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1137725

registered interest
date	09/07/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	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 assessment she has made of the extent to which people are excluded from unemployment statistics as a result of not being eligible for social security benefits.
tabling member constituency	Wansbeck
tabling member printed	Ian Lavery
uin	275194
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2019 answer text <p>The UK’s official measure of unemployment is produced by the independent ONS and based on the International Labour Organisation’s long-standing definition of unemployment: persons without work, available for work in the next 2 weeks, and who have actively sought work in the last 4 weeks.</p><p>The latest available statistics were released by the ONS on 11 June 2019 and show an unemployment rate (for ages 16+) of 3.8% - the lowest since 1974. This statistic is estimated using responses to the Labour Force Survey and is unrelated to a person’s eligibility for social security benefits.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 17/07/2019 13:35:08 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4139 label Biography information for Ian Lavery

1135484

registered interest
date	28/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits
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 27 June 2019 to Question 268401, what information she holds on the reasons why those 156,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts are not repaying their debts.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	270705
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The table below provides information on why the specified claimants were not repaying their debts.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Zero balance**</p></td><td><p>92,776</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Business as usual/head of work (Includes future instalment confirmation)</p></td><td><p>48,196</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Awaiting Financial Reconciliation</p></td><td><p>12,452</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>In progress – Awaiting further information (e.g. customer correspondence/contact)</p></td><td><p>4,214</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Managed by external contractor (Debt collection agency)</p></td><td><p>618</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Awaiting appeal outcome</p></td><td><p>534</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Waiting for customer to call back</p></td><td><p>306</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Other</p></td><td><p>477</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><em>*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department.</em></p><p> </p><p><em>** The zero balance category is made up of debts that have been fully repaid, but are yet to be removed from the Debt Manager system. It is important to note that no further recovery action will be taken in these cases</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/07/2019 15:06:25 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1134285

registered interest
date	24/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	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, pursuant to the Answer of 24 Jun 2019 to Question 264329, of the 749,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts, how much debt remains outstanding for each benefit in the Prescribed Social Security Benefits / Payments category.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	268400
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>The table below shows the outstanding debt balances for the 749k Debtors with recovery from UC for non-UC debts.*</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Benefit </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Current Debt Balance</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Attendance Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.022m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Administrative Penalty</p></td><td><p>£0.011m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bereavement Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.038m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bereavement Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.001m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Bereavement Support Payment</p></td><td><p>£0.005m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Carer’s Allowance</p></td><td><p>£18.290m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Civil Penalties</p></td><td><p>£0.099m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Disability Living Allowance</p></td><td><p>£6.934m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Disability Working Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.004m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Employment and Support Allowance</p></td><td><p>£39.226m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Family Credit</p></td><td><p>£0.097m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Housing Benefit</p></td><td><p>£94.378m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Incapacity Benefit</p></td><td><p>£6.371m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.027m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Income Support</p></td><td><p>£120.712m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Invalidity Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.080m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Job Seekers Allowance</p></td><td><p>£22.745m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Maternity Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.096m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Pension Credit</p></td><td><p>£0.568m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Personal Independence Payments</p></td><td><p>£1.262m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Reduced Earnings Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.006m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Retirement Pension</p></td><td><p>£0.126m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sickness Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.002m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Severe Disablement Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.259m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Social Fund Loans</p></td><td><p>£73.925m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Social Fund Overpayments</p></td><td><p>£0.619m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Non UC Short Term Advances</p></td><td><p>£0.293m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Supplementary Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.113m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Tax Credit Overpayment</p></td><td><p>£635.113m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Unemployment Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.020m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Widows Benefit</p></td><td><p>£0.045m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Widowed Mother Allowance</p></td><td><p>£0.418m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Widows Pension</p></td><td><p>£0.125m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Widowed Parent’s Allowance</p></td><td><p>£1.491m</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Department works hard to prevent potential benefit overpayments from occurring. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances in real time.</p><p>Where overpayments do occur, the Department ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants who are subject to deductions to repay these overpayments.</p><p>It is not intended that the recovery of an overpayment should cause any claimant undue financial hardship.</p><p><em>*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department. All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/06/2019 16:54:19 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1134286

registered interest
date	24/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	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, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2019 to Question 264329, of the 749,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts, how many claimants are repaying debts in each of the Prescribed Social Security Benefits / Payments categories.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	268401
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>As at 24 June 2019, 593k of the 749k debtors are currently repaying debts*. DWP is unable to break this down by benefit.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Department works hard to prevent potential benefit overpayments from occurring. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances in real time.</p><p> </p><p>Where overpayments do occur, the Department ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants who are subject to deductions to repay these overpayments.</p><p><em> </em></p><p><em>*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department. </em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/06/2019 16:47:00 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1134287

registered interest
date	24/06/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	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, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2019 to Question 264329, of the 749,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts, what is the (a) mean and (b) median average debt owed by claimants in each of the Prescribed Social Security Benefits / Payments categories.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	268402
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>Of the 749k debtors that made a payment in 2018/19, the Mean current balance per debtor is £1,740.68 and the Median current balance per debtor is £757.20.* DWP is unable to break this down by benefit.</p><p> </p><p>The Department works hard to prevent potential benefit overpayments from occurring. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances in real time.</p><p>Where overpayments do occur, the Department ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants who are subject to deductions to repay these overpayments.</p><p><em>*The data provided in this response has been sourced from internal management information and was not intended for public release. It should therefore not be compared to any other, similar data subsequently released by the Department. </em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/06/2019 16:53:35 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1124262

registered interest
date	01/05/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	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 her Department is taking to ensure that people who are digitally excluded are not missing out on benefits to which they are entitled.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	249804
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/05/2019 answer text <p>Our Universal Credit Claimant Survey, found that 98 per cent of claimants have internet access and did claim online, and the majority of those said they found the claim process overall to be straightforward. This can be accessed at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-full-service-claimant-survey" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-full-service-claimant-survey</a></p><p>However, for those that are still unable to access or use digital services, assistance to make and maintain their claim is available via the Freephone Universal Credit helpline. Face-to-face support is also available in Jobcentres. In exceptional circumstances, a home visit can be arranged to support a claimant in making and maintaining their claim.</p><p>From 1 April 2019 Citizens Advice (England and Wales) and Citizens Advice Scotland are delivering the new ‘Help to Claim’ support to claimants making a new Universal Credit (UC) claim or moving from a legacy benefit to UC because of a change of circumstances. The Citizens Advice Help to Claim offers tailored, practical support to help people make a UC claim up to receiving their first full correct payment on time. It is available online, through web-chat, through a Freephone number and face to face through local Citizens Advice services.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/05/2019 17:09:36 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1124266

registered interest
date	01/05/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	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 estimate she has made of the amount of (a) jobseeker’s allowance, (b) universal credit, (c) personal independence payment and (d) disability living allowance to which claimants were entitled but did not claim in each year since 2010.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	249805
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/05/2019 answer text <p>There are £2.4 billion of unclaimed legacy benefits not going to the people who need them, because they do not know that they are entitled to them or how to claim. Universal Credit makes sure that welfare payments reach those who need them most.</p><p> </p><p>The information requested is not held by the Department for Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance.</p><p> </p><p>The Department holds information on the amount of Jobseeker’s Allowance that claimants were entitled to but did not claim for the years 2009-2016. More recent data is not held.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Estimated amount of unclaimed JSA</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Millions of Pounds</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009/10</p></td><td><p>1,380</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012/13</p></td><td><p>1,850</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013/14</p></td><td><p>1,550</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014/15</p></td><td><p>1,510</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>1,380</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Notes</p><ul><li>Amounts are shown in nominal terms (not adjusted for inflation)</li><li>The figures in the brackets give the 95 per cent confidence intervals. This range around the central take-up estimate is calculated to show, with 95 per cent probability, the range within which the true value of take-up lies. This assumes that there is no non-sampling error such as incorrect reporting of amounts or under-coverage of the range of respondents.</li><li>This information can be accessed here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-201516" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-201516</a></li></ul><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/05/2019 17:12:08 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1092627

registered interest
date	21/03/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information her Department holds on the proportion of (a) employment and support allowance, (b) jobseeker's allowance and (c) universal credit claimants who have (i) accepted and (ii) not accepted that her Department has taken into account their personal circumstances when deciding upon the claimant commitments which apply to their claim.
tabling member constituency	Kensington
tabling member printed	Emma Dent Coad
uin	235366
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/03/2019 answer text <p>As part of the process of making a claim, all JSA (including New Style), New Style ESA and Universal Credit claimants discuss and agree a claimant commitment statement as part of the conditions of their claim.</p><p> </p><p>The Department does not hold information on the reasons why a claimant commitment is or is not accepted by the claimant. Where a claimant commitment is not accepted, for any reason, a claim cannot be made, unless reasonable adjustments apply.</p><p> </p><p>The reasonable requirements in a Claimant Commitment are based on the appropriate conditionality group for the claimant, and the Work Coach is able to tailor the requirements to include adjustments or easements for personal circumstances. If a claimant and their Work Coach are unable to agree on the reasonable requirements in their claimant commitment, they can request another Work Coach to review this.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 29/03/2019 14:14:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4683 label Biography information for Emma Dent Coad

1064355

registered interest
date	20/02/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households have been affected by each reform to working-age benefits and tax credits since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	223829
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/02/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 25/02/2019 16:28:50 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1050383

registered interest
date	29/01/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Social Security Benefits
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 22 October 2018 to Question 182114 on Universal Credit, what definition of genuine hardship is used by her Department to determine whether exceptional circumstances apply to a claim for an advance payment of (a) legacy benefits, (b) personal independence payment and (c) universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Garston and Halewood
tabling member printed	Maria Eagle
uin	213954
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/02/2019 answer text <p>Advances are available to those receiving Universal Credit, DWP legacy income related benefits (such as Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance), and Pension Credit.</p><p> </p><p>However, advances are not available for those receiving Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payment (which are non means tested and for people with personal care and/or mobility needs because of a mental or physical disability).</p><p> </p><p>There is no prescriptive definition of hardship used in determining an advance award in Universal Credit, or a Short Term Benefit Advance for DWP legacy income related benefits: we tailor the support that we provide and consider each case on its own merits given the financial and other circumstances of the claimant and their immediate family.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 06/02/2019 16:25:02 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	483 label Biography information for Maria Eagle