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1122405

	registered interest
	date	23/04/2019
	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 Guarantee Bill
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's policy is on the potential merits of the Employment Guarantee Bill, presented to Parliament on 13 June 2018.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	246450
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/04/2019 answer text <p>The Department is committed to supporting people into work and Universal Credit supports those claimants who can work and cares for those who cannot, while being fair to the taxpayer. We know that claimants on Universal Credit move into work faster and spend more time looking for work than on legacy benefits and the Universal Credit Full Service Claimant Survey shows that 9 months into a Universal Credit claim 40 per cent of claimants are working for an employer in a paid role, as opposed to only 23 per cent at the start of their claim. This is because Universal Credit is designed to strengthen incentives to move into and progress in work by scrapping the ‘cliff-edges’ of the legacy system, which penalised people for working more than 16 hours a week and providing more help with childcare costs.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 29/04/2019 17:08:30 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1122480

	registered interest
	date	23/04/2019
	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 7 March 2019 to Question 229636, what forecast she has made of flows on to universal credit in the next period for which such a calculation has been made.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	246454
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/05/2019 answer text <p>The Department has forecasted flows onto Universal Credit to 2024.</p><p> </p><p>The below table shows a breakdown of the average monthly volumes per calendar year from 2019 (rounded to the nearest 10,000 where appropriate).</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2019</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2020</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2021</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2022</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2023</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2024</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Rapid Reclaims</p></td><td><p>40,000</p></td><td><p>40,000</p></td><td><p>40,000</p></td><td><p>50,000</p></td><td><p>50,000</p></td><td><p>50,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Pure new awards</p></td><td><p>100,000</p></td><td><p>100,000</p></td><td><p>100,000</p></td><td><p>90,000</p></td><td><p>90,000</p></td><td><p>90,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Movement due to a change in circumstance</p></td><td><p>50,000</p></td><td><p>40,000</p></td><td><p>30,000</p></td><td><p>20,000</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td><td><p>-</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Being moved without a change in circumstance</p></td><td><p>Less than 500</p></td><td><p>Less than 1000</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td><td><p>40,000</p></td><td><p>90,000</p></td><td><p>-</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>190,000</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>180,000</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>190,000</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>200,000</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>230,000</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>140,000</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 246455 question first answered 01/05/2019 13:38:15 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1122481

	registered interest
	date	23/04/2019
	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 on 7 March 2019 to Question 229636, over what periods her Department forecasts flows on to universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	246455
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/05/2019 answer text <p>The Department has forecasted flows onto Universal Credit to 2024.</p><p> </p><p>The below table shows a breakdown of the average monthly volumes per calendar year from 2019 (rounded to the nearest 10,000 where appropriate).</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p><strong>2019</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2020</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2021</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2022</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2023</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2024</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Rapid Reclaims</p></td><td><p>40,000</p></td><td><p>40,000</p></td><td><p>40,000</p></td><td><p>50,000</p></td><td><p>50,000</p></td><td><p>50,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Pure new awards</p></td><td><p>100,000</p></td><td><p>100,000</p></td><td><p>100,000</p></td><td><p>90,000</p></td><td><p>90,000</p></td><td><p>90,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Movement due to a change in circumstance</p></td><td><p>50,000</p></td><td><p>40,000</p></td><td><p>30,000</p></td><td><p>20,000</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td><td><p>-</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Being moved without a change in circumstance</p></td><td><p>Less than 500</p></td><td><p>Less than 1000</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td><td><p>40,000</p></td><td><p>90,000</p></td><td><p>-</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>190,000</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>180,000</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>190,000</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>200,000</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>230,000</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>140,000</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 246454 question first answered 01/05/2019 13:38:15 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1127131

	registered interest
	date	16/05/2019
	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	Unemployment Benefits
	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 a recent assessment of the potential merits of waiving the recommencement of waiting times for the receipt of out-of-work benefits after the completion of a short-term contract; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	255281
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/05/2019 answer text <p>Short-term contracts where earnings are above the relevant threshold would lead to the closure of a claim to benefit. Once this short-term contract has ended, Universal Credit can be claimed.</p><p> </p><p>The Universal Credit assessment period and payment structure are fundamental parts of the design. They help reduce welfare dependency by mirroring the world of work, where currently around 70 per cent of tax credit claimants are paid monthly or four weekly.</p><p> </p><p>The assessment period runs for a full calendar month from the date of entitlement and the Universal Credit pay date will be seven calendar days after the end of the initial assessment period. Subsequent pay dates will be the same each month.</p><p> </p><p>It is therefore not possible to award a Universal Credit payment as soon as a claim is made, as the assessment period must run its course before the award of Universal Credit can be calculated.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>No claimant has to go five weeks without receiving support, as advances, worth up to 100 per cent of a claimant’s indicative award, are available up front if there is need.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 24/05/2019 13:15:20 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1128236

	registered interest
	date	22/05/2019
	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, how many cases involving universal credit overpayments have not been pursued on the grounds of hardship.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	257457
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>In 2018/19, 16,260 successful applications for a reduction in their repayment rate were made by claimants or their representatives.</p><p>In 2018/19, 10 overpayments were waived, either in full or in part, as a result of applications made by claimants or their representatives. In the same period, 20 applications were unsuccessful.</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>Rather than waiving benefit overpayments, the Department works to support claimants through the recovery of these overpayments.</p><p>If a claimant is having difficulty repaying a benefit overpayment, they can request a review of the amount that is being taken. Any adjustment to the rate of repayment will be based on the individual circumstances of the claimant.</p><p><em>*All figures 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 similar figures subsequently released by the Department. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 257458 question first answered 05/06/2019 14:34:51 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1128238

	registered interest
	date	22/05/2019
	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, how many cases involving universal credit overpayments have been pursued subsequent to an appeal on the grounds of hardship.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	257458
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/06/2019 answer text <p>In 2018/19, 16,260 successful applications for a reduction in their repayment rate were made by claimants or their representatives.</p><p>In 2018/19, 10 overpayments were waived, either in full or in part, as a result of applications made by claimants or their representatives. In the same period, 20 applications were unsuccessful.</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>Rather than waiving benefit overpayments, the Department works to support claimants through the recovery of these overpayments.</p><p>If a claimant is having difficulty repaying a benefit overpayment, they can request a review of the amount that is being taken. Any adjustment to the rate of repayment will be based on the individual circumstances of the claimant.</p><p><em>*All figures 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 similar figures subsequently released by the Department. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 257457 question first answered 05/06/2019 14:34:51 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1129684

	registered interest
	date	04/06/2019
	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 claims under universal credit for the (a) standard allowance, (b) carer element, (c) child element, (d) childcare element, (e) disabled child element, (f) housing element and (g) limited capability for work element were not paid (i) on time and (ii) in full in each for the last six months for which information is available.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	259875
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/06/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is available in the attached document for both new claims and existing claims. The Limited Capability for Work (LCW) addition is no longer payable on new claims to Universal Credit (UC) since 3rd April 2017.</p><p> </p><p>Figures for the proportion of claims paid in full on time is subject to fluctuation. This particularly effects the figures for LCW in the first assessment period which are subject to change.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants in the Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity (LCWRA) group may not receive their additional element within the first assessment period due to the additional element being calculated based on the outcome of their Work Capability Assessment (WCA) which, due to the need for medical evidence and assessment, may not be complete by the end of the first assessment period.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants who naturally migrate to UC from Employment and Support Allowance, and are currently receiving the LCW / LCWRA addition, will continue to receive it on their UC claim from day 1 as long as there has been no break in their claim and they have declared the same health condition when they moved across to UC.</p><p> </p><p>UC payment timeliness has continued to improve during its rollout, we are also continually introducing improvements to its design, for example most recently, by making childcare and housing verification easier. These improvements are not yet fully reflected in the data supplied.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 13/06/2019 15:05:03 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma attachment 1 file name PQ259875 data tables.xlsx title PQ259875 data tables
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1130153

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2019
	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, what the (a) cause and (b) reasons were for the overpayments made to the 16,260 people who submitted successful applications for a reduction in their repayment rate.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	260552
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2019 answer text <p>Pursuant to the answer to Question 257458, of the 16,260 Universal Credit (UC) claimants who had a UC overpayment, who were successful in having their UC overpayment repayment rate reduced in 2018/19, there were approximately 18,450 individual overpayments as a claimant can have more than 1 UC overpayment.</p><p> </p><p>To answer part (a), the table below provides the classification of those overpayments:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Debt Count</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Debt Classification</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>60</p></td><td><p>Fraud</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2,620</p></td><td><p>Claimant Error</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>No Description</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>15,740</p></td><td><p>Official Error</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>18,450</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>To answer part (b), the table below provides general overpayment reasons:</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Debt Count</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Overpayment Reason</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>9,910</p></td><td><p>UC-Other Benefit Not Taken Into account</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2,770</p></td><td><p>UC-Undeclared Earnings not reported via Real Time Information or Late Self Reporting of Earnings</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1,840</p></td><td><p>UC-Housing Costs Not Taken Into Account Correctly/ Incorrectly Declared</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1,130</p></td><td><p>No Description</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>760</p></td><td><p>UC-Not Entitled</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>740</p></td><td><p>UC-Other Income Not Taken Into Account</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>400</p></td><td><p>UC-Ceased Caring or Undeclared Carers Allowance</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>380</p></td><td><p>UC-Non Dependents Not Declared in Household</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>250</p></td><td><p>UC-Duplicate Payments</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>90</p></td><td><p>UC-Childcare Costs Claimed When Not entitled to All / Some</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>90</p></td><td><p>UC-Overpaid Health Premium</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>60</p></td><td><p>UC-Undeclared/incorrect Savings over Allowable Limit</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>UC- Living Together Not Taken Into Account</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>less than 10</p></td><td><p>Attendance Allowance/Disability Living Allowance – Severe Disability Premium Withdrawn</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>less than 10</p></td><td><p>UC-Undeclared Death Of Partner / Dependant</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>18,450 (Will not sum due to rounding)</strong></p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><em>*All figures 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 similar figures subsequently released by the Department. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 10/06/2019 15:41:57 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1130165

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2019
	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 her Department defines substantial financial and/or medical hardship.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	260553
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department does not apply a strict definition as to what constitutes ‘substantial and/or medical hardship’ as these decisions are based on a claimant’s circumstances and the supporting evidence provided. Where an application for waiver is received it will be considered on its own merits, according to the principles set out in Her Majesty’s Treasury’s guidance on Managing Public Money.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 10/06/2019 15:08:49 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1131270

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2019
	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: Disqualification
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many sanctions have been applied to claimants who (a) are pregnant and (b) have young dependent children in each of the last five years for which data are available.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	263061
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not available.</p><p> </p><p>Sanctions are only used in a minority of cases, and that is when people fail to meet their agreed conditionality requirements without good reason. A Decision Maker will take into account all the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or caring responsibilities and any evidence of good reason they have provided, before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 17/06/2019 15:07:08 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead