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1328884

registered interest
date	27/05/2021
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, with reference to universal credit claimant feedback entitled 54. I - Paper BTL02 – UC Claimants: In Their Own Words reviewed by the Universal Credit Programme Board at its meeting on 21 March 2019, whether she plans to make an assessment of the adequacy of universal credit for people unable to work due to their health condition or disability.
tabling member constituency	Westminster North
tabling member printed	Ms Karen Buck
uin	8534
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2021 answer text <p>There is no objective way of deciding what an adequate level of benefit should be as every-one has different requirements. In addition to being eligible to claim non-means tested benefits, such as PIP and DLA, disabled people can receive Universal Credit to support them with their living costs. Couples, where one is working and one has limited capability for work or work related activity, may also be eligible to claim childcare costs. The Universal Credit rate for the most severely disabled people, the limited capability for work and work related activity (LCWRA) addition, is more than double the equivalent rate for the Employment and Support Allowance support group. Our upcoming Health and Disability Green Paper will explore how we can go even further to support disabled people and those with health conditions now and in the future.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 08/06/2021 15:58:27 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	199 label Biography information for Ms Karen Buck

1328331

registered interest
date	26/05/2021
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 assessment she has made of the equity of her policy on two persons who qualify for the Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity element of Universal Credit make a joint claim, one of them loses the Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity element; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	City of Durham
tabling member printed	Mary Kelly Foy
uin	7943
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/06/2021 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p>It is right that where there has been a change in circumstances, such as a couple forming, benefit entitlement is reassessed to reflect the altered financial status of the household. In Universal Credit, while both members of a couple may be assessed as having limited capability for work and work-related activity, only one limited capability for work and work-related activity element can be awarded. In income-related ESA, whilst a couple’s rate of personal allowance can be paid, only the claimant is assessed and if found to have limited capability for work and work-related activity, awarded the equivalent Support Group component. There is no couple rate of the Support Group component.</p><p> </p><p>The limited capability for work and work-related activity element is designed to reflect the extra costs of longer durations on benefit. Income from benefits such as Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance, which are provided to meet additional costs relating to disability for individuals rather than households, is not taken into account.</p><p /> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 07/06/2021 13:24:03 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4753 label Biography information for Mary Kelly Foy

1314900

registered interest
date	14/05/2021
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 steps she is taking to reduce the backlog of assessments for universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Heeley
tabling member printed	Louise Haigh
uin	1334
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/05/2021 answer text <p>For the purposes of this response, I have assumed the Honourable Member is referring to Work Capability Assessments (WCAs) used to assess the health entitlement in Universal Credit when referring to “assessments.”</p><p> </p><p>Throughout the pandemic following the suspension of face to face Work Capability Assessments (WCAs) to protect the health of our customers and staff, we continued to assess people on paper evidence whenever possible and introduced telephone assessments from May 2020, doing so in a cautious and evidence-based way, in order to reduce the risk of incorrect benefit outcomes.</p><p> </p><p>Our priority was and continues to be to get our customers into payment as soon as possible. Therefore, telephone assessments initially focused on claimants who were most likely to benefit from having an assessment i.e. those who were likely to have limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA), with this being the only outcome available. Using a test and learn approach, we expanded the range of outcomes available in telephone assessments during the course of the pandemic and, from February 2021, the full range outcomes have been able. This is enabling us to provide a further telephone assessment to those customers who didn’t get an outcome from their first one. We are also, in parallel, doing a small number of Video Assessments.</p><p> </p><p>We have continuously improved our guidance and processes to minimise the number of customers for whom a telephone assessment is not suitable because of their health condition. Now only a small proportion of customers are unable to undertake a telephone assessment. These customers will be prioritised for a face to face assessment following their resumption this month.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 19/05/2021 12:48:43 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4473 label Biography information for Louise Haigh

1234064

registered interest
date	14/09/2020
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	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 steps she is taking to ensure that increased time frames for personal independence payment renewals do not prevent people whose PIP is no longer paid from accessing universal credit's limited capability for work related activity element when their income is above the conditionality earnings threshold and stopping them from having a universal credit work capability assessment.
tabling member constituency	Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
tabling member printed	Drew Hendry
uin	89762
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/09/2020 answer text <p>As I stated during recent oral questions [Hansard, 14 September 2020, Column 6] the Department has supported disabled customers during the Covid outbreak by automatically extending existing Personal Independence Payment (PIP) awards. As PIP payments are unaffected until any review activity has been completed, the circumstances whereby an individual loses access to Universal Credit's limited capability for work and work related activity element do not arise.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 17/09/2020 11:00:44 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4467 label Biography information for Drew Hendry

1226501

registered interest
date	20/07/2020
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	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 assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of extending the time frame beyond 30 days of the date of decision for the mandatory reconsideration of a universal credit decision to provide support agencies with a wider time frame to help people with that process.
tabling member constituency	Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
tabling member printed	Drew Hendry
uin	76779
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/09/2020 answer text <p>Whilst the time limit for applying for a Mandatory Reconsideration is one month, if an application is made within this period but more time is needed to provide supporting evidence, the claimant or their representative can ask that a decision is not made pending the provision of that evidence.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 01/09/2020 12:07:26 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4467 label Biography information for Drew Hendry

1204322

registered interest
date	16/06/2020
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	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of claimants in receipt of the limited capability for work component of universal credit died (a) from March to May 2020 and (b) from March to May 2019.
tabling member constituency	Oldham East and Saddleworth
tabling member printed	Debbie Abrahams
uin	59771
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2020 answer text <p>This information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 25/06/2020 16:03:59 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4212 label Biography information for Debbie Abrahams

1188502

registered interest
date	20/04/2020
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	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 couples had a claimant who was receiving a carer element as part of universal credit between (a) May and August 2019 and (b) September and December 2019.
tabling member constituency	East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow
tabling member printed	Dr Lisa Cameron
uin	37886
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2020 answer text <p>The available information on the number of households with a carer entitlement on Universal Credit is published and can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 28/04/2020 12:09:30 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4412 label Biography information for Dr Lisa Cameron

1188731

registered interest
date	20/04/2020
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	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 universal credit claims were closed after first payment as a result of a claimant not meeting their claimant commitment having been awarded limited capability for work and work-related activity in 2019.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	37989
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/04/2020 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 28/04/2020 14:23:39 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1177413

registered interest
date	10/02/2020
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	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 claimants who transferred from (a) severe disability premium and (b) enhanced disability premium payments to universal credit are waiting for their payments to be (i) reinstated and (ii) backdated.
tabling member constituency	Chesterfield
tabling member printed	Mr Toby Perkins
uin	14695
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/02/2020 answer text <p>Disabled people are some of the biggest beneficiaries of Universal Credit, with around 1 million disabled households having on average around £100 a month more on Universal Credit than they would have had on the legacy benefits. When designing Universal Credit, a choice was made not to replicate every aspect of the disability provision in the previous system, including the Enhanced Disability Premium.</p><p> </p><p>The Severe Disability Premium (SDP) gateway has been in place for over a year to prevent those claimants entitled to the SDP as part of their legacy benefit from claiming Universal Credit. We have successfully identified eligible former SDP claimants who have already moved to Universal Credit due to a change in circumstances, providing them with monthly payments and a lump sum in arrears, where appropriate.</p><p> </p><p>As of 17 January 2020, 15,397 claims have been paid an SDP transitional payment. The median value of the lump sum payments is £2,280. To date, over £51.5m has been disbursed to support former SDP claimants, including the recurring payments that have now commenced.</p><p> </p><p>Positive progress has been made and caseload growth has now slowed, however, in the event a new case is discovered payments will be in place quickly. It is not possible to estimate when we will have paid everyone who is entitled as some people become entitled to these payments retrospectively, and therefore the caseload is not a fixed number.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p /> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 14696 question first answered 17/02/2020 17:35:49 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	3952 label Biography information for Mr Toby Perkins

1177414

registered interest
date	10/02/2020
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	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 timescale is for all universal credit claimants who previously received (a) severe disability premium and (b) enhanced disability premium to (i) have their payments reinstated and (ii) receive backdated payments.
tabling member constituency	Chesterfield
tabling member printed	Mr Toby Perkins
uin	14696
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/02/2020 answer text <p>Disabled people are some of the biggest beneficiaries of Universal Credit, with around 1 million disabled households having on average around £100 a month more on Universal Credit than they would have had on the legacy benefits. When designing Universal Credit, a choice was made not to replicate every aspect of the disability provision in the previous system, including the Enhanced Disability Premium.</p><p> </p><p>The Severe Disability Premium (SDP) gateway has been in place for over a year to prevent those claimants entitled to the SDP as part of their legacy benefit from claiming Universal Credit. We have successfully identified eligible former SDP claimants who have already moved to Universal Credit due to a change in circumstances, providing them with monthly payments and a lump sum in arrears, where appropriate.</p><p> </p><p>As of 17 January 2020, 15,397 claims have been paid an SDP transitional payment. The median value of the lump sum payments is £2,280. To date, over £51.5m has been disbursed to support former SDP claimants, including the recurring payments that have now commenced.</p><p> </p><p>Positive progress has been made and caseload growth has now slowed, however, in the event a new case is discovered payments will be in place quickly. It is not possible to estimate when we will have paid everyone who is entitled as some people become entitled to these payments retrospectively, and therefore the caseload is not a fixed number.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p /> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 14695 question first answered 17/02/2020 17:35:49 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	3952 label Biography information for Mr Toby Perkins