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1146582

	registered interest
	date	26/09/2019
	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: Payments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what comparative assessment she has made of the average length of time for a claimant to receive their first (a) legacy benefit payment and (b) universal credit payment in the each of the last two years.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	291447
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/10/2019 answer text <p>The design of Universal Credit is fundamentally different to legacy benefits, so any assessment would not reflect this adequately.</p><p> </p><p>The Department published an assessment of legacy benefit and Universal Credit payment timeliness in its Annual Report and Accounts 2018-19. This showed that the speed of Universal Credit payments has continued to improve during its rollout and the Department continues to introduce improvements. Between February 2018 to February 2019 Universal Credit payment timeliness improved with 86% of new claims to Universal Credit receiving full payment on time in February 2019, an increase from 78% in February 2018.</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. This allows Universal Credit to be adjusted each month, which 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>Overall, Universal Credit provides more tailored support, and makes it more financially rewarding to increase earnings when in employment compared to legacy benefits.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 03/10/2019 15:55:01 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1168780

	registered interest
	date	20/12/2019
	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	Poverty: Children
	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 reduce child poverty.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	317
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/01/2020 answer text <p>This Government is committed to delivering a sustainable, long-term solution to poverty in all its forms. Tackling child poverty requires an approach that goes beyond one that focuses on income alone to one that addresses the root causes of poverty and disadvantage and improves long-term outcomes for families and children.</p><p>Through Improving Lives: Helping Workless Families, published in 2017, we set out detailed evidence on the root causes of poverty and disadvantage and their impact on the outcomes of children in families where none of the parents is working. We also set out nine indicators to track progress in the areas that matter, including two statutory measures of parental worklessness and educational attainment – the two areas that we know can make the biggest difference to children’s outcomes.</p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/621364/improving-lives-helping-workless-families-web-version.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/621364/improving-lives-helping-workless-families-web-version.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p><p>There is clear evidence that children in working households are not only less likely to grow up in poverty – their life chances are also significantly better. We will therefore continue to reform the welfare system so that it works with the tax system and the labour market to support employment and higher pay. Promoting full-time work through work incentives is a key feature of this approach, reinforced by the National Living Wage and the rising Personal Tax Allowance, which work together to promote independence from benefits.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 13/01/2020 15:14:52 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1168781

	registered interest
	date	20/12/2019
	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	Employment: Poverty
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to tackle in-work poverty.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	318
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/01/2020 answer text <p>Delivering a sustainable, long-term solution to all forms of poverty is a priority for this Government. There is clear evidence that full-time work substantially reduces the risk of in-work poverty; for example, there is only a 7% chance of a child being in poverty if both parents</p><p>work full-time compared with 66% for two-parent families with only part-time work.</p><p>The number of people in employment is at a near-record high of 3.8 million. Around three-quarters of the growth in employment has been in full-time work, substantially reducing the risk of poverty.</p><p>Universal Credit promotes full-time work through smooth incentives to increase hours, a general expectation that lone parents and partners should work (unless caring for young children or a disabled person); and generous childcare subsidies. We will therefore continue with our reforms to the welfare system so that it works with the tax system and the labour market to support employment and higher pay.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 07/01/2020 14:50:26 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1168782

	registered interest
	date	20/12/2019
	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, for what reasons her Department is increasing working-age benefits in line with the rate of inflation from April 2020 rather than an earlier date.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	319
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/01/2020 answer text <p>The Secretary of State is bound by law to complete an annual review of benefit and pension rates to determine whether they have retained their value in relation to the general level of prices or – for pensions - earnings. This statute requires benefit and pension rates to be reviewed and set in each tax year. April 2020 is the new financial year.</p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State has completed her review and a Written Statement was tabled on 4 November:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-11-04/HCWS74/" target="_blank">https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-11-04/HCWS74/</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 13/01/2020 17:29:26 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1169837

	registered interest
	date	09/01/2020
	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	Carer's 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 have been prosecuted for Carer's Allowance (a) overpayments and (b) wrongful payment in the last 10 years.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	1757
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2020 answer text <p>To provide this information would incur a disproportionate cost to the Department.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Department would only seek to prosecute an individual where there was strong evidence to suggest that the individual had committed benefit fraud.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 14/01/2020 12:58:21 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1169840

	registered interest
	date	09/01/2020
	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 enforces the (a) repayment of social security overpayments and (b) prosecutions when the error was made by her Department.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	1759
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2020 answer text <p>For all benefits other than Universal Credit, New Style Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and New Style Employment Support Allowance (ESA), overpayments resulting from Departmental error are not recoverable.</p><p> </p><p>Section 105 of The Welfare Reform Act 2012 amended the Social Security Act 1992, so that for Universal Credit, New Style JSA and New Style ESA, any payment in excess of the entitlement is recoverable, regardless of how the overpayment of entitlement occurred. This policy was brought in to reflect the need for a better value for money welfare system and to reinforce the overarching aim that Universal Credit mirrors work.</p><p> </p><p>As a Department, we understand the impact that debt can have on the wellbeing of claimants and we endeavour to ensure that the recovery of any overpayment is managed in a way that takes account of the claimant’s individual circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>I can confirm that the Department would not prosecute a claimant if an overpayment occurred purely as a result of a Departmental error, and would only consider prosecuting a claimant where there is strong evidence to suggest they may have committed benefit fraud</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 14/01/2020 17:53:56 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1170313

