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1176109

registered interest
date	04/02/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pension Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential incentive for mixed-aged couples to live alone as a result of the changes to pension credit entitlement which came into force in May 2019.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	12300
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2020 answer text <p>Pension Credit is intended to provide long term support for people who have permanently retired from the labour market on grounds of age.</p><p> </p><p>The Government does not believe it is right that different labour market conditions should apply to people below State Pension age based on the age of their partner. The younger partner in a mixed age couple should have the same incentives to work and save for their own retirement as other people of the same age. Unlike Pension Credit, which in most cases allows couples to retain only £10 a week of earned income, Universal Credit provides clear incentives for people to find and progress in work. The younger partner in a mixed age couple claiming Universal Credit will get the personalised support provided by Work Coaches to help them find and progress in work where appropriate. If the younger partner is unable to work because of disability or caring requirements, additional amounts may be payable and conditionality requirements adjusted.</p><p> </p><p>No work-related requirements will be applied to the older partner and there is no effect on entitlement to, or ability to receive, a State Pension.</p><p> </p><p>This change does not apply to couples already claiming Pension Credit and/or Housing Benefit for pensioners on 14 May 2019 for as long as they remain entitled to either benefit.</p><p> </p><p>In means-tested benefits, couples in a household are treated and assessed as a single unit rather than on an individual basis. The rate for a couple is lower than the rates would be for two single people to take account of lower aggregate living expenses for a couple. There is no evidence from elsewhere in the tax-benefit system that this leads to couples separating. In developing the policy, it was judged that the strategic objective of maintaining contact with the labour market and incentives to save for retirement outweighed the risk of genuine separation, given this lack of evidence.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 12301 12302 question first answered 10/02/2020 17:47:13 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1176110

registered interest
date	04/02/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pension Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what additional financial support her Department provides to mixed-age couples as a result of the changes to pension credit entitlement which came into force in May 2019.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	12301
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2020 answer text <p>Pension Credit is intended to provide long term support for people who have permanently retired from the labour market on grounds of age.</p><p> </p><p>The Government does not believe it is right that different labour market conditions should apply to people below State Pension age based on the age of their partner. The younger partner in a mixed age couple should have the same incentives to work and save for their own retirement as other people of the same age. Unlike Pension Credit, which in most cases allows couples to retain only £10 a week of earned income, Universal Credit provides clear incentives for people to find and progress in work. The younger partner in a mixed age couple claiming Universal Credit will get the personalised support provided by Work Coaches to help them find and progress in work where appropriate. If the younger partner is unable to work because of disability or caring requirements, additional amounts may be payable and conditionality requirements adjusted.</p><p> </p><p>No work-related requirements will be applied to the older partner and there is no effect on entitlement to, or ability to receive, a State Pension.</p><p> </p><p>This change does not apply to couples already claiming Pension Credit and/or Housing Benefit for pensioners on 14 May 2019 for as long as they remain entitled to either benefit.</p><p> </p><p>In means-tested benefits, couples in a household are treated and assessed as a single unit rather than on an individual basis. The rate for a couple is lower than the rates would be for two single people to take account of lower aggregate living expenses for a couple. There is no evidence from elsewhere in the tax-benefit system that this leads to couples separating. In developing the policy, it was judged that the strategic objective of maintaining contact with the labour market and incentives to save for retirement outweighed the risk of genuine separation, given this lack of evidence.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 12300 12302 question first answered 10/02/2020 17:47:13 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1176111

registered interest
date	04/02/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pension Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has put in place additional financial support for mixed-age pensioners as a result of the May 2019 changes to pension credit entitlement for mixed-aged couples; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	12302
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2020 answer text <p>Pension Credit is intended to provide long term support for people who have permanently retired from the labour market on grounds of age.</p><p> </p><p>The Government does not believe it is right that different labour market conditions should apply to people below State Pension age based on the age of their partner. The younger partner in a mixed age couple should have the same incentives to work and save for their own retirement as other people of the same age. Unlike Pension Credit, which in most cases allows couples to retain only £10 a week of earned income, Universal Credit provides clear incentives for people to find and progress in work. The younger partner in a mixed age couple claiming Universal Credit will get the personalised support provided by Work Coaches to help them find and progress in work where appropriate. If the younger partner is unable to work because of disability or caring requirements, additional amounts may be payable and conditionality requirements adjusted.</p><p> </p><p>No work-related requirements will be applied to the older partner and there is no effect on entitlement to, or ability to receive, a State Pension.</p><p> </p><p>This change does not apply to couples already claiming Pension Credit and/or Housing Benefit for pensioners on 14 May 2019 for as long as they remain entitled to either benefit.</p><p> </p><p>In means-tested benefits, couples in a household are treated and assessed as a single unit rather than on an individual basis. The rate for a couple is lower than the rates would be for two single people to take account of lower aggregate living expenses for a couple. There is no evidence from elsewhere in the tax-benefit system that this leads to couples separating. In developing the policy, it was judged that the strategic objective of maintaining contact with the labour market and incentives to save for retirement outweighed the risk of genuine separation, given this lack of evidence.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 12300 12301 question first answered 10/02/2020 17:47:13 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood

1176112

registered interest
date	04/02/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Pension Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to increase the number of people claiming pension credit in the last 12 months; and what progress she has made in increasing that number.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Ladywood
tabling member printed	Shabana Mahmood
uin	12303
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2020 answer text <p>1.6 Million people are already claiming some £5.4 billion in pension Credit. The Government wants to make sure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled. That is why from the 10 February we are launching a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of Pension Credit and encourage those over State Pension age to check whether they’re eligible. The campaign, which will run for 12 weeks, includes a short, animated video that will be shown in GP waiting rooms and in Post Offices. It will also be shown to Facebook users over State Pension Age and be supported by messaging on social media.</p><p> </p><p>We regularly work with our stakeholders to help spread the key messages from the campaign because we know that often the best ways to reach eligible pensioners is through trusted stakeholders working in the community. The Pension Credit toolkit is being updated with the campaign materials to supplement the resources it already contains for those working with pensioners, such as guides to Pension Credit and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit. The toolkit is designed to help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as provide ideas for encouraging take-up. It can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit</a></p><p> </p><p>The Department for Work and Pensions continues to use a wide range of channels including information on <a href="http://www.gov.uk" target="_blank">www.gov.uk</a>, in leaflets and by telephone to communicate information about benefits including Pension Credit to potential claimants. We target activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or Attendance Allowance or report a change in their circumstances which may mean that they could be eligible for Pension Credit. In addition, the Pension Credit calculator <a href="https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator</a> enables potential claimants to check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive.</p><p> </p><p>The Department for Work and Pensions publishes an annual report detailing latest available statistics regarding the estimated take-up of Pension Credit and other income-related benefits.</p><p>The latest version can be found here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017</a></p><p>The next report containing 2017/18 data is currently due to be published at the end of February 2020.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 10/02/2020 17:45:34 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	3914 label Biography information for Shabana Mahmood