Show Search Form

Search Results

registered interest	true false
date	exactly: or between: and
answering body
answering dept id
answering dept short name
answering dept sort name
hansard heading
house id
legislature	pref label
question text
tabling member constituency
tabling member printed
uin
answer	is ministerial correction true false date of answer exactly: or between: and answer text answering member constituency answering member printed question first answered answering member label
tabling member	label

Search

1701078

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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	Employment and Support Allowance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	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.
	tabling member constituency	Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
	tabling member printed	Drew Hendry
	uin	21711
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>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.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 18/04/2024 10:23:52 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4467 label Biography information for Drew Hendry

1698640

	registered interest
	date	25/03/2024
	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	Employment and Support Allowance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an estimate of how many people entitled to the Employment and Support Allowance did not claim it in (a) 2018, (b) 2019, (c) 2020 and (d) 2021.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	20448
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2024 answer text <p>Estimates for the number of entitled non-recipients and caseload take-up are available for income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Income Support (IS) up to financial year 2018/19. These can be found <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2018-to-2019" target="_blank">here.</a> Figures for 2018/19 were affected by no new claims for income-related ESA and IS from December 2018 as a result of Universal Credit rollout. No figures have been published for ESA/IS since 2018/19 due to the roll out of Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>No estimates of the volume of entitled non-recipients of New Style (contributory) ESA have been made.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 19/04/2024 12:51:57 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1698641

	registered interest
	date	25/03/2024
	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	Employment and Support Allowance
	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 extending the eligibility National Insurance criteria for Employment and Support Allowance to people who have paid National Insurance contributions over two full tax years in their lives.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	20449
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2024 answer text <p>New Style Employment and Support Allowance (NS ESA) is a benefit for individuals with a limited capability to work based on the individual’s recent National Insurance (NI) record.</p><p> </p><p>Normally, to be entitled to NS ESA, a claimant has to satisfy two NI conditions:  to have worked and paid enough NI contributions in one of the two tax years prior to claiming NS ESA for at least 26 weeks; and to have either paid, or been credited with, enough NI contributions in both of the two tax years prior to claiming NS ESA that is at least 50 times the minimum threshold.</p><p> </p><p>Looking at the most recent tax years, ensures people have a recent record of paid contributions and therefore a close link with the labour market.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 19/04/2024 12:49:50 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1689333

	registered interest
	date	16/02/2024
	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	Employment and Support Allowance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of transition of claimants from Incapacity Benefit to the Employment and Support Allowance; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of that transition on claimants' accruals of National Insurance credits.
	tabling member constituency	Harborough
	tabling member printed	Neil O'Brien
	uin	14253
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/02/2024 answer text <p>All Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants receive Class 1 National Insurance Credits as part of their award. If any claimants believe that an error has been made in the award of these credits they should contact the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).</p><p>ESA was introduced in October 2008. From March 2011, the DWP began reassessing people on incapacity benefits (for example, Incapacity Benefit (IB) and Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) ahead of moving them onto ESA.</p><p>The DWP made an historic error with the reassessment of IB cases when they were transferred onto ESA. This arose because the Department converted some IB and SDA claimants to Contributory ESA but did not consider whether they may also have been entitled to Income-Related ESA. A Legal Entitlement and Administrative Practices (LEAP) exercise was concluded in June 2021, the exercise reviewed around 600,000 cases and made 118,000 arrears payments, totalling £613 million pounds. Those claimants who have received arrears payments would have been entitled to receive National Insurance credits from the date they were transferred onto contributory ESA. The then Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work made a statement about the completion of this LEAP to the house on 7th July 2021. This statement can be found <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-07-12/hcws171" target="_blank">here.</a></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 27/02/2024 10:52:46 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4679 label Biography information for Neil O'Brien

1689356

	registered interest
	date	16/02/2024
	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	Employment and Support Allowance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which companies (a) were involved in designing and (b) are involved in maintaining the technology programmes used to manage (i) the Employment and Support Allowance, (ii) the transition from Incapacity Benefit to the Employment and Support Allowance and (iii) National Insurance credits for Employment and Support Allowance claimants.
	tabling member constituency	Harborough
	tabling member printed	Neil O'Brien
	uin	14255
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/02/2024 answer text <p>The following companies were involved alongside DWP in the design and maintenance of (i) Employment and Support Allowance, (ii) the transition from Incapacity Benefit to the Employment and Support Allowance and (iii) National Insurance credits for Employment and Support.</p><p> </p><p>The Employment and Support allowance (ESA) service was initially designed by Electronic Data Systems (EDS) who later became Hewlett Packard Enterprise Systems (HPES) in August 2008, working with DWP to implement it.</p><p> </p><p>HPES continued to maintain and support ESA until 2016 when the Government company BPDTS Ltd (Benefits and Pensions Digital Technology Services) was established to provide digital technology services to the DWP. The Company’s employees were public servants who provided a full range of digital technology services to DWP. BPDTS was formally classified as a non-departmental public body. BPDTS colleagues were subsequently transferred into DWP in 2021.</p><p> </p><p>The ESA benefit is now developed and maintained by an in-house DWP team.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 22/02/2024 14:51:44 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4679 label Biography information for Neil O'Brien

1669660

	registered interest
	date	13/11/2023
	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	Employment and Support Allowance
	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 left the Employment and Support Allowance Support Group in each of the last twelve months for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Lewisham, Deptford
	tabling member printed	Vicky Foxcroft
	uin	1650
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/11/2023 answer text <p>The following table shows the volume of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Support Group (SG) claimants who left the SG, in each of the last twelve months for which data is available.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Volume of ESA claimants who left the SG by month.</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Volume</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-22</p></td><td><p>11,400</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May-22</p></td><td><p>12,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-22</p></td><td><p>11,500</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jul-22</p></td><td><p>10,700</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aug-22</p></td><td><p>10,700</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-22</p></td><td><p>10,800</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Oct-22</p></td><td><p>11,100</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nov-22</p></td><td><p>10,800</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dec-22</p></td><td><p>10,400</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jan-23</p></td><td><p>10,700</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Feb-23</p></td><td><p>9,800</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mar-23</p></td><td><p>11,600</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Volumes have been rounded to the nearest 100.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 21/11/2023 14:30:25 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
	tabling member	4491 label Biography information for Vicky Foxcroft

1610218

	registered interest
	date	14/04/2023
	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	Employment and Support Allowance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to review the operation of (a) income-based ESA or (b) contribution-based ESA following the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment announced in Transforming Future Support: The Health and Disability White Paper published in March 2023.
	tabling member constituency	St Albans
	tabling member printed	Daisy Cooper
	uin	180351
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/04/2023 answer text <p>Our income replacement benefit proposals, as set out in Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper, will apply to Universal Credit. It is not possible to submit a new claim for income-related ESA.</p><p> </p><p>As part of our proposal to improve the design of the benefits system, the UK Government is committed to maintaining a contributory health and disability benefit. We are currently reviewing options on how this can be incorporated within the reforms set out in the White Paper.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 24/04/2023 14:58:52 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
	tabling member	4769 label Biography information for Daisy Cooper

1607893

	registered interest
	date	27/03/2023
	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	Employment and Support Allowance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Employment Support Allowance claimants are in (a) the Work-Related Activity Group and (b) the Support Group on the basis of substantial risk.
	tabling member constituency	Lewisham, Deptford
	tabling member printed	Vicky Foxcroft
	uin	174376
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2023 answer text <p>Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants can be placed in the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) or the Support Group (SG) on the basis of substantial risk to the physical or mental health of any person, as set out in the regulations 29 (2[b]) and 35(2) of the Employment and Support Allowance Regulations 2008 (SI 794).</p><p> </p><p>The table below shows the latest available number of claimants with ESA in payment in the WRAG and SG, who have been placed in those groups following a recommendation from a health professional following a Work Capability Assessment (WCA), that they be placed in those groups on the basis of physical or mental health risk.</p><p> </p><p>Data on cases that are placed in the WRAG or SG on the basis of physical or mental health risk by the DWP decision maker, after reconsideration or after appeal (where that was not the recommendation of the health professional undertaking the WCA), are held, but could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Claimants with ESA in payment, Aug-22</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Support Group - Physical or Mental Health Risk</p></td><td><p>253,100</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>WRAG - Physical or Mental Health Risk</p></td><td><p>24,500</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 04/04/2023 13:08:22 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
	tabling member	4491 label Biography information for Vicky Foxcroft

1601313

	registered interest
	date	06/03/2023
	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	Employment and Support Allowance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including the type and nature of ESA awards on departmental written communications.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester South
	tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
	uin	158923
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2023 answer text <p>ESA entitlement letters explain what a customer’s ESA is based on and contain information on relevant components. The DWP has a specific resource currently reviewing the suite of ESA letters to improve language and content where appropriate.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 13/03/2023 17:47:00 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
	tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth

1601317

	registered interest
	date	06/03/2023
	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	Employment and Support Allowance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what system is used to produce standardised letters for ESA recipients.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester South
	tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
	uin	158924
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2023 answer text <p>The Jobseekers Allowance Payments System which hosts Employment and Support Allowance, produces notifications based on the individual circumstances of each case which would require a letter to be sent to a customer. These notifications are then transferred in bulk to the third-party supplier responsible for bulk print management services in DWP. The third-party supplier then produces individual letters which are then sent out to those customers or their representatives.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove question first answered 13/03/2023 18:00:51 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
	tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth