means as earnings increase Universal Credit is gradually reduced. This is a long-standing principle of means-tested benefits.
Bonuses are earnings and are treated in the same way as any other earnings. This is already true for tax and other purposes, regardless of whether or not an individual is claiming a benefit. All earnings, above any applicable work allowance, are subject to the 55% taper and the Universal Credit award is calculated on that basis.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 potential merits of not requiring autistic people to undertake reassessments for Personal Independence Payments in the context of that condition not having a cure.
Answered by Chloe Smith
Entitlement to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is assessed on the basis of the needs arising from a health condition or disability, rather than the health condition or disability itself. Award rates and their durations are set on an individual basis, based on the claimant’s needs and the likelihood of those needs changing. Award reviews allow for the correct rate of PIP to remain in payment, including where needs have increased as a consequence of a congenital, degenerative or progressive condition.
We announced in the Shaping Future Support: Health and Disability Green Paper that we will test a new Severe Disability Group (SDG) so that those with severe and lifelong conditions can benefit from a simplified process to access PIP, ESA and UC without needing to go through a face-to-face assessment or frequent reassessments. We will consider the test results once complete to influence thinking on the next stages of this work.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 adequacy of support available to families with children affected by foetal valproate syndrome.
Answered by Chloe Smith
There is a wide range of disability-related financial support, including benefits, tax credits, payments, grants and concessions.
The Department recognises the extra costs disabled people can face in their everyday lives. Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment and Carer’s Allowance are intended to help with these extra costs. Claimants are able to use their benefit according to their own priorities. These benefits are tax-free, non-contributory and are uprated annually in line with inflation. They are paid in addition to other benefits such as Universal Credit, which someone may be entitled to claim.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support (a) people with disabilities and (b) people with mental health issues with the managed migration to universal credit; and what assessment she has made of the potential merits of automatically migrating people who are disabled or who have mental health issues to universal credit.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Department believes it will be crucial that new claims are made to Universal Credit because we need to ensure data is as accurate and as up-to-date as possible when claimants move to Universal Credit. This will ensure that any errors will not be migrated from the existing benefit system to Universal Credit. In addition, as Universal Credit replaces legacy six different existing benefits, the Department may not have sufficient information to determine the full Universal Credit entitlement because some of this information is not available from the existing benefit data. For example, no information on capital or other benefits received is held in respect of tax credit claims.
Universal Credit is a different regime so the Department cannot simply assume that all existing claimants will want to make a claim, some form of consent from each claimant would be required. Requiring a claim to be made will provide that and it will be important that claimants understand the new Universal Credit regime into which they are moving and the corresponding responsibilities this will bring. This is especially important for vulnerable groups.”
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 that unpaid carers are financially supported in the context of the increased cost of living; and what assessment she made of the potential merits of removing the earnings cap for eligibility of carer's allowance.
Answered by Chloe Smith
On the first question, I refer the Hon member to the answer I gave on 24 March 2022 to Question Number 142004.
On the second question, I refer the Hon member to the answer I gave on 10 February 2022 to question number 120937.