Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the ending Disability Cost of Living Payments on people with disabilities.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has no plans to extend the Disability Cost of Living Payments past the 2023/24 round. Cost of Living Payments enabled us to target further support quickly during the rising cost of living pressures.
As of March 2024, the rate of inflation has slowed, and the Government has also implemented uprating to other benefits to reflect increased costs.
An evaluation of the Cost of Living Payments is underway. This will seek to understand their effectiveness as a means of support for low-income and vulnerable households.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the permitted working hours criteria for Employment and Support Allowance.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are currently no plans to increase the permitted work hours limit. The ESA permitted work rules strike a balance between encouraging claimants to build their confidence, undertake some part-time paid work, and plan a gradual move to sustained employment, while continuing to receive benefit. The permitted work earnings limit is reviewed annually and uprated in line with the National Living Wage.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
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 lost their entitlement to benefits during their transition from legacy benefits to Universal Credit in areas where that process had been completed.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Latest official statistics on the Universal Credit Managed Migration process can be found at: Move to Universal Credit statistics, July 2022 to December 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) outcomes of the pre-testing phase and (b) results of phase (i) one and (ii) two of the Additional Jobcentre Support Pilot are for the number of claimants moving into (A) employment and (B) a different benefit category.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An evaluation of the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot is ongoing.
Asked by: Simon Lightwood (Labour (Co-op) - Wakefield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken to assign to an investigator a complaint to the Independent Case Examiner.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The rate at which complaints can be allocated to an investigator is dependent on multiple factors including the volume and complexity of complaints received, as well as available investigative resource.
ICE is a demand led service and continues to receive high complaint intake volumes. It has experienced a 37% increase in referrals since April 2022, with an 18% increase in the 2023/24 operational year. Not all referrals into ICE are accepted for investigation. ICE has experienced an 83% increase in the volume of cases it has accepted since April 2020, with a 9% increase in the 2023/24 operational year.
The ICE office continues to review its process and operating model and continuously seeks opportunities to maximise productivity, ensuring it operates with optimum investigative resource. In the past 20 months (August 2022 – March 2024) resource levels at the ICE office have increased by 18%. The unit is operating at 99.11% of its agreed headcount.
The Office has reduced the volume of cases awaiting allocation to an investigator by 49% over the 2023/24 operational year. The combined number of cases being handled by the ICE Office at the end of March 2024 was 1462, this represents a 33% reduction from March 2023 despite the high intake levels experienced.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
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 number of people who are in (a) paid employment and (b) receipt of universal credit in (i) Newport West constituency and (ii) Wales.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
(a)
The information requested is published and available at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp
(b)
Monthly statistics on the number of people who are on Universal Credit by employment status, by parliamentary constituency and by domestic country, are published on Stat-Xplore, and are currently available to March 2024.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many additional (a) work coaches and (b) hours of work coach time are allocated to jobcentres to administer the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The pilot is being delivered using existing Jobcentre resource.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2024 to Question 20581 on Pensions: Consumer Information, what steps he plans to take to report progress towards the Dashboards Available Point to (a) Parliament and (b) other key stakeholders.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Before a specific date for the Dashboards Available Point can be determined, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions must first have regard to a number of relevant matters, including sufficient level of coverage, assurance of the safety, security and reliability of the service and testing of the user experience. Once satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem is ready to support widespread use of pensions dashboard services by the general public, following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority, the Secretary of State will then issue a notice at least six months in advance of the launch of pensions dashboard services.
Officials in my department are working closely with key delivery partners to refine these relevant matters which includes recognition of keeping Parliament and the wider pensions industry informed of reporting progress towards the Dashboards Available Point. This is in line with our commitment of working closely with industry on successfully launching pensions dashboard services safely and securely at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Margaret Greenwood (Labour - Wirral West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department provided between 1 September 2023 and 23 February 2024 to people who wished to apply for a lump sum payment under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979 who had (a) been awarded Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit as they had unilateral but not bilateral Pleural Thickening, PD9 and (b) been awarded Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit for asbestos-related lung cancer based on their employment history but had not been diagnosed with asbestosis, PD8A.
Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Regulations which widened potential Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979 scheme entitlement to include sufferers of unilateral diffuse pleural thickening and asbestos-related primary carcinoma of the lung (without asbestosis) came into force on 23 February 2024. Once the Department identified that these customers were not previously entitled to an award under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979 scheme, the Department’s priority was to amend the relevant legislation as quickly as possible.
An initial letter was sent on 09 January 2024 notifying asbestos support groups of the situation, and the Department’s intention to amend the legislation, and a follow-up letter was sent to asbestos support groups on 26 February 2024, confirming that the new regulations had now come into force.
Eligible customers should receive award notifications as usual when their claim is processed.
Asked by: Stephen Farry (Alliance - North Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to meet with representatives of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign following the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report into the communication of state pension age increases, published on 21 March 2024.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of this House, and a further update to the House will be provided once the report's findings have been fully considered.