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945623

registered interest
date	20/07/2018
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: Ethnic Groups
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they conduct ethnic monitoring of social security benefits, including Universal Credit; and if so, whether this system collects data on the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL9752
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>Claimants, including Universal Credit claimants, are given the option to provide their ethnicity for monitoring purposes. We have published volumes of claimants broken down by ethnicity for some benefits. This is publically available and can be accessed using DWP’s Stat-Xplore function on the gov.uk website, or the Nomis service provided by the Office for National Statistics.</p><p> </p><p>The data is not broken down to Gypsy, Roma and Travellers. These individuals are captured in the larger ethnic group they identify with.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 13:48:38 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

944910

registered interest
date	19/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the level of identity verification required to sign up to Universal Credit is adequate; what reviews, if any, they have undertaken to ensure that online applications do not require a higher standard of identity assurance than is applied elsewhere; and how they are trying to clear the current backlog of face-to-face interview appointments.
tabling member printed	Lord Freyberg
uin	HL9693
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>DWP takes the security of Universal Credit very seriously, this includes verifying who our claimants are; we continue to work to maintain the high standards of our identity verification processes. There are various ways in which a claimant can verify their identity for Universal Credit purposes: online using the gov.uk verify service; in person using primary and secondary ID verification or; by using biographical questions.</p><p><em> </em></p><p>In line with advice from the National Cyber Security Centre and best practice, we treat identity proofing as just one of many defences that combine to mitigate attempted fraud. In line with our “test and learn” approach to delivering Universal Credit, we continuously assess the levels of security and fraud risk to both Government and our users, as it is critical that we strike the right balance between making the service as smooth as possible for claimants and protecting the taxpayer against fraud. We reviewed the level of identity required to strike this balance prior to the introduction of gov.uk Verify as an option for users to prove their identity online into the service and found that it, in combination with the other defences against fraud built into the service, gave a sufficiently strong level of proof. As Universal Credit continues to roll out, we are again reviewing the level of identity and the options available to further improve claimants’ experience while protecting DWP against fraud as part of wider efficiency improvements.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:17:15 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	2593 label Biography information for Lord Freyberg

944940

registered interest
date	19/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what success they have had in identifying and tracking claimants of Universal Credit whom they deem vulnerable.
tabling member printed	Lord Touhig
uin	HL9723
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>Where notified by a Local Authority or a claimant, DWP staff currently updates the claimant profile with any temporary or long term complex needs and how that affects the claimant’s ability to use the service. This enables Universal Credit agents and work coaches to provide individuals with appropriate personalised support.</p><p>Underlying this approach is the principle that not all individuals with a disability, health condition or other set of personal circumstances will necessarily require support, while some will only need support for a period of time. Our work coaches deliver a personalised journey based on individual claimant needs.</p><p>The Department is looking to further improve our system to better identify vulnerable claimants with the use of a new ‘pinning’ function. This involves testing methods to extract data on information recorded in the claimant profile using text matching techniques. We have plans to introduce a function to ‘pin’ key profile notes so they are instantly visible to all staff helping a claimant. The Department is beginning wider work to examine how claimants tell us about their complex needs, how we record them and how we can extract data which can help us monitor and improve support.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:19:38 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	542 label Biography information for Lord Touhig

944941

registered interest
date	19/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how they (1) identify, and (2) measure the number of, people having difficulties with claiming Universal Credit.
tabling member printed	Lord Touhig
uin	HL9724
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>The Department is continually working to improve the claimant journey for Universal Credit. The Universal Credit Full Service Claimant Survey found that 98 per cent of claims are made online, and that nearly half of claimants had help from others or from their jobcentre adviser to do so, demonstrating that those who need it are accessing the support available to them.</p><p> </p><p>The survey also found that 31 per cent of claimants said they need more on-going support with using their Universal Credit digital account. To address this, we are investing up to £200 million into budgeting and digital support, to help claimants with the transition to Universal Credit. This is delivered by the Department and through partners such as local authorities and other third party organisations.</p><p> </p><p>All jobcentres across the country have free Wi-Fi, and there are more than 8,000 computers available to support customers who need help with making their claim digitally and applying for jobs online. Work coaches will also assist anyone who needs assistance. If people cannot get online we have also a freephone helpline available.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:17:53 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	542 label Biography information for Lord Touhig

944942

registered interest
date	19/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they measure the number of claimants of Universal Credit who are experiencing financial hardship; and if so, how many such claimants there are.
tabling member printed	Lord Touhig
uin	HL9725
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>For many people who do experience financial difficulties, these pre-date their claim to Universal Credit. For example, in their report published on 11 July 2018, the National Federation of Arms-Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) of Social Housing providers found that of those Universal Credit households in rent arrears, 76 per cent had arrears prior to moving onto Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>In the Universal Credit Claimant survey, published in June 2018, 4 in 10 claimants reported they were having difficulties keeping up with bills. In 2011/12 in the report “Work and the welfare system: a survey of benefits and tax credits recipients” from 2011/12, one in three main claimants said they run out of money before the end of the week/month always or most of the time, and a further third said this happens more often than not or sometimes. Both surveys are available on gov.uk.</p><p> </p><p>Unlike in the legacy system, we are investing around £200 million over the Universal Credit implementation period into Universal Support to help claimants with budget management and digital support. Our work coaches work closely with claimants, ensuring they can identify any vulnerabilities such as financial hardship at an early stage. They can then tailor support according to claimants’ individual needs and help to address these issues.</p><p> </p><p>We also have a system of advances and budgeting support to help people with the transition to Universal Credit. From 3 January 2018, we increased the repayment period of Universal Credit advances to 12 months, with claimants able to get up to 100 per cent of their estimated monthly entitlement upfront. These advances are available to claimants interest-free, and from July 2018, can be applied for online.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:18:44 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	542 label Biography information for Lord Touhig

944943

registered interest
date	19/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce the number of Universal Credit claimants experiencing financial difficulties from four in 10, as reported in their Universal Credit Full Source Survey, published in June.
tabling member printed	Lord Touhig
uin	HL9726
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>We have introduced a number of measures to support and reduce the number of claimants facing financial difficulties.</p><p>We are investing up to £200 million into budgeting and digital support, to help claimants with the transition to Universal Credit and our work coaches work closely with claimants, ensuring they can identify any vulnerabilities or specific needs, such as financial difficulties, at an early stage. We have also invested £1.5 billion in a package of measures to support claimants financially in the first assessment period.</p><p>From 3 January, claimants have been getting advances of up to 100 per cent of their indicative monthly entitlement within a few days. From 14 February, waiting days were removed, and from 11 April, claimants transitioning to Universal Credit from Housing Benefit have been getting an additional 2 weeks of housing cost payments.</p><p>In June, we announced additional protection for people who receive Severe Disability Premium – they will stay on legacy benefits until Transitional Protection applies and we will introduce protection for those who have already moved on to Universal Credit.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:21:49 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	542 label Biography information for Lord Touhig

944944

registered interest
date	19/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what improvements in payment timelines they expect to achieve for claimants of Universal Credit in 2018.
tabling member printed	Lord Touhig
uin	HL9727
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>Around 80 per cent of new claims are paid in full and on time. In many cases, where full payment is not made on time by the end of the first assessment period, this is as a result of unresolved issues such as: some claimants have not signed their Claimant Commitment or passed identity checks, and the others have outstanding verification issues, such as for housing and self-employed earnings. Whilst their verification is on-going, many of these claimants receive a part payment for those elements of the claim that have been resolved. Within five weeks of the payment due date, 95 per cent of claims are paid in full.</p><p>DWP continues to monitor payment timeliness and we have made changes to improve payment timeliness. For example, we have built processes into the system to make it easier and quicker for people to verify information such as their housing costs.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:22:38 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	542 label Biography information for Lord Touhig

944945

registered interest
date	19/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Buscombe on 19 July, stating that "on underpayments, I should be clear that no one suffered a cash loss", what is their definition of a cash loss; what term a claimant should use to describe an underpayment; what is the difference between an underpayment, a payment in full and an overpayment; and whether they consider an overpayment to be a cash benefit to the recipient.
tabling member printed	Lord Touhig
uin	HL9728
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>No-one suffered a cash loss when they were converted from incapacity benefits to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) because where the amount of ESA they were entitled to was lower than the previous incapacity benefit award, it was ‘topped up’ to match their previous award by a transitional addition.</p><p> </p><p>We are unable to say whether someone has been underpaid on conversion from incapacity benefit to ESA and is due arrears of benefit until we have gathered the necessary financial information (by way of an ESA3 form) and reviewed their award.</p><p> </p><p>Overpayments are when a claimant is paid more in benefit than they are entitled to. Underpayments are when a claimant is paid less than they are entitled to. The Department seeks to recover overpayments of benefit in accordance with the appropriate legislation.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:22:19 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	542 label Biography information for Lord Touhig

944434

registered interest
date	18/07/2018
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	Older Workers
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to (1) encourage more people over 50 years old to participate in the work place, and (2) increase training and skills opportunities available for this age group.
tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
uin	HL9669
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>The number of workers aged 50 and over currently in employment is at a record high of 10.1 million - an increase of 1.4 million over the last 5 years and an increase of 2.2 million over the last 10 years.</p><p> </p><p>The Equality Act 2010, already provides strong protection against direct and indirect age discrimination in employment and makes it unlawful for an employer or an employment service provider such as a recruitment agency, to discriminate against an older employee or job applicant because of their age, and this applies both where the employer is making arrangements to fill a job, and in respect of anything done during the course of a person’s employment. DWP continues to work with businesses and stakeholder organisations to support older workers to remain in and return to work and challenge outdated perceptions about older workers.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to supporting people aged 50 and over to remain in and return to the labour market and in Feb 2017, published a new strategy ‘Fuller Working Lives: A Partnership Approach’. The Strategy is led by employers, but also sets out the case for action by individuals, and the role of Government in supporting older workers to remain in and return to work. The Strategy and supporting evidence base are available on the gov.uk website. Additionally, the Government announced a National Retraining Scheme in the Autumn Budget 2017 - an ambitious, far-reaching programme to drive adult learning and retraining. The National Retraining Scheme will give individuals the skills they need to progress in work, redirect their careers and secure the high-paid, high-skilled jobs of the future, focusing on those individuals and places who need it most.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL9614 question first answered 31/07/2018 12:11:40 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

943367

registered interest
date	17/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the report by End Hunger UK, Fix Universal Credit, published in July; and what steps they are taking to respond to the criticisms of Universal Credit made in that report.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL9585
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>The Department follows a test and learn approach to Universal Credit, with a number of changes being delivered following feedback from stakeholders and other interested parties during the last few months. These include:</p><ul><li>From 29 November 2017, introducing Freephone numbers for Universal Credit phone lines.</li><li>From 3 January 2018, extending the repayment period of Universal Credit advances to 12 months, with claimants now able to apply for up to 100 per cent of their estimated monthly entitlement upfront (and from July 2018 claimants can apply for an advance online). These can be paid on the same day where there is urgent need.</li><li>From 14 February 2018, removing the seven day waiting period that some claimants faced at the start of their claim.</li><li>From 11 April, providing an additional payment for claimants already receiving support towards their housing costs of two weeks of their Housing Benefit to support them as they transfer onto Universal Credit. Claimants will not be required to repay this money.</li></ul><p>We engage at a personal and individual level with all of our claimants and are committed to tailoring the support we give, and any conditionality requirements, to the specific circumstances of the individual. Our work coaches undergo a comprehensive training and accreditation programme. Telephony or face to face services are also in place for those vulnerable claimants who cannot self-serve online.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Support is available to help claimants with the transition to Universal Credit and we are investing £200 million into budgeting and digital support to help claimants with the transition to Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>In 2016, the Department trialled a new process for JSA sanctions in response to the Work and Pensions Select Committee’s recommendations to review the JSA sanction process. The trial involved 6,500 claimants, with the findings (Jobseeker’s Allowance Sanctions Early Warning Trial Evaluation – Final report) published on 21 May 2018. Given the low proportion of cases in which claimants provided further evidence and the even lower proportion of cases where decision outcomes were changed, the Department has decided not to implement this trial process more widely, and will instead consider alternative processes.</p><p> </p><p>As part of our test and learn approach we will continue to work closely with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure Universal Credit continues to be introduced in a measured and careful way. Universal Credit ensures claimants are better off when they move into work, by smoothing the transition into work and replacing the benefits cliff edge of the past.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:10:01 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton