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1136357

	registered interest
	date	02/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit
	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 on universal credit, of the 749,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debits, how many of those tax credit overpayments were repaid by each year to which those overpayments were made to those claimants.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	272126
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Tax Credit overpayments were referred to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Debt Management from 2016/17.</p><p> </p><p>The table shows Tax Credit recoveries for 2018/19 apportioned across the financial year in which the Tax Credit overpayment ended*.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Tax Credit Overpayment</strong> <strong> Period End Date</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Percentage of Recoveries by Value</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Unknown</p></td><td><p>Less than 0.05%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2003-04</p></td><td><p>0.10%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2004-05</p></td><td><p>0.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2005-06</p></td><td><p>0.4%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2006-07</p></td><td><p>0.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2007-08</p></td><td><p>1.2%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2008-09</p></td><td><p>2.3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>1.6%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>2.9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>4.1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>4.9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>6.1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014-15</p></td><td><p>7.3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015-16</p></td><td><p>9.0%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016-17</p></td><td><p>14.1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017-18</p></td><td><p>26.7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018-19</p></td><td><p>18.2%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Universal Credit (UC) is expected to lead to savings across welfare as we are able to adjust benefit entitlement in line with changing circumstances in real time. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>When recovering benefit overpayments, the DWP ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants from any undue financial hardship.</p><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 DWP. All figures have been rounded to one decimal place. Due to this rounding, the figures will not sum 100%. </em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 16:50:19 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1136380

	registered interest
	date	02/07/2019
	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	Universal Credit: Overpayments
	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 5 June 2019 to Question 257458 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, how many overpayments were waived in (a) full and (b) part as a result of applications made by (i) claimants and (ii) their representatives in 2014-15.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	272129
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>In 2014/15 there were fewer than 5 successful applications for the full waiving of a Universal Credit overpayment and fewer than 5 successful partial waiver applications for UC overpayments*.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has an obligation to ensure that public funds are administered responsibly and to abide by the principles set out in Her Majesty’s Treasury’s guidance on Managing Public Money (which can be found on gov.uk). Waivers are only granted in limited circumstances including where the recovery of an overpayment is causing substantial financial and/or medical hardship and clear supporting evidence of this is provided.</p><p> </p><p>We are unable to provide a breakdown of how many applications were made by claimants or their representatives as this information is not stored.</p><p> </p><p><em>*The figures provided in this response have been sourced from internal management information and were not intended for public release. They should therefore not be compared to any other figures subsequently released by the Department. We are not able to report exact figures that are lower than 5, therefore this have been listed as “less than 5”.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 16:53:18 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1136399

	registered interest
	date	02/07/2019
	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	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 welfare advisers have the discretion not to impose job seeking conditions on a claimant in their (a) customer agreement and (b) claimant commitment when that claimant is no longer entitled to employment and support allowance and is advised to claim universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	272130
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>When people move from ESA to UC due to a change of circumstances (e.g. house move) not connected to their WCA, they will move into the equivalent conditionality group. Work search requirements are not imposed on people who have been found to have Limited Capability for Work or Limited Capability for Work and Work Related activity.</p><p> </p><p>When people move from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) to Universal Credit (UC) due to being found ‘fit for work’ at their work capability assessment (WCA) their UC conditionality will be decided based on their individual and household circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>There are a range of circumstances on UC where work-related requirements must be switched off temporarily because people are experiencing difficult personal circumstances and our work coaches do have the discretion to reduce or suspend job seeking conditions on their Claimant Commitment. Even for people who have been found fit for work, work coaches may still agree to tailor the number of hours, type, and location of work, to take account of the person’s health condition. Work coaches receive training on how to adjust conditionality to reflect a person’s individual circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>People who are full time carers or have caring responsibility for a child under 1 will not be asked to complete any work related requirements when they move to UC in recognition of their current situation.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 17:00:22 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1135342

	registered interest
	date	27/06/2019
	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	Universal Credit: Overpayments
	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 5 June 2019 to Question 257458 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, how many successful applications there were for a reduction in an overpayment repayment rate in each year from 2013 to 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	270288
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not available.</p><p> </p><p>Our systems do not hold data on the recovery rates that were applied to debts that have either been fully repaid, or have been written off. It is therefore not possible to give a complete figure for the total number of successful, or unsuccessful applications for a reduction in an overpayment recovery rate.</p><p> </p><p>The Department ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants who have deductions from their benefit to repay overpayments. If a claimant is struggling they can contact the Department’s Debt Management Team to discuss lowering their repayment rate. Any adjustment to the rate of repayment will be based on the individual circumstances of the claimant.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 02/07/2019 14:31:57 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1135343

	registered interest
	date	27/06/2019
	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	Universal Credit: Overpayments
	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 5 June 2019 to Question 257458 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, how many overpayments were waived in (a) full and (b) part as a result of applications made by (i) claimants and (ii) their representatives in 2015-16.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	270289
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/07/2019 answer text <p>In 2015/16 there were less than 5 applications for the full waiving of a Universal Credit overpayment and less than 5 partial waiver applications for UC overpayments.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has an obligation to ensure that public funds are administered responsibly and to abide by the principles set out in Her Majesty’s Treasury’s guidance on Managing Public Money (which can be found on gov.uk). Waivers are only granted in limited circumstances including where the recovery of an overpayment is causing substantial financial and/or medical hardship and clear supporting evidence of this is provided.</p><p> </p><p>We are unable to provide a breakdown of how many applications were made by claimants or their representatives as this information is not stored.</p><p> </p><p><em> *The figures provided in this response have been sourced from internal management information and were not intended for public release. They should therefore not be compared to any other figures subsequently released by the Department. We are not able to report exact figures that are lower than 5, therefore this has been listed as “less than 5”.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 02/07/2019 14:43:02 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1134889

	registered interest
	date	26/06/2019
	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	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 is the median advance payment awarded to people awaiting their first payment of universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	269644
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2019 answer text <p>The median payment for new claim and benefit transfer advances was £380.</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p>The figure relates to Universal Credit full service only</p><p>The figure is rounded to the nearest £</p><p>The median is based on those advances paid between March 18 and February 2019</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 01/07/2019 16:34:46 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1134891

	registered interest
	date	26/06/2019
	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	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 is the median repayment period for advance payments awarded to people awaiting their first payment of universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	269645
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2019 answer text <p>The median repayment period for new claim and benefit transfer advances was 12 months.</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p>The figure relates to Universal Credit full service only</p><p>The median is based on those advances paid between March 18 and February 2019</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 05/07/2019 12:49:09 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1134893

	registered interest
	date	26/06/2019
	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	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 and what proportion of repayment schedules for advance payments awarded to people awaiting their first universal credit claim have been timetabled to (a) one to three months, (b) four to six months, (c) seven to nine months and (d) 10-12 months by Jobcentre Plus district in the most recent period for which figures are available.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	269646
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2019 answer text <p>The repayment schedule for an advance payment is agreed by the claimant.</p><p>The information requested is provided in the attached table which gives the proportion of repayment schedules for new claim and benefit transfer advances by Jobcentre Plus district.</p><p>From October 2021 we will be increasing the recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months, further supporting those in financial need.</p><p>Notes:</p><p>The figures relate to Universal Credit full service only</p><p>The figures are rounded to the nearest %</p><p>The proportions are based on those advances paid between March 18 and February 2019</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 01/07/2019 16:31:42 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma attachment 1 file name PQ 269646 table.xlsx title Table attachment
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1134069

	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	Universal Credit
	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 21 June 2019 to Question 264333, how many and what proportion of individual claims for universal credit were not paid (a) on time and (b) in full in each for the last six months for which information is available.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	268397
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text The Department intends to publish this data at household level in the near future as part of Official Statistics. answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/06/2019 16:40:51 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1134083

	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	Universal Credit
	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 21 June 2019 to Question 264335, how many of the 77,952 calculations that were disputed by claimants related to late reporting of wages by employers to HMRC.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	268398
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>During the period 17 June 2018 to 16 June 2019 there were 77,952 RTI calculations disputed by claimants, of which around a fifth were upheld. 42,715 (55%) were as a result of late RTI data from employers.</p><p> </p><p>The Department continues to work with HMRC to reduce the impact of late RTI on Universal Credit payments. We monitor RTI data, and where expected earnings are not reported, HMRC will contact the employer to investigate, with the intention of all earnings being reported before the end date of a claimant’s Universal Credit Assessment Period.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/06/2019 16:45:33 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead