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1135490

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	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	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, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2019 to Question 268402, if she will place in the Library a copy of the dataset from which the median balance per debtor was calculated.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	270706
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/09/2019 answer text <p>A copy of the relevant dataset* will be placed in the Library.</p><p> </p><p>In order to comply with the General Data Protection Regulations 2018, the dataset contains values only.</p><p> </p><p>The data set shows all balances held on our systems for the relevant period. It includes ‘minus’ figures, which reflect changes made as a result of successful appeals.</p><p> </p><p>The data does not include any Universal Credit overpayments. It includes debts accrued in a number of ways including Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit overpayments built up under HMRC as well as fraud and error overpayments.</p><p> </p><p>Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit were introduced in 2003, with some people then accruing debts over many years.</p><p> </p><p>We do not want people to face undue financial hardship as a result of repaying overpayments. If people do struggle, adjustments can be made and will be based on an individual’s circumstance.</p><p> </p><p>The overall maximum amount that can be deducted from a claimant’s Universal Credit each month to recover a benefit overpayment is an amount equal to 40% of their Universal Credit standard allowance.</p><p> </p><p>The vast majority of benefit payments are made correctly; this stock of debts equates to around 0.6% of current annual welfare expenditure. The legacy welfare system is complex in its structure and administration and in the way that qualifying conditions interact with each other. UC provides a single system of means-tested support for working-age households who are in or out of work and we expect this to reduce overpayments.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><em>*The data provided has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department.</em></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 03/09/2019 16:11:32 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1137622

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	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	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, whether her Department has made an assessment of the number of applications for social security payments that are discontinued due to the death of the applicant.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff Central
	tabling member printed	Jo Stevens
	uin	274568
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 11/07/2019 14:02:03 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4425 label Biography information for Jo Stevens

1141268

	registered interest
	date	23/07/2019
	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	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 assessment she has made of reports that people who are paid on the last day of the month are incorrectly showing on the HMRC database as having been paid on the first working day of the month on the ability of her Department to correctly assess an individual’s entitlement to benefits; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
	tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
	uin	281024
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/09/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit takes earnings into account in a way that is fair and transparent. The amount of Universal Credit paid reflects, as closely as possible, the actual circumstances of a household during each monthly assessment period, including any earnings reported by the employer during the assessment period, regardless of when they were paid, or which month they relate to.</p><p>Assessment periods allow for Universal Credit awards to be adjusted on a monthly basis, ensuring that if claimants’ incomes fall, they do not have to wait several months for a rise in their Universal Credit award.</p><p>Claimants can discuss queries about how fluctuating income effects Universal Credit with their case managers and work coaches, who can also signpost to services appropriate to individual circumstances.</p><p>The Department has been working closely with HMRC since Universal Credit went live to support and inform employers who report earnings to emphasise the importance of timely reporting via the Real Time Information (RTI) system.</p><p>HMRC have updated their guidance to reiterate to employers the importance of reporting accurate dates and the impact on payment cycles; the Financial Secretary to the Treasury is also working closely with HMRC and employers to do this.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 03/09/2019 14:24:24 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1147068

	registered interest
	date	30/09/2019
	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	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 assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of establishing an independent commission to review the value of benefits to ensure they consistently match the cost of living.
	tabling member constituency	South Cambridgeshire
	tabling member printed	Heidi Allen
	uin	292317
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/10/2019 answer text <p>The Secretary of State has a statutory duty to complete an annual review of benefit and pension rates to determine whether they have retained their value in relation to either prices or earnings.</p><p> </p><p>If there has been an increase in prices or earnings she must increase certain benefits by at least the increase in prices or earnings, using ONS data. For other benefits she may take into account the prevailing economic conditions and other relevant factors.</p><p> </p><p>Whilst organisations external to Government are free to make representations to the Secretary of State, the Department has made no assessment around the introduction of an independent commission to review the value of benefits.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 07/10/2019 13:39:43 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4516 label Biography information for Heidi Allen

