Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, how Scottish claimants would access the health element of Universal Credit, in the context of the planned use of the single Personal Independence Payment assessment for this purpose.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pathways to Work Green Paper, published in March 2025, sets out our plans to reform health and disability benefits and employment support and opened a consultation on certain reforms. The consultation extends to Scotland, but the proposals will only apply to UK Government’s areas of responsibility. DWP Ministers are engaging with Scottish Government throughout the consultation period and beyond.
The interactions of the reformed system, in particular the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment and the introduction of a PIP passporting model and the implications for Devolved Governments, will need to be fully considered before being implemented. This will be particularly important in Scotland as PIP is devolved and has been replaced by Adult Disability Payment, so we will carefully consider how entitlement to the UC health element will be determined for people in Scotland.
DWP currently treats Scottish Government’s disability benefits in the same way as the equivalent DWP benefits for the purposes of reserved premia and additions. Whilst this will be kept under review, it will in any event be necessary for the UK Government to ensure that people in Scotland are not disadvantaged in the reserved benefit system compared with people in England and Wales.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's consultation Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, updated 7 April 2025, whether she plans to amend eligibility to (a) disability premiums and (b) other passported benefits in Scotland.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pathways to Work Green Paper, published in March 2025, sets out our plans to reform health and disability benefits and employment support and opened a consultation on certain reforms. The consultation extends to Scotland, but the proposals will only apply to UK Government’s areas of responsibility. DWP Ministers are engaging with Scottish Government throughout the consultation period and beyond.
The interactions of the reformed system, in particular the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment and the introduction of a PIP passporting model and the implications for Devolved Governments, will need to be fully considered before being implemented. This will be particularly important in Scotland as PIP is devolved and has been replaced by Adult Disability Payment, so we will carefully consider how entitlement to the UC health element will be determined for people in Scotland.
DWP currently treats Scottish Government’s disability benefits in the same way as the equivalent DWP benefits for the purposes of reserved premia and additions. Whilst this will be kept under review, it will in any event be necessary for the UK Government to ensure that people in Scotland are not disadvantaged in the reserved benefit system compared with people in England and Wales.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with her counterpart in the Scottish government on the proposed changes to eligibility for the Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pathways to Work Green Paper, published in March 2025, sets out our plans to reform health and disability benefits and employment support and opened a consultation on certain reforms. The consultation extends to Scotland, but the proposals will only apply to UK Government’s areas of responsibility. DWP Ministers are engaging with Scottish Government throughout the consultation period and beyond.
The interactions of the reformed system, in particular the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment and the introduction of a PIP passporting model and the implications for Devolved Governments, will need to be fully considered before being implemented. This will be particularly important in Scotland as PIP is devolved and has been replaced by Adult Disability Payment, so we will carefully consider how entitlement to the UC health element will be determined for people in Scotland.
DWP currently treats Scottish Government’s disability benefits in the same way as the equivalent DWP benefits for the purposes of reserved premia and additions. Whilst this will be kept under review, it will in any event be necessary for the UK Government to ensure that people in Scotland are not disadvantaged in the reserved benefit system compared with people in England and Wales.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to share data between her Department and HMRC to identify households eligible for Pension Credit.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC and DWP already have well established data-sharing processes and procedures, which are governed by the rules on how data can be accessed, shared and used whilst safeguarding individuals’ data and privacy.
DWP officials are currently working with HMRC to explore how to use data more effectively to help identify pensioner households most likely to be eligible for Pension Credit and to target them directly.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
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 simplifying application forms for social security entitlements.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department continues to review the experience of users of its services, and seeks to balance application simplicity with obtaining the information needed for an accurate award. A key objective of DWP’s Service Modernisation Programme, drawing on end user research, is to assess how applications should be made in the future, and consider the opportunities for more user friendly and easily accessible services.
DWP Agents and third-party organisations are available to support customers with applications. For those without third party support, DWP provides various support to assist with benefit applications. The Department’s Visiting Service offers the most vulnerable applicants help with form completion.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
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 effectively communicate to eligible people over State Pension age that they may be entitled to Carer’s Allowance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is constantly working to improve the way it communicates information and is committed to encouraging older people to claim Carer’s Allowance where they are entitled to it.
Information and advice about entitlement to Carer’s Allowance may be available from a range of outlets including DWP and other helplines, gov.uk and other internet sites, local authorities, Citizens Advice and welfare benefit offices, Social Services, voluntary organisations, such as, Age UK, Carers UK and Carers Trust and MacMillan, public libraries, health clinics, doctors' surgeries and health visitors.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress she has made on simplifying the Pension Credit application form (a) in paper and (b) online.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
As the Department continues to modernise the Pension Credit service, we review the user experience, balancing simplification of application with capturing the right information to ensure accuracy of award. A key objective of DWP’s Service Modernisation Programme is to utilise end user research to understand how the application process should operate in the future and consider the opportunities on how services can be more user friendly and easily accessible for citizens. To that end we are streamlining all Pension Credit application routes by using information held internally to reduce the number of questions the citizen must answer.
Claims for Pension Credit can be made online, by telephone or by post. By far, the most popular way to claim is online where a claim can be made 24/7 with the help of a family member, a friend or a third party. Via the online service, the maximum number of questions a person needs to answer is 48; for some customers it can be as few as 35 questions. As a result, the online claim form now takes just 16 minutes on average to complete, with 90 per cent of new customers applying using the simple online form, or over the phone.
With the telephone service, the caller will be guided through the claim process. We will keep the Pension Credit application process under review.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
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 impact of differential uprating levels for (a) the additional state pension under the old pension system and (b) other elements of the state pension on levels of pensioner poverty.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of State Pensions and benefits. Her review for this year will be based on CPI in the year to September 2024, and on earnings growth in the year to May-July 2024.
The Office for National Statistics will publish the average weekly earnings figure for May to July on 15 October and the CPI figure will be published on 16 October. The outcome of the review will be announced in the Autumn – and until the review has been concluded, it would not be appropriate to pre-judge the outcome. The new rates will take effect from April 2024.
The Government remains committed to supporting pensioners, and giving them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement. Through our commitment to protect the Triple Lock, over 12 million pensioners will benefit, with many expected to see their State Pension increase by over a thousand pounds over the next five years; the full new State Pension is forecast to increase by around £1,700 this Parliament.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to respond to the consultation entitled Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper, which closed on 22 July 2024.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The consultation on Modernising support for independent living: the health and disability green paper ran for 12 weeks and closed on Monday 22 July.
There were over 16,000 responses to the consultation, which demonstrates the depth of feeling about the previous Government’s proposals. I can confirm that responses to the set of proposals on the reform of Personal Independence Payment were mixed and for some proposals consistently negative.
We do not intend to publish a response to the previous Government’s consultation. We will be considering our own plans for social security in due course and will fulfil our continued commitment to work with disabled people so that their views and voices are at the heart of all that we do.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
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 impact of the earnings threshold for claiming Carer's Allowance on levels of employment amongst unpaid carers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises the challenges unpaid carers are facing and is determined to provide them with the help and support they need and deserve. It is looking closely at how the benefit system currently does this.
The Secretary of State undertakes a statutory annual review of benefit and pensions, and the level of the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit will be considered as a part of this review.