	registered interest
	date	13/01/2020
	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: Poverty
	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 7 January 2020 to Question 318 on Employment: Poverty, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on in-work poverty of raising the statutory National Living Wage to at least the level of the Real Living Wage.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	2555
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/01/2020 answer text <p>It is not possible to predict the impact of the real living wage on in-work poverty as poverty projections are inherently speculative as they require projecting how income will change for every individual in society which are affected by a huge range of unknown factors.</p><p> </p><p>On 1 April 2020, the Government will increase the National Living Wage (NLW) for over 25s by 6.2% to £8.72. This increase is projected to meet the Government’s target of reaching 60% of median earnings by 2020. This latest increase will mean that the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW will have increased by nearly £3,700 since the year the policy was announced. In September last year, the Chancellor pledged to raise the NLW to two-thirds of median earnings within five years, making the UK the first major economy in the world to set such an ambition.</p><p>The Government considers the expert and independent advice of the Low Pay Commission (LPC) when setting the NMW and NLW rates. The LPC draws on economic, labour market and pay analysis, independent research and stakeholder evidence. The key distinction between the NLW and other rates, such as the Living Wage Foundation’s voluntary Living Wage, is that the LPC considers the impact on businesses and the economy when making its recommendations.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 16/01/2020 14:13:32 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1170314

	registered interest
	date	13/01/2020
	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: Poverty
	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 07 January 2020 to Question 318 on Employment: Poverty, what steps she is taking to reform to the welfare system to tackle in-work poverty; and if she will end the sanctions regime for universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	2556
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/01/2020 answer text <p>Universal Credit, at the heart of our welfare reforms, aims to reduce the number of workless households by reducing the financial and administrative barriers to work that existed in the previous system of legacy benefits.</p><p> </p><p>In recent years the Government has made significant investment to improve work incentives including:</p><p>o the reduction in the UC taper rate from 65% to 63% in 2017; and.</p><p>o An extra £1.7 billion a year put into UC work allowances for working parents and disabled claimants to increase them by £1,000 a year from April 2019. Providing a boost to the incomes of the lowest paid and resulting in 2.4 million families keeping an extra £630 per year of what they earn.</p><p> </p><p>We have also taken a range of broader steps to help families keep more of what they earn including another rise in the National Living Wage to £8.21 and increasing a full-time worker’s annual pay by over £2,750 since its introduction. Tax changes have also made basic rate taxpayers over £1,200 better off since April, compared with 2010. The most recent changes mean that, from April, a single person on the National Minimum Wage is taking home over £13,700 a year after income tax and National Insurance – £4,500 more than in 2009/10. Additionally, further help is being provided to working families by doubling free childcare to 30 hours a week for nearly 400,000 working parents of three and four-year-olds and introducing Tax-Free Childcare, worth up to £2,000 per child per year;</p><p> </p><p>The Government has no plans to remove sanctions but continue to monitor the operation of the policies and processes to ensure the sanctions system remains clear, fair and effective in promoting positive behaviours.</p><p> </p><p>The Government believes that these improvements help people on UC to keep more of what they earn, support employment and help to make work pay.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 16/01/2020 17:12:05 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1172235

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2020
	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	Poverty: Children
	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 13 January 2020 to Question 317 on Poverty: Children, if she will take steps to lift the two-child limit for (a) child tax credits and (b) universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	6132
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/01/2020 answer text <p>The Government’s view is that providing support for a maximum of two children or qualifying young persons in Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit ensures fairness between claimants on the one hand and, on the other, those taxpayers who support themselves solely through work. Universal Credit is designed to mirror the world of work where families do not automatically see their income rise on the birth of a new child.</p><p> </p><p>This Government is committed to delivering a sustainable, long-term solution to poverty in all its forms. Tackling child poverty requires an approach that goes beyond one that focuses on income alone to one that addresses the root causes of poverty and disadvantage and improves long-term outcomes for families and children.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that some claimants are not able to make the same choices about the number of children in their family, which is why exceptions have been put in place to protect certain groups.</p><p /> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 27/01/2020 17:59:34 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

1172236

	registered interest
	date	21/01/2020
	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 she has made of the number of cases where claimants have been assessed as having no entitlement to the housing element of universal credit because they moved from rented accommodation to accommodation where no rent is payable during their assessment period in the latest period for which figures are available.
	tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
	tabling member printed	Neil Gray
	uin	6133
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/01/2020 answer text <p>The Universal Credit award is calculated to reflect the claimant’s circumstances at the end of their assessment period. To do this, we treat all changes as applying from the beginning of the assessment period in which they take place (if reported in the assessment period within which they occurred). The award for that month is therefore wholly at the new rate. This reflects the claimant’s circumstances at the point of payment, and will better anticipate their needs over the forthcoming month.</p><p> </p><p>This principle applies to all elements of Universal Credit. For example, if a new child is born part way through an assessment period, we apply the change to the whole month, not from the date the child was born.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants can easily notify the Department of any changes that might incur within an assessment period using their online account, telephone and speak to their Work Coach face to face in a Jobcentre.</p><p> </p><p>Additionally, existing Universal Credit claimants who have told the Department about a change in their circumstances, which means more Universal Credit is owed, may also apply for an advance payment. There are also discretionary housing payments in place to support those who require support meeting their rent costs.</p><p> </p><p>Statistics on the housing element of Universal Credit are 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 for users is available 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> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 6134 6135 question first answered 28/01/2020 11:32:38 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray