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1193663

	registered interest
	date	06/05/2020
	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: Telephone Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the opening times of the universal credit helpline have changed; and if she will ensure that the (a) UK Government and (b) universal credit websites are updated with the new information.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	43840
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2020 answer text <p>Since the start of the pandemic, we have received unprecedented levels of claims for Universal Credit. This was accompanied by a significant increase in call volumes which was impacting our ability to support customers, particularly those making new claims.</p><p>To enable our people to pay customers their benefit, we implemented a temporary pause to the handling of general queries through the telephony service at the beginning and end of the day. The purpose of this change was to allow case managers to focus on progressing claims during these times.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>New claim appointments and new claims by phone remained open as usual.</p><p> </p><p>At the moment, people making new claims for Universal Credit do not in fact need to call the Department as part of the process and we have communicated that widely. Once they have completed their online application we will call them if we need to check any of the information they have given us.</p><p>The Universal Credit helpline returned to our normal operating hours from 11 May (8am-6pm, Monday to Friday).</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 15/05/2020 10:37:59 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 20796 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1195133

	registered interest
	date	12/05/2020
	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: Appeals
	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 who requested a mandatory reconsideration of their universal credit claim before the covid-19 outbreak are awaiting the outcome; what the average wait is for universal credit mandatory reconsiderations; and what steps she is taking to ensure that people are supported while waiting for the outcome of those reconsiderations.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	45963
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/05/2020 answer text <p>5% of the Mandatory Reconsiderations recorded prior to the CV19 outbreak are awaiting a decision.</p><p> </p><p>Where a decision has been made, the average time to reach a decision is 26 calendar days.</p><p> </p><p>Benefit claimants may also be eligible for assistance from their local Council through Local Welfare Support schemes. Councils will be able to use funding from the new £500 million Hardship Fund to provide further discretionary support to vulnerable people through other support arrangements such as Local Welfare Schemes.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 29/05/2020 14:48:39 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 22280 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1195135

	registered interest
	date	12/05/2020
	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: Coronavirus
	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 potential merits of amending the eligibility criteria for backdating universal credit payments to include people affected by the covid-19 outbreak.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	45964
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/05/2020 answer text <p>As Universal Credit claims can be made online or, where needed, by calling the Universal Credit helpline, most claims will not require backdating. However, backdating, up to a maximum of one month, is available where the circumstances are such that someone could not reasonably have been expected to claim earlier including due to illness, disability or an official computer system failure.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 19/05/2020 13:42:31 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 22281 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1198841

	registered interest
	date	01/06/2020
	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	Means-tested 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 assessment she has made of the appropriateness of the savings thresholds for (a) universal credit, (b) pension credit, (c) income-based jobseekers allowance, (d) income-related employment and support allowance, (e) housing benefit and (f) income support.
	tabling member constituency	Arfon
	tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
	uin	51623
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2020 answer text <p>The capital limits are kept under continual review. However, they can be increased only when priorities and resources allow. The Government does not intend to increase the threshold at this time.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 23/06/2020 16:45:10 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 25862 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams