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1135167

registered interest
date	27/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the (a) wait for payment and (b) monthly payment of universal credit on the number of weeks of benefit paid annually to claimants compared with the number they were paid under their legacy benefits.
tabling member constituency	Derby North
tabling member printed	Chris Williamson
uin	270345
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2019 answer text <p>There is no need to wait for a Universal Credit payment, as 100 per cent advances are available from day one of a claim. Advance payments are simply an advance of entitlement, meaning that by month 12 of a claim, a claimant would normally have received exactly the same Universal Credit regardless of whether they had an advance or not.</p><p> </p><p>Furthermore, frequency of payment should not affect the total amount of Universal Credit paid over the course of a year. Whilst legacy benefits were paid in two-weekly arrears, Universal Credit is paid in monthly arrears to help reduce welfare dependency by mirroring the world of work, where currently around 70 per cent of tax credit claimants are paid monthly or four weekly.</p><p> </p><p>We know that claimants are currently not getting all the entitlements for which they are eligible on legacy benefits. Requiring claimants to make a new Universal Credit claim will ensure that people will not miss out on any entitlements. This will result in an additional £2.4 billion going to 700,000 families who currently do not take up their full benefit entitlement.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 05/07/2019 13:04:00 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	3976 label Biography information for Chris Williamson

1135227

registered interest
date	27/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of giving universal credit claimants the option of monthly payments or four weekly payments.
tabling member constituency	Ochil and South Perthshire
tabling member printed	Luke Graham
uin	270402
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2019 answer text <p>The amount of Universal Credit paid to claimants reflects, as closely as possible, the actual circumstances of a household during each monthly assessment period.</p><p> </p><p>Monthly assessment periods align to the way the majority of employees are paid and how utility companies and other service providers collect payments. It also allows Universal Credit to be adjusted each month, this means that if a claimant’s income falls, they will not have to wait several months for a rise in their Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>We have recently reviewed and updated guidance to help ensure claimants, staff and representatives are aware of the importance of employers reporting accurate dates and the impact on payment cycles.</p><p> </p><p>We know that some people find managing their money challenging and Alternative Payment Arrangements (APA) can be provided to help them manage that change. These include: managed payment of the Universal Credit housing cost to landlords; making payments more frequently; and splitting the payment between partners within the household.</p><p> </p><p>APAs can be requested by a claimant at any point during their claim and are considered on a case by case basis and assessed by Universal Credit staff. Staff work closely with claimants and are trained to gauge a claimant’s financial needs at their initial interview, and throughout their claim, based on their personal circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>We continuously review Universal Credit using feedback from claimants and stakeholders. We are currently trialling new ways of working around more frequent payments, monitoring the outcomes to further inform improvements to the service.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 05/07/2019 13:54:32 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4622 label Biography information for Luke Graham

1135322

registered interest
date	27/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent improvements her Department has made to the online system for universal credit applications.
tabling member constituency	Angus
tabling member printed	Kirstene Hair
uin	270438
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2019 answer text <p>We are building an agile, adaptable system, fit for the 21st century, to help people to transform their lives through work - while supporting those who cannot work and are most in need.</p><p> </p><p>Using feedback from stakeholders and claimants we have had more than 100 releases to the system since it was introduced, all resulting in improvements to the claimant’s experience.</p><p>Most recently these include:</p><p> </p><ul><li>adding a playback screen to the child details gather reducing error in moving on with incomplete child details;</li><li>changing an appointment booking error message;</li><li>improving password creation for new registrations;</li><li>developing estimated award tool to assist claimants in understanding potential UC award and indicative New Claim Advance value;</li><li>improving questions regarding other people who live with claimant, providing clarity about lodgers, family members, and anyone else living with the claimant.</li></ul> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 05/07/2019 11:47:45 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4675 label Biography information for Kirstene Hair

1135324

registered interest
date	27/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit: Angus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Angus receive universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Angus
tabling member printed	Kirstene Hair
uin	270439
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>As of May 2019 at a Local Authority level there were 4,400 people on UC (at the constituency level it is 3,835)</p><p> </p><p>The latest available information on the number of people on Universal Credit by parliamentary constituency and local authority is published and can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 17:26:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4675 label Biography information for Kirstene Hair

1134861

registered interest
date	26/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pension Credit: North East
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners are entitled to pension credit but do not receive it in (a) the North East region and (b) Berwick upon Tweed constituency.
tabling member constituency	Berwick-upon-Tweed
tabling member printed	Anne-Marie Trevelyan
uin	269768
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested on the number of pensioners in (a) the North East region and (b) Berwick upon Tweed constituency who are entitled to Pension Credit but do not receive it, is not available at regional or constituency level.</p><p> </p><p>Official statistics on the take-up of income related benefits at Great Britain level, including Pension Credit, can be found in the ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up in 2016 to 2017’ publication.</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017</a></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 05/07/2019 12:05:48 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	4531 label Biography information for Anne-Marie Trevelyan

1134891

registered interest
date	26/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the median repayment period for advance payments awarded to people awaiting their first payment of universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	269645
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2019 answer text <p>The median repayment period for new claim and benefit transfer advances was 12 months.</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p>The figure relates to Universal Credit full service only</p><p>The median is based on those advances paid between March 18 and February 2019</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 05/07/2019 12:49:09 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1135012

registered interest
date	26/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Personal Independence Payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for the personal independence payment were refused on the first assessment in 2018; and how many of those applications that were refused were subsequently (a) considered again and (b) granted under Mandatory Reconsideration.
tabling member constituency	Camborne and Redruth
tabling member printed	George Eustice
uin	269702
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested can be found in the table below.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Table: Number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) cases disallowed at initial decision for failing the PIP assessment in 2018, and the number of those who subsequently completed the Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) process, Great Britain</strong></p><p /><p><em> </em></p><p><em> </em></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><em>-</em></p></td><td><p>Number of PIP Cases</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>PIP cases disallowed at initial decision after completing the PIP assessment</p></td><td><p>216,850</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><em>A) </em><em>Of Which:</em> Subsequently Completed an MR</p></td><td><p>105,430</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><em>B) </em><em>Of Which:</em> Had the Initial Decision to Disallow Revised at MR</p></td><td><p>12,480</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><em> </em></p><p><em>Source: PIP Computer System.</em></p><p><em>Data has been rounded to the nearest 10.</em></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>PIP data includes normal rules and special rules for the terminally ill claimants, and is for both new claims and DLA reassessment claims.</p><p> </p><p>MR data is up to March 2019.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 05/07/2019 12:21:17 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	3934 label Biography information for George Eustice

1135015

registered interest
date	26/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Jobcentre Plus: Females
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training and guidance her Department provides to Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches and other staff in her Department on (a) the specific vulnerabilities of women at risk of, or experiencing, sexual exploitation and (b) specialist services that staff may refer to that support women to exit prostitution.
tabling member constituency	Rotherham
tabling member printed	Sarah Champion
uin	269825
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2019 answer text <p>DWP is committed to providing the best possible support for all our claimants, including the most vulnerable in society. We are continuously reviewing and improving the service for vulnerable people to ensure that it is accessible and responsive to their needs.</p><p> </p><p>Specific training and guidance is provided for all staff on working with different vulnerable groups. This includes developing the skills they need to support and communicate with a diverse range of customers.</p><p> </p><p>All DWP staff have access to the ‘Safeguarding Vulnerable People’ guidance, which highlights the importance of having arrangements in place which assist in the protection of vulnerable adults and children from physical abuse, sexual abuse and exploitation.</p><p> </p><p>To assist with identification and claimant support, each Jobcentre Plus site has a complex needs toolkit in place and these are maintained and reviewed locally.</p><p> </p><p>Additionally, Jobcentre staff have access to a District Provision Tool which provides access to the full range of provision and support delivered by DWP, providers, local authorities and independent volunteer/charity organisations. However, if Work Coaches are unable to identify local provisions that meets the needs of the claimant, they liaise with DWP Partnership Managers, who have the flexibility to work alongside local organisations to source appropriate provision helping our most vulnerable, at risk, claimants to access the support they need.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>We have also been closely engaging with key stakeholders on a range of topics and we will continue to work closely with them on improving our services, policies and support for victims of abuse.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 05/07/2019 12:58:36 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4267 label Biography information for Sarah Champion