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1702103

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2024
	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	State Retirement Pensions: Underpayments
	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 were underpaid the State Pension due to incorrectly updated National Insurance records in the 2022-23 financial year; and what the total amount is that these people are owed.
	tabling member constituency	Wallasey
	tabling member printed	Dame Angela Eagle
	uin	22508
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>This response covers both missing Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) and UC National Insurance issues.</p><p> </p><p>The exercise to correct National Insurance records for those individuals impacted by errors in their HRP record is underway. The HRP corrections exercise started with HMRC dispatching letters in late 2023. Cases subsequently notified from HMRC started being processed in DWP in early 2024.</p><p> </p><p>In the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023, the central estimate was around 187,000 cases who may have an underpayment of State Pension and for whom we expect to correct, with a total underpayment estimate of £1,043 million.</p><p> </p><p>We intend to publish an update on the exercise in this year’s Annual Report and Accounts.</p><p> </p><p>DWP has corrected the UC data issue for the cases impacted for the tax years up to and including the tax year 2022/2023. This data has been shared with HMRC. As HMRC updates NI records, these updates are sent to DWP. Any State Pension entitlement will be reassessed, and any underpayment addressed accordingly.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/04/2024 12:53:28 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

1702104

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2024
	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	State Retirement Pensions: Underpayments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average value was of an underpayment of the State Pension due to incorrectly updated National Insurance records in the 2022-23 financial year.
	tabling member constituency	Wallasey
	tabling member printed	Dame Angela Eagle
	uin	22509
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>This response covers both missing Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) and UC National Insurance issues.</p><p> </p><p>The exercise to correct National Insurance records for those individuals impacted by errors in their HRP record is underway. The HRP corrections exercise started with HMRC dispatching letters in late 2023. Cases subsequently notified from HMRC started being processed in DWP in early 2024.</p><p> </p><p>In the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023, the central estimate value of an underpayment was £5,000 for alive cases above state pension age and £3,000 for deceased cases.</p><p> </p><p>We intend to publish an update on the exercise in this year’s Annual Report and Accounts.</p><p> </p><p>DWP has corrected the UC data issue for the cases impacted for the tax years up to and including the tax year 2022/2023. This data has been shared with HMRC. As HMRC updates NI records, these updates are sent to DWP. Any State Pension entitlement will be reassessed, and any underpayment addressed accordingly.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/04/2024 12:22:27 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

1702105

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2024
	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	State Retirement Pensions: Databases
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in his Department are responsible for manually updating records relevant to eligibility for the State Pension.
	tabling member constituency	Wallasey
	tabling member printed	Dame Angela Eagle
	uin	22510
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>This information is only available at disproportionate cost to The Department for Work &amp; Pensions as the Department does not have a business requirement for this information to be retained.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/04/2024 12:25:55 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

1702106

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2024
	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	National Insurance Contributions: Databases
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 3.21 of the report by the National Audit Office entitled Department for Work and Pensions Accounts 2022-23, published on 6 July 2023, how many and what proportion of the incorrect National Insurance records have (a) been and (b) not yet been updated.
	tabling member constituency	Wallasey
	tabling member printed	Dame Angela Eagle
	uin	22511
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>To date we have processed over 23 million pieces of data to HMRC and less than 1% (0.88%) needs data validations. We expect this will be completed by Summer 2024.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 23/04/2024 16:26:32 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	491 label Biography information for Dame Angela Eagle

1702152

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2024
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Fraud
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to reduce the costs of fraud in his Department in the last three financial years.
	tabling member constituency	Leicester South
	tabling member printed	Jonathan Ashworth
	uin	22575
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>We are committed to tackling fraud which is why in May 2022 the Department launched a robust plan to drive down fraud and error from the benefits system, alongside investment of £900 million that will deliver £2.4 billion of savings by the end of 2024/25. This plan includes proposed powers to require the transfer of data from third-parties, which has been introduced as part of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (No.2). This legislation is forecast to save up to an additional £600m over the Treasury scorecard period. The Department has set out a target to deliver £1.3bn in savings from our dedicated counter-fraud and error resource in 2023/24 as set out in the department’s Annual Reports and Accounts.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/04/2024 14:58:48 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4244 label Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth

1702274

	registered interest
	date	18/04/2024
	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: 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 people received fines for overpayment of Carer's Allowance in (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022, (d) 2023 and (e) as of 1 April 2024; and what was the total amount of these fines.
	tabling member constituency	Newport East
	tabling member printed	Jessica Morden
	uin	22534
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>Claimants have a responsibility to ensure they are entitled to benefits they claim and to inform the DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award.</p><p> </p><p>Overpayments occur when an individual receives a payment they are not entitled to. The fines imposed by DWP for overpayments vary depending on the circumstances of the overpayment.</p><p> </p><p>Administrative Penalties may be offered by the fraud investigator as an alternative to a prosecution in certain cases where there has been benefit fraud or attempted benefit fraud.</p><p> </p><p>The table below provides the volume and value of Administrative Penalties accepted due to an overpayment of Carer’s Allowance, by financial year.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Years</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Volume </strong><strong>of</strong> <strong>Administrative Penalties</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Value</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020/21</p></td><td><p>64</p></td><td><p>£114.4k</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2021/22</p></td><td><p>43</p></td><td><p>£80.2k</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2022/23</p></td><td><p>43</p></td><td><p>£81.3k</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2023/24</p></td><td><p>75</p></td><td><p>£140.8k</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>For cases of claimant error, a £50 Civil Penalty may be imposed by DWP where an individual incurs an overpayment as a result of failing to provide accurate information and have not taken reasonable steps to correct the error.</p><p> </p><p>The table below provides the volume and value of Civil Penalties given due to an overpayment of Carer’s Allowance, by financial year.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Years</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Volume</strong><strong> of Civil Penalties</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Value</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020/21</p></td><td><p>14.9k</p></td><td><p>£0.747m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2021/22</p></td><td><p>26.3k</p></td><td><p>£1.309m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2022/23</p></td><td><p>24.8k</p></td><td><p>£1.241m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2023/24</p></td><td><p>30.1k</p></td><td><p>£1.506m</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Note that our latest figures show there are approximately 1.4 million people claiming Carer’s Allowance.</p><p> </p><p>The data provided for this response is for the volume of penalties, and it is important to note that individuals can receive more than one penalty.</p><p> </p><p>Data been sourced from internal DWP management information, which is intended only to help the Department to manage its business. It is not intended for publication and has not been subject to the same quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics. Our analysis has not captured a small but unknown number of penalties that are logged as debts in their own right on the debt MI system. Our understanding is that this approach is rarely used for Carer’s Allowance.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>More information about DWP penalties policy can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/penalties-for-social-security-fraud-and-error/penalties-policy-in-respect-of-social-security-fraud-and-error" target="_blank">Penalties policy: in respect of social security fraud and error - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/04/2024 16:57:25 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	1548 label Biography information for Jessica Morden

1701765

	registered interest
	date	17/04/2024
	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: Visual Impairment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of economically active individuals there were (a) in total and (b) with self-reported sight problems in England in 2022-23.
	tabling member constituency	Bristol South
	tabling member printed	Karin Smyth
	uin	22322
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>The information requested can be found in the table below.</p><p><strong>Labour market status by main or secondary long-term health condition,</strong></p><p><strong> 16 to 64, England, 2022/23</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Labour market status</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Difficulty in seeing</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total</p></td><td><p>35,038,400</p></td><td><p>487,200</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Economically active</p></td><td><p>27,551,700</p></td><td><p>238,800</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Source: Annual Population Survey (APS) – unpublished</p><p>Notes:</p><p>Numbers are rounded to the nearest 100.</p><ul><li>Numbers are central estimates and subject to sampling variation. The precision of these estimates will be limited by sample size.</li><li>Annual Population Survey data has not been reweighted to incorporate the latest estimates of the size and composition of the UK population.</li><li>Figures for ‘Difficulty in seeing’ are unpublished but are a variation of those contained within: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/the-employment-of-disabled-people-2023" target="_blank">The employment of disabled people 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></li></ul> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 22/04/2024 14:17:40 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4444 label Biography information for Karin Smyth

1701833

	registered interest
	date	17/04/2024
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, updated on 29 February 2024, when his Department first assessed each of the red-rated legacy IT systems in his Department to be red-rated.
	tabling member constituency	Wolverhampton South East
	tabling member printed	Pat McFadden
	uin	22284
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>DWP has mature, industry standard mechanisms for assessing the risk of its core IT systems which has been implemented and running for decades. The first time DWP reported figures to the cross-government initiative led by CDDO was November 2022.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 22/04/2024 12:47:43 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	1587 label Biography information for Pat McFadden

1701864

	registered interest
	date	17/04/2024
	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 his Department has undertaken an impact assessment on the roll out of Universal Credit to Tax Credit claimants including those that are farmers.
	tabling member constituency	North East Fife
	tabling member printed	Wendy Chamberlain
	uin	22399
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>Universal Credit (UC) was legislated for in 2012. We continue to learn and iterate our approach as we progress our Move to UC activity and remain committed to ensuring that the transition to UC works as smoothly as possible for all individuals. Latest findings of the Move to UC process were published here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/move-to-universal-credit-insight-on-tax-credit-migrations-and-initial-discovery-activity-for-wider-benefit-cohorts/move-to-universal-credit-insight-on-tax-credit-migrations-and-initial-discovery-activity-for-wider-benefit-cohorts" target="_blank">Move to Universal Credit – insight on Tax Credit migrations and initial Discovery activity for wider benefit cohorts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>”</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 23/04/2024 15:49:26 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	4765 label Biography information for Wendy Chamberlain

1701264

	registered interest
	date	16/04/2024
	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	State Retirement Pensions: Women
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s policies of the report entitled Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues published by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman on 21 March 2024, HC 638.
	tabling member constituency	Strangford
	tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
	uin	21990
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of this House, and a further update to the House will be provided once the report's findings have been fully considered.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/04/2024 15:00:35 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1701307

	registered interest
	date	16/04/2024
	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	Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Employment and Support 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 (a) applied for and (b) received employment and support allowance for inflammatory bowel disease in (i) Preston, (ii) Lancashire and (iii) England in each year since 2020.
	tabling member constituency	Preston
	tabling member printed	Sir Mark Hendrick
	uin	21884
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 23/04/2024 13:17:30 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick

1701308

	registered interest
	date	16/04/2024
	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	Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Personal Independence Payment
	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 in (a) Preston, (b) Lancashire and (c) England have (i) applied for and (ii) received Personal Independence Payments for inflammatory bowel disease in each year since 2020.
	tabling member constituency	Preston
	tabling member printed	Sir Mark Hendrick
	uin	21885
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) clearances and awards can be found <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">here.</a> The requested data can be found on the ‘PIP Clearances’ dataset by going to ‘Geography’, ‘National – Regional – LAs – OAs’ and following the drop downs to the relevant areas. Similarly, you can filter for those with inflammatory bowel disease through ‘Disability’, ‘Gastrointestinal disease’ and selecting ‘Inflammatory bowel disease’. To further filter just for those awarded, you can go to ‘Clearance Type Detail’ and select ‘Awarded’.</p><p> </p><p>A lookup which shows which Local Authorities are in Lancashire is available <a href="https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/datasets/4466088cf22849f3aa030e330fbba0a0_0/explore" target="_blank">here.</a></p><p> </p><p>Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer systems. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics.</p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html" target="_blank">here.</a> An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 23/04/2024 13:19:54 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	473 label Biography information for Sir Mark Hendrick

1701404

	registered interest
	date	16/04/2024
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: ICT
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data, updated on 29 February 2024, what steps his Department has taken to mitigate the risks of red-rated legacy IT systems.
	tabling member constituency	Wolverhampton South East
	tabling member printed	Pat McFadden
	uin	21954
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2024 answer text <p>DWP has funded and resourced a dedicated Legacy Technical Debt Working Group within DWP. This group managed the population and ongoing accuracy of Legacy IT System Risk Score Cards. The information recorded includes plans for mitigating key risks which are assessed ahead of each fiscal planning round to bid for funds to implement mitigating measures.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 19/04/2024 10:59:39 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	1587 label Biography information for Pat McFadden

