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1142872

	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	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, who are affected by the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children, have received (a) a payment advance on their claim, (b) a budgeting advance on their claim and (c) both.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	284273
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>Of the 21,700 claims affected by the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children on Universal Credit in April 2019; 11,500 (53%) received either a new claim or benefit transfer advance, 5,000 (23%) received a budgeting advance. Of those with new claim or benefit transfer advance 3,100 (14%) also received a budgeting advance.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/09/2019 16:03:20 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1143138

	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	Support for Mortgage Interest
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Support for Mortgage Interest Loans have been repaid since April 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	284563
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>Since 1 April 2018 there have been 647 Support for Mortgage Interest Loans repaid in Great Britain and 36 have been repaid in Northern Ireland.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/09/2019 11:08:14 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1143324

	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	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an estimate of the number of claimants of universal credit that have fallen into (a) council tax and (b) local authority rent arrears after transitioning from legacy benefits.
	tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
	tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
	uin	284560
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>We have not made an assessment of this nature, we do not hold the data requested for council tax arrears and any change in rent arrears is not solely attributed to Universal Credit.</p><p>The initial analytical work we have carried out with a single housing provider suggests that many tenants are arriving on Universal Credit with pre-existing rent arrears, supporting research carried out by the National Federation of ALMOs which shows over three quarters of their tenants come onto Universal Credit with pre-existing rent arrears. It also shows that arrears tend to increase prior to making a claim for Universal Credit, and that Universal Credit actually appears to be helping to clear arrears over time. We are currently extending this analysis to include a number of housing providers. It will be published when completed.</p><p> </p><p>We have responded to concerns in this area by putting a number of safeguards in place – 100 per cent advances repayable over 12 months, increasing to 16 months in October 2021; a two-week transition to Universal Credit Housing Payment; a new Help to Claim service; and Managed Payment to Landlord Arrangements, which allow for payments direct to the landlord if the tenant is likely to have difficulty in managing their rent payments, is unlikely to pay their rent or is in rent arrears equivalent to two months.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/09/2019 11:17:21 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

1143328

	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	Universal Credit: Northern Ireland
	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 place copies of Departmental documents which assess the impact of fortnightly payments of universal credit on claimants in Northern Ireland in the Library.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	284639
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>Social security matters are the responsibility of the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.</p><p> </p><p>A number of Universal Credit flexibilities, including twice monthly payments, were agreed as part of the Fresh Start Agreement to allow the Department for Communities to deliver Universal Credit differently from the way it is delivered in GB, and responsibility for evaluating the effectiveness of those flexibilities rests with them.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Communities plan to complete a composite evaluation of Welfare Reform in Northern Ireland. Once complete this will be placed in the House of Commons Library.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/09/2019 12:51:17 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1143364

	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	Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing
	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 households in (a) Birkenhead constituency and (b) England that were subject to the under occupancy penalty contained one or more (i) person in employment (ii) child and (iii) person who is disabled in the most recent month for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	284641
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>The Government has provided easements to allow an additional bedroom for couples and children who are unable to share a bedroom due to their disability or medical condition and are in receipt of a relevant qualifying benefit, or where a non-resident overnight carer (or group of carers) is required for an adult, child or non-dependant adult on a regular basis.</p><p> </p><p>As at April 2019, there were:</p><p> </p><p>a) 970 households in Birkenhead constituency who had a deduction made from their Housing Benefit due to the removal of the spare room subsidy. Of these, 130 (13%) had at least one person in employment and 190 (20%) had at least one dependent child. Additionally, in 730 (75%) the claimant or partner was receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Incapacity Benefit (IB), or Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA). It is not possible to ascertain the number of disabled people in each of these households.</p><p> </p><p>b) 240,350 households in England who had a deduction made from their Housing Benefit due to the removal of the spare room subsidy. Of these, 37,350 (16%) had at least one person in employment and 48,350 (20%) had at least one dependent child. Additionally, in 170,360 cases (71%) the claimant or partner was receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Incapacity Benefit (IB), or Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA). It is not possible to ascertain the number of disabled people in each of these households.</p><p> </p><p>Figures do not include claimants on Universal Credit (UC) with a removal of the spare room subsidy (RSRS) deduction, as these data are not currently available.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/09/2019 16:36:41 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1143378

	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	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 discussions she has had with local authority leaders on the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on the level of demand for councils’ Local Welfare Provision schemes.
	tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
	tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
	uin	284844
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has regular contact with a range of partner organisations concerning Universal Credit including representatives from local government.</p><p>The reforms to the Social Fund in 2013 allowed local authorities in England and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales to deliver their own local provision for people who are in need of urgent help. Local authorities are best placed to decide how to target flexible help to support local welfare needs.</p><p>We passed funding over to local authorities and devolved administrations from April 2013. This gave them maximum flexibility to deliver services as they see fit according to local needs.</p><p>New Burdens funding has been provided to councils to cover additional costs associated with Universal Credit. In 2017/18 the Department paid £13m in New Burdens funding and paid £14m in New Burdens for 2018/19. Last year we worked with a number of Local Authorities to refresh these costs resulting in £18m in New Burdens being paid in 2019/20. 67 Local Authorities received a total of £4.7m in extra payments to recognise alleged additional costs caused in the early stages of roll out.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/09/2019 15:40:52 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

1143790

	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	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he she has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the repayment period for universal credit advance payments beyond twelve months.
	tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
	tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
	uin	285236
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit new claim advances provide access to a payment for those in financial need, which can be accessed urgently, until their first UC payment is due. Claimants can access up to 100% of the total expected monthly award, for which they can pay back over a period of up to 12 months.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has taken a number of steps to ensure that advances meet the needs of claimants and that recovery arrangements are personalised and reasonable. The maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed 40 per cent of the Universal Credit standard allowance and does not reduce other components of an award, such as money paid for children, housing or when someone is caring for a severely disabled person. From October 2019 this will be reduced to 30 per cent and from October 2021 we are increasing the maximum recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months.</p><p> </p><p>The Department more broadly wants to ensure that vulnerable claimants receive the financial support they need, which is why we announced the addition of SDP payments. By August 29th, we had already paid over 6,300 claims, which together are worth over £16 million.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/09/2019 12:58:37 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

1144292

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	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	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 assessment she has made of the effect of the benefits freeze on the wellbeing of universal credit claimants.
	tabling member constituency	Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
	tabling member printed	Hugh Gaffney
	uin	286335
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>An Impact Assessment of the benefit freeze was published in 2015, this is available in the link below.</p><p><a href="https://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006C.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006C.pdf</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/09/2019 16:33:35 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4614 label Biography information for Hugh Gaffney

1144346

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	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	Universal Credit: Payments
	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 plans to recalculate universal credit payments to take account of recipients who are required to make 53 rent payments in a year.
	tabling member constituency	Hyndburn
	tabling member printed	Graham P Jones
	uin	286189
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>Neither tenants or landlords lose a week’s rent in a 53 weekly rent payment year as has been alleged; no year contains 53 weeks. The problem is alignment between weekly and monthly cycles. Each month the UC housing element is a constant figure but claimants with weekly tenancy agreements will be required to make either four or five rent payments within this period. If the claimant always pays their rent on time, in five payment months they are effectively making payment for part of the following month. That month will always be a four rent payment month, so the combination of the advance payment and the ‘overpayment’ of housing support during that month will get the claimant back on track.</p><p>Where a landlord charges rent weekly on a Monday, because of the way the calendar falls every 5 or 6 years, they will seek 53 rent payments in a year, with the 53rd payment in part covering the tenancy for the first few days of the following year. The effect of this is that, over the course of the next housing association rental year, a tenant’s UC payments will accurately reflect their liability, irrespective of the 53 payment weeks.</p><p>There is a separate issue with respect to the way the calculation in the Universal Credit regulations converts a weekly liability into a monthly allowance. The conversion is achieved by multiplying the weekly rent by 52 and then dividing by 12. This effectively means one day’s rent a year (two days in a leap years) are not covered by UC. We are currently considering whether this formulation around weekly rents, and potentially other weekly amounts in the UC calculation, should be amended.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/09/2019 12:45:52 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	3999 label Biography information for Graham P Jones

1144364

	registered interest
	date	03/09/2019
	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	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 proportion of social security claimants who will receive less money once they have migrated to universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Cardiff Central
	tabling member printed	Jo Stevens
	uin	286277
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>Comparisons between entitlement in legacy benefits and Universal Credit fail to reflect that, until recently, people only claimed Universal Credit as a result of a change in their circumstances.</p><p>It is important to remember that there are £2.4 billion of unclaimed benefits not going to the people who need them because they are unaware of how to claim, or that they may be entitled. Universal Credit makes sure that welfare payments reach those who need them most, and when we complete moving legacy benefit claimants over to Universal Credit, an estimated 700,000 more people will get paid their full entitlement because of Universal Credit.</p><p>The Government have committed to spending in excess of £3 billion over 10 years on transitional protection for 1.1 million households. This will help fund assistance for those moving from Housing Benefit to Universal Credit including a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/09/2019 10:47:37 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4425 label Biography information for Jo Stevens