1134285

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2019
	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	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, pursuant to the Answer of 24 Jun 2019 to Question 264329, of the 749,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts, how much debt remains outstanding for each benefit in the Prescribed Social Security Benefits / Payments category.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	268400
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>The table below shows the outstanding debt balances for the 749k Debtors with recovery from UC for non-UC debts.*</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Benefit </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Current Debt Balance</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Attendance Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.022m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Administrative Penalty</p></td><td><p>£0.011m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bereavement Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.038m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bereavement Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.001m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bereavement Support Payment</p></td><td><p>£0.005m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Carer’s Allowance</p></td><td><p>£18.290m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Civil Penalties</p></td><td><p>£0.099m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Disability Living Allowance</p></td><td><p>£6.934m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Disability Working Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.004m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Employment and Support Allowance</p></td><td><p>£39.226m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Family Credit</p></td><td><p>£0.097m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Housing Benefit</p></td><td><p>£94.378m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Incapacity Benefit</p></td><td><p>£6.371m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.027m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Income Support</p></td><td><p>£120.712m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Invalidity Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.080m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Job Seekers Allowance</p></td><td><p>£22.745m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Maternity Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.096m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Pension Credit</p></td><td><p>£0.568m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Personal Independence Payments</p></td><td><p>£1.262m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Reduced Earnings Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.006m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Retirement Pension</p></td><td><p>£0.126m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sickness Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.002m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Severe Disablement Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.259m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Social Fund Loans</p></td><td><p>£73.925m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Social Fund Overpayments</p></td><td><p>£0.619m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Non UC Short Term Advances</p></td><td><p>£0.293m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Supplementary Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.113m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Tax Credit Overpayment</p></td><td><p>£635.113m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Unemployment Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.020m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Widows Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.045m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Widowed Mother Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.418m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Widows Pension</p></td><td><p>£0.125m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Widowed Parent’s Allowance</p></td><td><p>£1.491m</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Department works hard to prevent potential benefit overpayments from occurring. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances in real time.</p><p>Where overpayments do occur, the Department ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants who are subject to deductions to repay these overpayments.</p><p>It is not intended that the recovery of an overpayment should cause any claimant undue financial hardship.</p><p><em>*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department. All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/06/2019 16:54:19 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1134286

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2019
	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	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, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2019 to Question 264329, of the 749,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts, how many claimants are repaying debts in each of the Prescribed Social Security Benefits / Payments categories.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	268401
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>As at 24 June 2019, 593k of the 749k debtors are currently repaying debts*. DWP is unable to break this down by benefit.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Department works hard to prevent potential benefit overpayments from occurring. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances in real time.</p><p> </p><p>Where overpayments do occur, the Department ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants who are subject to deductions to repay these overpayments.</p><p><em> </em></p><p><em>*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department. </em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/06/2019 16:47:00 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1134287

	registered interest
	date	24/06/2019
	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	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, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2019 to Question 264329, of the 749,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts, what is the (a) mean and (b) median average debt owed by claimants in each of the Prescribed Social Security Benefits / Payments categories.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	268402
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>Of the 749k debtors that made a payment in 2018/19, the Mean current balance per debtor is £1,740.68 and the Median current balance per debtor is £757.20.* DWP is unable to break this down by benefit.</p><p> </p><p>The Department works hard to prevent potential benefit overpayments from occurring. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances in real time.</p><p>Where overpayments do occur, the Department ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants who are subject to deductions to repay these overpayments.</p><p><em>*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department. </em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/06/2019 16:53:35 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1135484

	registered interest
	date	28/06/2019
	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	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, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2019 to Question 268401, what information she holds on the reasons why those 156,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts are not repaying their debts.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	270705
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The table below provides information on why the specified claimants were not repaying their debts.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Zero balance**</p></td><td><p>92,776</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Business as usual/head of work (Includes future instalment confirmation)</p></td><td><p>48,196</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Awaiting Financial Reconciliation</p></td><td><p>12,452</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>In progress – Awaiting further information (e.g. customer correspondence/contact)</p></td><td><p>4,214</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Managed by external contractor (Debt collection agency)</p></td><td><p>618</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Awaiting appeal outcome</p></td><td><p>534</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Waiting for customer to call back</p></td><td><p>306</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Other</p></td><td><p>477</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><em>*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department.</em></p><p> </p><p><em>** The zero balance category is made up of debts that have been fully repaid, but are yet to be removed from the Debt Manager system. It is important to note that no further recovery action will be taken in these cases</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/07/2019 15:06:25 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1137725

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2019
	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	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 assessment she has made of the extent to which people are excluded from unemployment statistics as a result of not being eligible for social security benefits.
	tabling member constituency	Wansbeck
	tabling member printed	Ian Lavery
	uin	275194
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The UK’s official measure of unemployment is produced by the independent ONS and based on the International Labour Organisation’s long-standing definition of unemployment: persons without work, available for work in the next 2 weeks, and who have actively sought work in the last 4 weeks.</p><p>The latest available statistics were released by the ONS on 11 June 2019 and show an unemployment rate (for ages 16+) of 3.8% - the lowest since 1974. This statistic is estimated using responses to the Labour Force Survey and is unrelated to a person’s eligibility for social security benefits.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 17/07/2019 13:35:08 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4139 label Biography information for Ian Lavery

1142783

	registered interest
	date	02/09/2019
	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	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 steps she is making to support claimants who submit their application forms for benefits on time but who do not receive an acknowledgement of receipt until after the deadline has passed, and are asked to explain why the form was submitted late.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	284416
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/09/2019 answer text <p>DWP processes are designed to ensure claimants have adequate time to complete applications for benefits. Processes for different benefits vary and extensions can be applied. Where appropriate, reminders are issued when forms have not been received within expected timescales. Acknowledgements are sent for claims which have been submitted within timescales where applicable. If there are instances where this has not happened, we welcome the opportunity to investigate them if details can be provided.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 06/09/2019 12:50:52 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead