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1010366

	registered interest
	date	19/11/2018
	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: Self-employed
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that the calculation of universal credit for self-employed people (a) accurately reflects (i) the amount that they allocate to expenses to maintain their business and (ii) their take-home earnings and (b) leaves those people in a better financial position as a result of being in work.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	192922
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/11/2018 answer text <p>Claimants with earnings from self-employment are required to report them to DWP on a monthly basis. These earnings are reported on a simplified 'cash accounting' basis, which asks for the total income from receipts into the business and details of payments out of the business under defined categories during the assessment period. We assess net earnings after deducting business expenses. The requirements were designed to be as simple as possible in order for self-employed claimants to easily report their earnings and monthly reporting allows Universal Credit to be adjusted on a monthly basis.</p><p> </p><p>Where claimants are in the 12-month grace period or are gainfully self-employed and earning above the Minimum Income Floor (MIF), the single taper rate acts to ensure that they are better off working and earning more under Universal Credit, removing the cliff edges from the old legacy benefits system.</p><p>We announced at Autumn Budget 2018 that all new gainfully self-employed claimants can, from September 2020, access a 12-month exemption period from the MIF. This change will assist all gainfully self-employed claimants to grow their earnings, prepare and adjust for the application of the MIF. In 2022/23 it will allow 130,000 self-employed people the space to grow a successful business when moving on to Universal Credit.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 22/11/2018 16:20:35 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

1010204

	registered interest
	date	19/11/2018
	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	Unemployed People: Social Security Benefits
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number and proportion of unemployed people who are entitled to claim (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) universal credit but are not doing so.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	192726
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2018 answer text <p>At this point in the Universal Credit (UC) rollout schedule, we are not able to distinguish between Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and UC claims at entitlement level within the Family Resources Survey data (available on gov.uk) for the purposes of estimating take-up statistics. Therefore the JSA data are not of a suitable quality to be published. We are also unable to estimate UC take-up rates at present.</p><p> </p><p>In total, there are 700,000 households not claiming their full entitlement under the legacy system, that we expect will claim Universal Credit because it is a more accurate system.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/11/2018 18:15:14 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1010205

	registered interest
	date	19/11/2018
	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	Social Security Benefits
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people who have ceased to claim income-related benefits in the most recent 12 months for which data is available; and for what reasons those people ceased to make such claims.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	192727
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/12/2018 answer text <p>The information requested for those moving off income-related benefits is only available for Jobseeker’s Allowance. It is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost for other income related benefits.</p><p> </p><p>The available information which shows the number of off-flows and reasons from the Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimant count is published at: <a href="https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp" target="_blank">https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance for users can be found at: <a href="https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp" target="_blank">https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp</a></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 03/12/2018 11:52:22 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1010206

	registered interest
	date	19/11/2018
	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	Social Security Benefits
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of new claims for (a) jobseeker's allowance and (b) employment and support allowance were processed within (i) five days and (ii) 10 days or longer within the most recent 12 months for which data are available.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	192728
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2018 answer text <p>The information requested is shown in the table below:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Claims processed in 5 working days</p></td><td><p>%of claims processed in 5 working days</p></td><td><p>Claims processed in 10 working days</p></td><td><p>%of claims processed in 10 working days</p></td><td><p>Claims processed in 21 working days</p></td><td><p>%of claims processed in 21 working days</p></td><td><p>Total claims processed</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)</p></td><td><p>165,570</p></td><td><p>23.53%</p></td><td><p>578,170</p></td><td><p>82.17%</p></td><td><p>689,600</p></td><td><p>98.00%</p></td><td><p>703,660</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Employment &amp; Support Allowance (ESA)</p></td><td><p>248,540</p></td><td><p>55.36%</p></td><td><p>358,830</p></td><td><p>79.93%</p></td><td><p>415,590</p></td><td><p>92.57%</p></td><td><p>448,930</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>Notes: </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The period the data covers is from 1 November 2017 to 31 October 2018.</p><p> </p><p>All volumes are rounded to the nearest 10. For context figures for the total claims cleared have also been provided.</p><p> </p><p>The claims cleared within 10 and 21 days figures are cumulative and as such includes the claims cleared within 5 or 10 days respectively.</p><p> </p><p>Claim processing times may be affected by the verification issues (such as wage slips). ESA and JSA claimants are paid in arrears, usually on a fortnightly basis.</p><p> </p><p>The data provided relates to the initial ESA assessment phase prior to the Work Capability Assessment.</p><p> </p><p>This data is from the Management Information System Programme (MISP), a Departmental</p><p>performance management, data capture and reporting tool. This type of internal management information does not form part of the official statistics outputs that are released by the Department in</p><p>accordance with the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/11/2018 17:48:16 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1010207

	registered interest
	date	19/11/2018
	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, how many and what proportion of new claims for universal credit were processed (a) within five weeks, (b) between five and ten weeks and (c) in ten weeks or longer in the most recent 12 months for which data are available.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	192729
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/12/2018 answer text <p>We published statistics on payment timeliness for new claims on 9 July 2018 which found 95 per cent of eligible claims (new claims that were due a payment in February 2018) were paid in full within five weeks of the payment due date.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Our latest internal data shows that for claims due their first payment in July 2018, 94 per cent of claims were paid in full within five weeks of the payment due date, with close to 99 per cent receiving at least a partial payment. Further details for claimants due their first payment in July 2018 can be seen in the table below. Subject to some fluctuation, this has been broadly consistent for every month for which the data has been requested.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Within 5 weeks of payment due date</p></td><td><p>6-10 weeks after payment due date</p></td><td><p>More than 10 weeks after payment due date</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Received Payment in Full</p></td><td><p>94.3%</p></td><td><p>3.1%</p></td><td><p>2.6%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Received a Partial Payment</p></td><td><p>98.6%</p></td><td><p>1.0%</p></td><td><p>0.4%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In many cases where full payment is not made on time, it is due to unresolved issues such as: claimants not accepting their Claimant Commitment or passing identity checks, satisfying the Habitual Residency Test, or having outstanding verification issues, such as housing costs and self-employed earnings.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 03/12/2018 12:36:55 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1010208

	registered interest
	date	19/11/2018
	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	Social Security Benefits
	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 applied (a) successfully and (b) unsuccessfully for short term benefit advance or advance payments in the most recent 12 months for which data are available.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	192730
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2018 answer text <p>Around 60% of eligible new claims to Universal Credit received an advance in October 2018. Subject to some fluctuation, this has been broadly consistent for every month for which the data has been requested.</p><p> </p><p>There were 98,250 Short Term Benefit Advances for Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support awarded to individual national insurance numbers in Great Britain between January and December 2017. On the number of applications, this information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/12/2018 17:31:51 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1010209

	registered interest
	date	19/11/2018
	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, how many universal credit claimants each month are having more than 40 per cent of their monthly award deducted to repay debt.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	192731
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2018 answer text <p>Deductions may include a number of items that are debt repayments, but may also include other items such as payments to utility companies for current bills, or court fines. These are not debts. Disaggregating categories that represent debt, from those that do not, would incur a disproportionate cost.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In August 2018, 0.6% of Universal Credit claimants had a deduction that exceeded the normal 40% maximum deduction rate (this does not include sanctions or fraud penalties which are reductions of benefit rather than deductions). In these cases, a priority order is applied so that deductions for arrears of housing costs or fuel costs are applied first, in order to to protect claimant welfare.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/11/2018 14:03:41 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1010210

	registered interest
	date	19/11/2018
	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	Social Security Benefits: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many members of staff directly employed by her Department or contracted to work for her Department have been available to answer incoming calls to each benefit telephone line in each of the last 18 months for which data are available.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	192732
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/11/2018 answer text <p>A large proportion of our staff are multi-skilled to answer the phone and process claims, and therefore we do not capture the data requested. The information we do hold is as follows:</p><p>Across all business groups each day we are likely to have 5,000 - 7,500 DWP staff and contractors actively on the phones delivering customer service. We retain the flexibility to adjust the number of colleagues working on some of the core functions to accommodate fluctuations in demand.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 22/11/2018 16:28:55 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1010287

	registered interest
	date	19/11/2018
	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, for what reasons MPs offices have implicit consent arrangements for universal credit applications and advice services require explicit consent to support claimants.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	192887
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2018 answer text <p>On 13 March 2017 <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2017-03-13/HCWS528/" target="_blank">Written Statement - HCWS528</a> outlined the implicit consent arrangements for MPs.</p><p>Where explicit consent is needed it can be quickly given in different ways. For example, claimants only need to put a note in their journal to give consent; this is a far simpler and more straightforward process than in legacy systems. Once consent is given, advisers will work with the claimant’s representatives.</p><p>In our response to the Social Security Advisory Committee we agreed to explore options for improving the process of explicit consent in relation to Universal Credit in collaboration with the Committee to consider how current practices could be enhanced and to publish a report on our joint conclusions.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/11/2018 17:56:29 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1010330

	registered interest
	date	19/11/2018
	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 estimate her Department has made of the effect of delaying managed migration of existing social security claimants to universal credit on the cost to the public purse of universal credit transitional protection; and whether those estimates constitute a saving to the public purse.
	tabling member constituency	Kensington
	tabling member printed	Emma Dent Coad
	uin	192949
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/12/2018 answer text <p>It is not possible to disaggregate the spending impact of delaying managed migration. HM Treasury did publish an overall spending impact of the budget changes, which can be accessed at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/752208/Budget_2018_policy_costings_PDF.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/752208/Budget_2018_policy_costings_PDF.pdf</a>.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 13/12/2018 14:47:53 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4683 label Biography information for Emma Dent Coad