1701457

	registered interest
	date	16/04/2024
	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: Chronic Illnesses
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill on the (a) physical and (b) mental wellbeing of people with (i) M.E. and (ii) other chronic diseases.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow North West
	tabling member printed	Carol Monaghan
	uin	22044
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>The department has assessed the impact of the third-party data measure in the regulatory impact assessment scrutinised and green-rated by the Regulatory Policy Committee. This was published on the 27th November 2023 as part of the supporting documentation for the Data Protection and Information Bill and is available here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-protection-and-digital-information-bill-impact-assessments" target="_blank">Data Protection and Digital Information Bill: supporting documents - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>.</p><p> </p><p>The department has fulfilled all the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) as set out in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 and in line with our statutory duty keeps the impact of this measure on groups with protected characteristics under continuous review.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>In 22/23, DWP overpaid over £8bn due to fraud and error. This is unacceptable and we are taking robust steps to tackle this.</p><p> </p><p>The third party data legislation we are seeking is one such approach. The focus of this power will be about finding signals of potential benefit fraud and error.</p><p>The measure does not target a particular group of benefit claimant and we have tried and tested safeguarding procedures to protect vulnerable groups and will follow business as usual processes.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/04/2024 11:07:35 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4443 label Biography information for Carol Monaghan

1701465

	registered interest
	date	16/04/2024
	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, what steps his Department is taking to help people claim each benefit to which they are entitled.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Hall Green
	tabling member printed	Tahir Ali
	uin	22162
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) provides information on eligibility and how to make a claim for benefits, including signposting to telephony routes (including textphone and Relay UK) for people who are unable to complete forms online. There are videos on the DWP YouTube channel that provide further information on a range of benefits including Personal Independence Payment, Universal Credit, Winter Fuel Payment, Pension Credit and DLA for Children and these explain how to claim and what to expect once a claim has been made.</p><p> </p><p>Guidance on GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) includes information on benefits people may be able to claim and other financial support. This includes housing support, help with council tax and direct payments for social care. Where appropriate DWP letters include signposting to additional help and support.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 23/04/2024 12:44:25 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	4747 label Biography information for Tahir Ali

1701482

	registered interest
	date	16/04/2024
	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	Private Rented Housing: 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, what (a) restrictions and (b) guidance are in place for landlords renting out properties to immediate family members and receiving (i) housing benefit and (ii) universal credit for that property.
	tabling member constituency	Stoke-on-Trent North
	tabling member printed	Jonathan Gullis
	uin	22174
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>To be eligible for support with housing costs in Housing Benefit and Universal Credit, claimants must be liable for making payment of rent on a commercial basis. A claimant can receive support with housing costs if that test is satisfied and liability is to a close relative, but only where that relative does not live in the same property as the claimant.</p><p> </p><p>Guidance setting this out is available on Gov.uk.</p><p /> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 23/04/2024 13:21:19 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4814 label Biography information for Jonathan Gullis

1701505

	registered interest
	date	16/04/2024
	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	State Retirement Pensions: Women
	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 15 April 2024 to Question 20383 on State Retirement Pensions: Women, whether his Department received the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's provisional views on injustice and remedy experienced due to maladministration in communication about the 1995 Pensions Act in November 2023.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow East
	tabling member printed	David Linden
	uin	22116
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2024 answer text <p>DWP received the PHSO’s provisional views for comment in November 2023.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 19/04/2024 10:10:11 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4640 label Biography information for David Linden

1701551

	registered interest
	date	16/04/2024
	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: Disability
	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 he has made of the adequacy of waiting times to speak to the Disability Service Centre.
	tabling member constituency	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
	tabling member printed	Martyn Day
	uin	22084
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>Telephony is our customers’ primary channel to contact us. We continually assess the number of calls we are receiving and the associated waiting times, deploying resources accordingly to support service levels wherever this is possible.</p><p>However, due to recent higher volumes of calls than forecast, from the 24th of April and throughout May, we are deploying dedicated telephony specific resource to the Personal Independent Payment telephony lines which will give better support when dealing with sudden increases in traffic.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 23/04/2024 13:23:14 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4488 label Biography information for Martyn Day

1701552

	registered interest
	date	16/04/2024
	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	Attendance Allowance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing recipients of Attendance Allowance to report a change in circumstances digitally.
	tabling member constituency	Linlithgow and East Falkirk
	tabling member printed	Martyn Day
	uin	22085
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>The modernisation of Retirement Services, which includes Attendance Allowance, forms a key part of DWP’s Service Modernisation Programme. A key objective of the programme is to understand how existing services - such as Attendance Allowance - should operate in the future and understand how and whether services, including reporting change of circumstances, can be accessed by citizens more quickly and easily online.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/04/2024 12:31:21 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4488 label Biography information for Martyn Day

1701553

	registered interest
	date	16/04/2024
	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	Workplace Pensions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact for his Department's policies of defined benefit pensions.
	tabling member constituency	Belfast South
	tabling member printed	Claire Hanna
	uin	22181
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>The defined benefit pensions landscape remains central for the retirement plans of millions of current and future pensioners. There have been significant changes over recent years and the Government has been alive to the resulting risks and opportunities. The revised DB funding arrangements, which will be implemented in the Autumn, will help to keep members hard earned benefits safe and support the vision set out in our recent DB consultations to ensure that assets can work as hard as possible for the benefit of members, sponsoring employers, and the wider economy.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/04/2024 12:41:09 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4827 label Biography information for Claire Hanna

1701582

	registered interest
	date	16/04/2024
	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	Pension Protection Fund
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to extend (a) member and (b) trade union representation to the Board of the Pension Protection Fund.
	tabling member constituency	Warrington North
	tabling member printed	Charlotte Nichols
	uin	22172
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>There is no legal requirement for the Board of the Pension Protection Fund to include member or trade union representation, and there are no plans to extend representation to these groups.</p><p> </p><p>The Pension Protection Fund does, however, have Member Panels – which Board members are invited to attend – to enable members to feed in views on the service offered and thoughts about changes that could be made in the future.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 23/04/2024 12:34:52 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4799 label Biography information for Charlotte Nichols

1700749

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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	State Retirement Pensions: Women
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government when they will respond to the report from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues laid before Parliament on 21 March.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick
	uin	HL3789
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of this House, and a further update to the House will be provided once the report's findings have been fully considered.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 22/04/2024 14:05:38 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
	tabling member	4130 label Biography information for Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick

1700943

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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: Uprating
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it remains his Department's policy for benefits to continue to be increased in line with inflation.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	21657
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of State Pensions and benefits.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Secretary of State will commence his 2025/26 up-rating review in the Autumn.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 18/04/2024 14:00:12 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1700944

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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	Pensions: Consumer Information
	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 15 April 2024 to Question 20581 on Pensions: Consumer Information, what steps he plans to take to report progress towards the Dashboards Available Point to (a) Parliament and (b) other key stakeholders.
	tabling member constituency	Blaenau Gwent
	tabling member printed	Nick Smith
	uin	21614
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>Before a specific date for the Dashboards Available Point can be determined, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions must first have regard to a number of relevant matters, including sufficient level of coverage, assurance of the safety, security and reliability of the service and testing of the user experience. Once satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem is ready to support widespread use of pensions dashboard services by the general public, following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority, the Secretary of State will then issue a notice at least six months in advance of the launch of pensions dashboard services.</p><p>Officials in my department are working closely with key delivery partners to refine these relevant matters which includes recognition of keeping Parliament and the wider pensions industry informed of reporting progress towards the Dashboards Available Point. This is in line with our commitment of working closely with industry on successfully launching pensions dashboard services safely and securely at the earliest opportunity.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 18/04/2024 13:10:51 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	3928 label Biography information for Nick Smith

1700945

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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	Pensions: Consumer Information
	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 15 April 2024 to Question 20580 on Pensions: Consumer Information, what the (a) estimated and (b) actual costs of the project are.
	tabling member constituency	Blaenau Gwent
	tabling member printed	Nick Smith
	uin	21615
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has spent £56.7M between 2019/20 and the end of February 2024 (with spend relating to 2023/24 subject to final audit).</p><p> </p><p>Whole life costs of the Pensions Dashboards Programme (2019/20 – 2026/27) are currently estimated by MaPS to be around £139M.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 18/04/2024 13:13:10 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	3928 label Biography information for Nick Smith

1701023

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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	Cost of Living Payments: Disability
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the ending Disability Cost of Living Payments on people with disabilities.
	tabling member constituency	Stockport
	tabling member printed	Navendu Mishra
	uin	21862
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The Government has no plans to extend the Disability Cost of Living Payments past the 2023/24 round. Cost of Living Payments enabled us to target further support quickly during the rising cost of living pressures.</p><p> </p><p>As of March 2024, the rate of inflation has slowed, and the Government has also implemented uprating to other benefits to reflect increased costs.</p><p> </p><p>An evaluation of the Cost of Living Payments is underway. This will seek to understand their effectiveness as a means of support for low-income and vulnerable households.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 18/04/2024 10:35:03 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4811 label Biography information for Navendu Mishra

1701031

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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	Independent Case Examiner
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken to assign to an investigator a complaint to the Independent Case Examiner.
	tabling member constituency	Wakefield
	tabling member printed	Simon Lightwood
	uin	21869
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The rate at which complaints can be allocated to an investigator is dependent on multiple factors including the volume and complexity of complaints received, as well as available investigative resource.</p><p> </p><p>ICE is a demand led service and continues to receive high complaint intake volumes. It has experienced a 37% increase in referrals since April 2022, with an 18% increase in the 2023/24 operational year. Not all referrals into ICE are accepted for investigation. ICE has experienced an 83% increase in the volume of cases it has accepted since April 2020, with a 9% increase in the 2023/24 operational year.</p><p> </p><p>The ICE office continues to review its process and operating model and continuously seeks opportunities to maximise productivity, ensuring it operates with optimum investigative resource. In the past 20 months (August 2022 – March 2024) resource levels at the ICE office have increased by 18%. The unit is operating at 99.11% of its agreed headcount.</p><p> </p><p>The Office has reduced the volume of cases awaiting allocation to an investigator by 49% over the 2023/24 operational year. The combined number of cases being handled by the ICE Office at the end of March 2024 was 1462, this represents a 33% reduction from March 2023 despite the high intake levels experienced.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 18/04/2024 15:11:18 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4943 label Biography information for Simon Lightwood

1701078

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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 and Support Allowance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the permitted working hours criteria for Employment and Support Allowance.
	tabling member constituency	Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
	tabling member printed	Drew Hendry
	uin	21711
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>There are currently no plans to increase the permitted work hours limit. The ESA permitted work rules strike a balance between encouraging claimants to build their confidence, undertake some part-time paid work, and plan a gradual move to sustained employment, while continuing to receive benefit. The permitted work earnings limit is reviewed annually and uprated in line with the National Living Wage.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 18/04/2024 10:23:52 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4467 label Biography information for Drew Hendry

1701079

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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: Training
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the number of weeks for which a person can undertake training and remain eligible for universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
	tabling member printed	Drew Hendry
	uin	21712
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>Work Coaches recommend options to customers to address skills barriers and provide support for them to access a wide range of provision. Which can include essential Maths, English and Digital Skills, and other vocational opportunities such as Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs).</p><p>Whilst periods of training are generally expected to be directly linked to customer’s work search goals, we have increased the amount of time Universal Credit customers in the All Work Related Requirements conditionality group can take part in full time, work-related training for up to 16 weeks in Great Britain.</p><p>Where a longer period of training is required to equip someone with the skills for work whilst also maintaining employment, other options are available including apprenticeships. Apprenticeships are designed by employers and open to learners of all ages, with vocational courses ranging from level 2 up to post-graduate qualifications.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 18/04/2024 14:47:42 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	4467 label Biography information for Drew Hendry

1701095

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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: Women
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help support women in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency to return to work after a career break.
	tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
	tabling member printed	Catherine West
	uin	21732
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/04/2024 answer text <p>Local Jobcentre teams are supporting residents into work and helping those in work to progress to higher paid jobs. We are working with local and national employers to help fill vacancies quickly, delivering Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs), recruitment days, Job Fairs, and work trials, all of which can help support women to return to work after a career break.</p><p> </p><p>In addition, one to one support from a Work Coach and Contracted Employment Programmes, the department also offers help with CVs and employability skills, mentoring circles for people aged 50 plus and support with childcare costs. Where a Work Coach identifies a barrier to securing or progressing in employment, they can use the Flexible Support Fund (FSF) to procure clothing, tools, digital devices, and to help with travel to work costs.</p><p> </p><p>In Haringey, we are working with the Construction Youth Trust to support more women into construction roles, with referrals made by Jobcentres across the borough, and funding available to support women who want to work in this sector.</p><p> </p><p>To help facilitate signposting discussions with claimants, staff have access to a database of national and local support information, the District Provision Tool as well as the new Managed Jobs and Opportunities which ensures that claimants can access tailored support where required. This includes provision aimed at women across London such as Dress for Success, a service that supports women to improve their confidence when attending interviews and Smart Works, a UK charity that provides high quality interview clothes and interview training to unemployed women.</p><p> </p><p>We are also working with Transport for London and the College of North East London on their Women into Transportation and Engineering provision. This provides two weeks of pre-employment training, covering CV writing, and workplace skills, plus a Smart Works coaching and styling appointment designed to give participants the confidence to apply for the roles offered within the programme</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 23/04/2024 16:24:10 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1701148

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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: Newport West
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he has made an assessment of the potential benefits to carers in Newport West of increasing the Carer's Allowance to £93 a week.
	tabling member constituency	Newport West
	tabling member printed	Ruth Jones
	uin	21829
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>This Government continues to protect the value of benefits paid to carers whilst also spending record amounts in real terms.</p><p> </p><p>The level of Carer’s Allowance is protected by uprating it each April in line with inflation as measured by the CPI for the previous September. The purpose of benefit uprating is to ensure that the value of benefits stays in line with the general level of prices. From April 2024, the Carer’s Allowance payment was increased to £81.90. Since 2010, the rate of Carer’s Allowance has increased from £53.90 to £81.90 a week, providing an additional £1,500 a year for carers.</p><p> </p><p>Real terms expenditure on Carer’s Allowance in 2024/25 is forecast to be £4.1 billion. Between 2024/25 and 2028/29 real terms expenditure on Carer’s Allowance is forecast to rise by 12% - around £500 million. By 2028/29, the Government is forecast to spend just over £4.5 billion a year on Carer’s Allowance.</p><p> </p><p>As well as Carer’s Allowance, carers have access to the full range of social security benefits. For example, carers on Universal Credit can receive around an additional £2,400 a year through the Carer Element.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 22/04/2024 14:26:20 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4716 label Biography information for Ruth Jones

1701160

	registered interest
	date	15/04/2024
	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 and Universal Credit: Wales
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the number of people who are in (a) paid employment and (b) receipt of universal credit in (i) Newport West constituency and (ii) Wales.
	tabling member constituency	Newport West
	tabling member printed	Ruth Jones
	uin	21838
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>(a)</p><p>The information requested is published and available at: <a href="https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp" target="_blank">https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>(b)</p><p>Monthly statistics on the number of people who are on Universal Credit by employment status, by parliamentary constituency and by domestic country, are published on <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Stat-Xplore</a>, and are currently available to March 2024.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 18/04/2024 14:40:00 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	4716 label Biography information for Ruth Jones

1699990

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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 the (a) outcomes of the pre-testing phase and (b) results of phase (i) one and (ii) two of the Additional Jobcentre Support Pilot are for the number of claimants moving into (A) employment and (B) a different benefit category.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral South
	tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
	uin	21008
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>An evaluation of the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot is ongoing.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 18/04/2024 14:36:21 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

1699991

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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 additional (a) work coaches and (b) hours of work coach time are allocated to jobcentres to administer the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral South
	tabling member printed	Alison McGovern
	uin	21009
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The pilot is being delivered using existing Jobcentre resource.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 18/04/2024 14:38:18 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	4083 label Biography information for Alison McGovern

1700024

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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	Cold Weather Payments: Lincolnshire
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Cold Weather Payments have been made to pensioners in (a) South Holland and (b) Kesteven district in the last five years.
	tabling member constituency	South Holland and The Deepings
	tabling member printed	Sir John Hayes
	uin	20864
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The Cold Weather Payment (CWP) scheme is administered at weather station level rather than at a constituency or regional level etc. The coverage area for each weather station is determined by the Met Office, which assesses the most appropriate weather station for each postcode area. Cold weather payments are triggered when the average temperature recorded at the weather station has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0<strong>°</strong> C or below over seven consecutive days, during the Cold Weather season (November to March).</p><p> </p><p>a) The area of South Holland covers all or part of the following postcode areas: PE11, PE12, PE10, PE6, PE13, PE14, PE34.</p><p> </p><p>From the 2019/20 to 2023/24 Cold Weather Payment seasons, the above postcode areas are covered by various weather stations. These weather stations cover the following postcode areas, in Table 1, which include areas not in South Holland. Table 2 shows the number of cold weather payments to pensioners by weather station and cold weather season.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Table 1: Postcode districts mapped to Weather Stations</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Weather station</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Postcode Districts Covered</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Marham</p></td><td><p>CB6-7, IP24-28, PE12-14, PE30-38.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Waddington</p></td><td><p>DN9-10, DN15-22, DN31-41, LN1-13, NG23-24, PE10-11, PE20-25.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wittering</p></td><td><p>LE15, NN14-18, PE1-9, PE15-16, PE26-29</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Table 2: Number of Cold Weather Payments to pensioners by weather station and Cold Weather Season</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Weather Station</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2019/20</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2020/21</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2021/22</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2022/23</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2023/24</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Marham </strong></p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>27,000</p></td><td><p>9,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Waddington</strong></p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>26,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>23,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Wittering</strong></p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>24,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong><strong> </strong></p><p>b) The area of South Kesteven covers all or part of the following postcode areas: PE6, PE9, PE10, NG23, NG31, NG32, NG33, NG34.</p><p> </p><p>From the 2019/20 to 2023/24 Cold Weather Payment seasons, the above postcode areas are covered by various weather stations. These weather stations cover the following postcode areas, in Table 3, which include areas not in South Kesteven. Table 4 shows the number of cold weather payments to pensioners by weather station and cold weather season.</p><p><strong>Table 3: Postcode districts mapped to Weather Stations</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Weather station</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Postcode Districts Covered</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nottingham Watnall</p></td><td><p>CV13, DE1-3, DE5-7, DE11-15, DE21-24, DE55-56, DE65, DE72-75, LE1-9, LE11-14, LE16-19, LE65, LE67, NG1-22, NG25, NG31-34.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Waddington</p></td><td><p>DN9-10, DN15-22, DN31-41, LN1-13, NG23-24, PE10-11, PE20-25.</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wittering</p></td><td><p>LE15, NN14-18, PE1-9, PE15-16, PE26-29</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Table 4: Number of Cold Weather Payments to pensioners by weather station and Cold Weather Season</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Weather Station</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2019/20</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2020/21</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2021/22</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2022/23</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2023/24</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Nottingham Watnall</strong></p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>60,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>55,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Waddington</strong></p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>26,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>23,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Wittering</strong></p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td><p>24,000</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 18/04/2024 14:47:55 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	350 label Biography information for Sir John Hayes

1700027

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Staff
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many full-time equivalent staff worked in his Department’s Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt unit in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.
	tabling member constituency	Hayes and Harlington
	tabling member printed	John McDonnell
	uin	20844
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>Please see the Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) numbers for Counter Fraud Compliance &amp; Debt (CFCD) and its predecessor Counter Fraud &amp; Compliance (CFC). To ensure compliance with GDPR, seven years of data is the maximum that we hold.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3"><p><strong>Paid Staff at specified date, Full Time Equivalent</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Date</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>FTE</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>CFC/CFCD</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>31-Mar 2018</strong></p></td><td><p>5209.8</p></td><td><p>CFC</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>31-Mar 2019</strong></p></td><td><p>5488.3</p></td><td><p>CFC</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>31-Mar 2020</strong></p></td><td><p>7519.4</p></td><td><p>CFCD</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>31-Mar 2021</strong></p></td><td><p>6941.6</p></td><td><p>CFCD</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>31-Mar 2022</strong></p></td><td><p>8289.7</p></td><td><p>CFCD</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>31-Mar 2023</strong></p></td><td><p>9080.2</p></td><td><p>CFCD</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 18/04/2024 15:48:45 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	178 label Biography information for John McDonnell

1700028

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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	Workplace Pensions
	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 opted out of auto-enrolment workplace pension schemes in each of the last ten years for which figures are available.
	tabling member constituency	Hayes and Harlington
	tabling member printed	John McDonnell
	uin	20845
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/04/2024 answer text <p>The data requested for the number of people who opted out of automatic enrolment workplace pension schemes in each of the last ten years is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.</p><p> </p><p>The department makes regular publications of the data that is held, including the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/workplace-pension-participation-and-savings-trends-2009-to-2022/workplace-pension-participation-and-savings-trends-of-eligible-employees-2009-to-2022" target="_blank"><em>Workplace Pension Participation and Savings Trends</em></a>, which is available on GOV.UK. This publication includes aggregated data from large private pension providers in which the proportion of new member enrolments to have opted-out of workplace pension saving stood at 11.79% in July 2023. Over the period from January 2020 to July 2023, these opt-out rates have fluctuated between a low of 7.03% and a high of 12.23%. From the same aggregated private pension provider data, the proportion of pension scheme members making an active decision to cease saving was 0.50% in July 2023.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 16/04/2024 10:02:23 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	178 label Biography information for John McDonnell

1700077

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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	Members: Correspondence
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to the correspondence of (a) 28 December 2023, (b) 25 January and (c) 22 February 2024 from the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare, relating to delays in actioning Pension Credit.
	tabling member constituency	Weston-super-Mare
	tabling member printed	John Penrose
	uin	20948
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>Departmental officials replied to your correspondence of 28 December 2023 and 25 January on 16 January and 21 February respectively. I replied to the hon. Member’s letter of 22 February on 22 April.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 22/04/2024 14:08:01 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	1584 label Biography information for John Penrose

1700263

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the earnings threshold for Carer's Allowance in-line with the National Living Wage for financial year 2024-25.
	tabling member constituency	Lewisham, Deptford
	tabling member printed	Vicky Foxcroft
	uin	21148
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>The weekly earnings limit for Carer’s Allowance has just increased from £139 to £151 net earnings per week, in line with the increase Average Weekly Earnings of 8.5%. Successive Governments have taken the same approach to the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit and increased it when it is warranted and affordable. The earnings limit has increased by one half since 2010.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 22/04/2024 14:17:48 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4491 label Biography information for Vicky Foxcroft

1700264

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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: Students
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of awarding Carer’s Allowance to unpaid carers that are studying (a) 21 hours and (b) more than 21 hours per week.
	tabling member constituency	Lewisham, Deptford
	tabling member printed	Vicky Foxcroft
	uin	21149
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>This Government recognises and appreciates the vital contribution made by all informal carers.</p><p> </p><p>We think it is right that people in full-time education should be supported by the educational maintenance system, via its range of loans and grants, rather than the social security benefit system. That is why, as a general principle, full-time students are usually precluded from entitlement to income-related and income-maintenance benefits, including Carer’s Allowance. Part-time students may be able to claim Carer’s Allowance though. This reflects long-standing principles of the benefit system and we have no plans to change these rules.</p><p> </p><p>Department for Work and Pensions officials work very closely with their Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care counterparts to ensure that young carers get the help and support they need.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 21150 question first answered 22/04/2024 14:20:16 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4491 label Biography information for Vicky Foxcroft

1700265

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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: Students
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of awarding Carer’s Allowance to unpaid carers between the ages of 16-18 that are studying (a) 21 hours and (b) more than 21 hours per week.
	tabling member constituency	Lewisham, Deptford
	tabling member printed	Vicky Foxcroft
	uin	21150
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>This Government recognises and appreciates the vital contribution made by all informal carers.</p><p> </p><p>We think it is right that people in full-time education should be supported by the educational maintenance system, via its range of loans and grants, rather than the social security benefit system. That is why, as a general principle, full-time students are usually precluded from entitlement to income-related and income-maintenance benefits, including Carer’s Allowance. Part-time students may be able to claim Carer’s Allowance though. This reflects long-standing principles of the benefit system and we have no plans to change these rules.</p><p> </p><p>Department for Work and Pensions officials work very closely with their Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care counterparts to ensure that young carers get the help and support they need.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 21149 question first answered 22/04/2024 14:20:16 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4491 label Biography information for Vicky Foxcroft

1700266

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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	Pensioners: 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, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of awarding the full Carer's Allowance to unpaid carers that are in receipt of the state pension.
	tabling member constituency	Lewisham, Deptford
	tabling member printed	Vicky Foxcroft
	uin	21151
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>Although there is no upper age limit to claiming Carer’s Allowance, it cannot normally be paid with the State Pension. It has been a long held feature of the UK’s benefit system, under successive Governments, that where someone is entitled to two benefits for the same contingency, then whilst there may be entitlement to both benefits, only one will be paid to avoid duplication for the same need. Although entitlement to State Pension and Carer’s Allowance arise in different circumstances they are nevertheless designed for the same contingency – as an income replacement. Carer’s Allowance replaces income where the carer has given up the opportunity of full-time employment in order to care for a severely disabled person, while State Pension replaces income in retirement. For this reason, social security rules operate to prevent them being paid together, to avoid duplicate provision for the same need.</p><p>However, if a carer’s State Pension is less than Carer's Allowance, State Pension is paid and topped up with Carer's Allowance to the basic weekly rate of Carer's Allowance which is currently £81.90.</p><p>Where Carer’s Allowance cannot be paid, the person will keep underlying entitlement to the benefit. This gives access to the additional amount for carers in Pension Credit of £45.60 a week and potentially other means-tested support. Around 100,000 people are receiving the Carer Premium with their Pension Credit. And even if a pensioner’s income is above the limit for Pension Credit, they may still be able to receive Housing Benefit.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 22/04/2024 14:22:05 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4491 label Biography information for Vicky Foxcroft

1700267

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the Carer’s Allowance to £93 per week.
	tabling member constituency	Lewisham, Deptford
	tabling member printed	Vicky Foxcroft
	uin	21152
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>This Government continues to protect the value of benefits paid to carers whilst also spending record amounts in real terms.</p><p>The level of Carer’s Allowance is protected by uprating it each April in line with inflation as measured by the CPI for the previous September. The purpose of benefit uprating is to ensure that the value of benefits stays in line with the general level of prices. From April 2024, the Carer’s Allowance payment was increased to £81.90. Since 2010, the rate of Carer’s Allowance has increased from £53.90 to £81.90 a week, providing an additional £1,500 a year for carers.</p><p>Real terms expenditure on Carer’s Allowance in 2024/25 is forecast to be £4.1 billion. Between 2024/25 and 2028/29 real terms expenditure on Carer’s Allowance is forecast to rise by 12% - around £500 million. By 2028/29, the Government is forecast to spend just over £4.5 billion a year on Carer’s Allowance.</p><p /><p>As well as Carer’s Allowance, carers have access to the full range of social security benefits. For example, carers on Universal Credit can receive around an additional £2,400 a year through the Carer Element.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 22/04/2024 14:22:27 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4491 label Biography information for Vicky Foxcroft

1700288

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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	Children: Maintenance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people pay the full child maintenance costs for which they are liable.
	tabling member constituency	Wansbeck
	tabling member printed	Ian Lavery
	uin	21039
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/04/2024 answer text <p>The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has a range of enforcement powers at its disposal to ensure parents meet their financial obligations to their children.</p><p>These include deductions directly from earnings and bank accounts, using Enforcement Agents (previously known as bailiffs) to take control of goods, forcing the sale of property, removal of driving licence or UK passport or even commitment to prison.</p><p>The Child Support (Enforcement) Act received Royal Assent in 2023. This creates a primary power to replace court-based liability orders with administrative orders, which should significantly speed up this key enforcement process.</p><p> </p><p>We have concluded a public consultation to support regulations to implement administrative liability orders. The Government published their response on 12 February 2024.</p><p> </p><p>Secondary legislation is now being developed, which, once implemented, will reduce the process from 22 weeks to as low as 6 weeks. This will be brought forward as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 16/04/2024 15:35:55 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4139 label Biography information for Ian Lavery

1700289

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) allowing people that are moving from legacy benefits to Universal Credit to use a countersignature as proof of ID and (b) opening Job Centres on (i) evenings and (ii) weekends for people who are in full-time employment.
	tabling member constituency	Wansbeck
	tabling member printed	Ian Lavery
	uin	21040
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>Countersignatures or vouching can be used to verify an identity as an exception where the customer does not have any other method to prove who they are. This method is more time consuming for both the customer and agent and we have found that the majority of our customers can meet the identify verification criteria.</p><p> </p><p>A number of our Jobcentres across the network already offer a Saturday service. We do not offer evening appointments, but it is important to emphasise that we have a number of different mechanisms through which customers can access our services; for example, through our Universal Credit (UC) system which is a digital platform where customers can leave messages on their journal to update UC agents on their current circumstances. A number of our service lines also offer telephony services into the evening.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 22/04/2024 15:38:05 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
	tabling member	4139 label Biography information for Ian Lavery

1700317

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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	Department for Work and Pensions: Termination of Employment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff left his Department in each year since 2015.
	tabling member constituency	Solihull
	tabling member printed	Julian Knight
	uin	21092
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/04/2024 answer text <p>The table below shows Staff in Post (SiP) numbers of leavers for each financial year (April - March.) To ensure compliance with GDPR, seven years of data is the maximum that we hold.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p><strong>All leavers in Financial Year - SiP</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Date</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of Leavers - DWP</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>17/18</strong></p></td><td><p>6,927</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>18/19</strong></p></td><td><p>6,320</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>19/20</strong></p></td><td><p>7,149</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>20/21</strong></p></td><td><p>5,558</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>21/22</strong></p></td><td><p>11,332</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>22/23</strong></p></td><td><p>10,910</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>23/24</strong></p></td><td><p>7,299</p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 18/04/2024 13:23:21 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4410 label Biography information for Julian Knight

1700323

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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: 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 overpayments of carer’s allowance of (a) £0.01 - £500, (b) £500.01 - £1,000, (c) £1,000.01 - £5,000, (d) £5,000.01 - £20,000 and (e) more than £20,000 were made in the (i) 2021-22, (ii) 2022-23 and (iii) 2023-24 financial years.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral West
	tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
	uin	21072
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2024 answer text <p>Claimants have a responsibility to ensure they are entitled to benefits they claim and to inform the DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award. For Carer’s Allowance, eligibility is partly dependent upon claimants earning £151 or less a week after tax, National Insurance and allowable expenses.</p><p> </p><p>Where overpayments do occur, the Department has a duty to the taxpayer to protect public funds and to ask for money to be paid back. However, we seek to do so without causing excessive hardship. We remain committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and will always look to negotiate sustainable and affordable repayment plans.</p><p> </p><p>Our most recent statistics show that Carer's Allowance overpayments relating to earnings/employment represents 2.1% of our £3.3bn Carer’s Allowance expenditure.</p><p> </p><p>The information requested has been provided in the table below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Carer’s Allowance Debt Value Grouping</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2021/22</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2022/23</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2023/24</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£0.01 - £500.00</p></td><td><p>26.4k</p></td><td><p>20.3k</p></td><td><p>28.0k</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£500.01 - £1000.00</p></td><td><p>12.2k</p></td><td><p>11.4k</p></td><td><p>11.9k</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£1000.01 - £5000.00</p></td><td><p>18.4k</p></td><td><p>16.4k</p></td><td><p>18.6k</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£5000.01 - £20,000.00</p></td><td><p>2.9k</p></td><td><p>1.3k</p></td><td><p>1.3k</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Over £20,000.00</p></td><td><p>0.1k</p></td><td><p>0.1k</p></td><td><p>0.0k</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>60.1k</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>49.5k</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>59.9k</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The above data has been sourced from internal DWP management information, which is intended only to help the Department to manage its business. It is not intended for publication and has not been subject to the same quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 19/04/2024 11:33:45 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1700324

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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: 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 debts of overpayments of Carer's Allowance his Department was seeking to recover in value brackets (a) £0.01 - £500, (b) £500.01 - £1,000, (c) £1,000.01 - £5,000, (d) £5,000.01 - £20,000 and (e) over £20,000 as of 6 April 2024.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral West
	tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
	uin	21073
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2024 answer text <p>Claimants have a responsibility to ensure they are entitled to benefits they claim and to inform the DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award. For Carer’s Allowance, eligibility is partly dependent upon claimants earning £151 or less a week after tax, National Insurance and allowable expenses.</p><p> </p><p>Where overpayments do occur, the Department has a duty to the taxpayer to protect public funds and to ask for money to be paid back. However, we seek to do so without causing excessive hardship. We remain committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and will always look to negotiate sustainable and affordable repayment plans.</p><p> </p><p>Our most recent statistics show that Carer's Allowance overpayments relating to earnings/employment represents 2.1% of our £3.3bn Carer’s Allowance expenditure.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The information requested has been provided in the table below.</p><p /><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Carer’s Allowance Debt Value Grouping</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Volume of Carer’s Allowance Debts</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£0.01 - £500.00</p></td><td><p>61.9k</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£500.01 - £1000.00</p></td><td><p>29.7k</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£1000.01 - £5000.00</p></td><td><p>53.2k</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£5000.01 - £20,000.00</p></td><td><p>11.3k</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Over £20,000.00</p></td><td><p>0.3k</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>156.3k</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The above data has been sourced from internal DWP management information, which is intended only to help the Department to manage its business. It is not intended for publication and has not been subject to the same quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Data is taken as a snapshot as at 03/04/2024, the closest date we can obtain to 06/04/2024.</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 19/04/2024 11:37:23 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1700325

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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: 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 overpayments of Carer’s Allowance there have been in relation to the earnings conditions in each of the last three years.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral West
	tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
	uin	21074
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/04/2024 answer text <p>Claimants have a responsibility to ensure they are entitled to benefits they claim and to inform the DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award. For Carer’s Allowance, eligibility is partly dependent upon claimants earning £151 or less a week after tax, National Insurance and allowable expenses.</p><p> </p><p>Where overpayments do occur, the Department has a duty to the taxpayer to protect public funds and to ask for money to be paid back. However, we seek to do so without causing excessive hardship. We remain committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and will always look to negotiate sustainable and affordable repayment plans.</p><p> </p><p>Our most recent statistics show that Carer's Allowance overpayments relating to earnings/employment represents 2.1% of our £3.3bn Carer’s Allowance expenditure.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The information requested has been provided in the table below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Financial Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2021/22</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2022/23</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>2023/24</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Volume of Carer’s Allowance (CA) Debts</strong></p></td><td><p>36.1k</p></td><td><p>30.7k</p></td><td><p>34.5k</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The above data has been sourced from internal DWP management information, which is intended only to help the Department to manage its business. It is not intended for publication and has not been subject to the same quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Blackpool North and Cleveleys answering member printed Paul Maynard question first answered 19/04/2024 11:40:39 answering member 3926 label Biography information for Paul Maynard
	tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1700327

	registered interest
	date	12/04/2024
	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, what steps he is taking to ensure carers are made aware when they have exceeded the threshold for claiming carer's allowance.
	tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
	tabling member printed	Catherine West
	uin	21170
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2024 answer text <p>DWP remains focussed and passionate about ensuring that the experience for our DWP customers is at the forefront of the decisions that we make, the processes we deliver, and the improvements that we design.</p><p> </p><p>We have made it easier for customers to contact DWP via the channel that makes the most sense for them. DWP customers can report change of circumstances by telephone, letter, and online via GOV.UK which outlines the routeway of how a customer should notify DWP for each benefit where changes occur. This includes the use of Universal Credit Journal to report changes directly to the appropriate benefit affected where earnings increase or decrease accordingly.</p><p> </p><p>For customers seeking advice on Carer’s Allowance (CA) entitlement, GOV.UK provides detail on eligibility. The CA threshold for earnings is £151 a week from April 2024, after tax, National Insurance, and expenses.</p><p> </p><p>Following a successful claim to CA customers are issued with an ‘award letter’ which includes a reminder that ‘You <strong>must</strong> tell us if your earnings or expenses change.” This helps to ensure that their CA claim runs smoothly, and the earnings threshold for claiming Carer's Allowance is not exceeded.</p><p> </p><p>As benefit and pension rates are uprated, CA customers are further issued with new benefit rate ‘uprating letters’ which also include reminders to report changes in circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>For irregular earners, CA work closely with our customers to ensure CA is only paid for the periods when the customer’s earnings fluctuate and are below the earnings limit. In this way, this should ensure that CA is not overpaid, as information is obtained from the customer for set periods of time to ensure CA is paid correctly for that period.</p><p> </p><p>As our customers rightly expect, DWP is committed to continuous improvement, and we have many mechanisms in place to measure, and analyse the experience of our customers, providing DWP with a rich source of feedback that helps us to review and improve our services.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 22/04/2024 14:19:15 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West