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1352508

registered interest
date	03/09/2021
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	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, whether her Department accepts a statutory safeguarding duty of care to vulnerable benefits claimants.
tabling member constituency	Newport East
tabling member printed	Jessica Morden
uin	41756
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/09/2021 answer text <p>The Department does not have a statutory safeguarding duty or legal duty of care. The safety of claimants is of great importance to us and the Department provides staff with training and guidance to help them identify those who require further support beyond the provision of benefits.</p><p> </p><p>Our staff can direct vulnerable claimants to agencies and services who are best placed to support them, including those who have statutory safeguarding duties such as local authorities and social services.</p><p> </p><p>DWP supports the work of all statutory safeguarding agencies, either when formally requested to do so, or by engaging with them to identify, where possible, those who might need particular support.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 08/09/2021 16:03:53 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	1548 label Biography information for Jessica Morden

1352511

registered interest
date	03/09/2021
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	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, when her Department plans to produce a replacement publication for the document entitled What happens if you are overpaid Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance.
tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
tabling member printed	Alan Brown
uin	41995
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/09/2021 answer text <p>There are no plans to replace the publication ‘What happens if you are overpaid Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance’, which was withdrawn in October 2017. This is because the information previously contained in that publication is now part of the mainstream guidance on GOV.UK under the sections ‘Benefit Overpayments’ and ‘Reporting Changes in Circumstances’.</p><p>The majority of claimants are able to make and maintain their Universal Credit claim online. Claimants can report a change of circumstance by signing into their Universal Credit account and accessing the ‘How to manage your Universal Credit Claim’ Guide. Where a Universal Credit claim is made and maintained by telephone, changes of circumstance can be reported by telephone.</p><p>Full details of how the Department deals with overpayments can be found in the publically available Benefit Overpayment Recovery Guide - <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-overpayment-recovery-staff-guide/benefit-overpayment-recovery-guide" target="_blank">Benefit overpayment recovery guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>.</p><p>It should be noted that the Department has a duty to protect public funds and an obligation to ensure that overpaid benefit payments are recovered in accordance with the appropriate</p><p>social security legislation. We seek to do so as quickly as possible without creating any undue financial hardship to the claimant.</p><p>Recovery rates are set out in legislation, but customers can contact DWP Debt Management if they are experiencing financial hardship in order to negotiate a reduction in their rate of</p><p>repayment, or a temporary suspension of repayment, depending on financial circumstances.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 13/09/2021 16:51:09 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4470 label Biography information for Alan Brown

1344075

registered interest
date	06/07/2021
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	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, whether she plans to provide support to families required to make repayments as a result of being overpaid by her Department in error.
tabling member constituency	Slough
tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
uin	28294
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2021 answer text <p>Following the introduction of the 2012 Welfare Reform Act, all overpayments of Universal Credit and new style benefits paid in excess of entitlement are recoverable.</p><p> </p><p>Where recovery is made by deduction from Universal Credit, there is a limit placed on the overall amount that can be deducted in circumstances where, for example, a claimant may have multiple deductions to be considered. In recent years we have seen two successive reductions in the maximum that may normally be deducted – from 40% of the UC Standard Allowance to 30% and now 25% from April 2021.</p><p> </p><p>Where requested deductions exceed the 25% maximum, or there is insufficient Universal Credit in payment for all deductions to be made, a priority order is applied, which determines the order in which items should be deducted. ‘Last resort’ deductions, such as rent or fuel costs, are at the top of the priority order, ensuring that claimant welfare is prioritised, followed by social obligation deductions, such as fines and child maintenance, and finally benefit debt, such as Social Fund loans and benefit overpayments.</p><p> </p><p>This ensures that benefit claimants repaying debt are left with more of their benefit, striking a balance between the Department’s responsibility to recover overpayments whilst not creating undue financial hardship.</p><p> </p><p>Anyone with overpayment deductions who does experience financial hardship is encouraged to contact the Department’s Debt Management unit. Where a person cannot afford the proposed rate of these deductions repayment a lower amount can be negotiated.</p><p> </p><p>In exceptional circumstances, discretion not to pursue recovery of overpayments can also be applied under guidelines set out by HM Treasury. Typically, this would be where the continuing recovery would cause severe hardship or risk to the customer and/or their family. Further details of which are publicly available in HM Treasury’s Managing Public Money.</p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/994902/MPM_Spring_21_with_annexes_180621.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/994902/MPM_Spring_21_with_annexes_180621.pdf</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 14/07/2021 15:55:06 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi

1341433

registered interest
date	28/06/2021
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	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 costs her Department has incurred as a result of the judicial review proceedings on its decision not to extend the £20 uplift to legacy benefit claimants.
tabling member constituency	Lewisham, Deptford
tabling member printed	Vicky Foxcroft
uin	23274
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/07/2021 answer text <p>We do not comment on specific legal matters including costs of litigation.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 06/07/2021 15:59:34 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4491 label Biography information for Vicky Foxcroft

1329818

registered interest
date	04/06/2021
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	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 applications have been processed for (a) universal credit, (b) jobseekers allowance and (c) employment support allowance in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	East Renfrewshire
tabling member printed	Kirsten Oswald
uin	10427
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/06/2021 answer text <p>The available information for daily claims made to Universal Credit to 8 April 2021 is published and available at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance for users is available at:</p><p><a href="https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p><p>The available information for Jobseeker’s Allowance monthly on-flows to April 2021 is published on the NOMIS website and available at:</p><p><a href="https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp" target="_blank">https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/default.asp</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance for users is available at:</p><p><a href="https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp" target="_blank">https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/home/newuser.asp</a></p><p> </p><p>Employment and Support Allowance Work Capability Assessments statistics for initial assessments, including those still in progress, by month of claim start to June 2020, are published in Table 1a of the data tables available at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-including-mandatory-reconsiderations-and-appeals-march-2021" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/esa-outcomes-of-work-capability-assessments-including-mandatory-reconsiderations-and-appeals-march-2021</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/06/2021 13:28:39 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4413 label Biography information for Kirsten Oswald

1327284

registered interest
date	24/05/2021
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	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 support people subject to the limit on welfare benefits for households with more than two children.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	6292
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/05/2021 answer text <p>The Government continues to take action to help families with the cost of living, including raising the national living wage, reducing the UC earnings taper, raising the income tax personal allowance, introducing tax-free childcare and 30 hours a week of free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds.</p><p> </p><p>Families are able to claim support for up to two children, and there may be further entitlement for other children if they were born before 6 April 2017 or if an exception applies. It is important to support families, but it is also important to be fair to the many working families who do not see their budgets rise when they have more children. This does not apply to Child Benefit, nor the disabled child element of Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>Throughout the pandemic, we have taken great steps to protect family incomes, including spending an additional £7.4 billion last year to strengthen the welfare system for those most in need. This took our total expenditure on welfare support for people of working age to an estimated £112bn in 2020/21.</p><p> </p><p>As the economy recovers, our ambition is to help parents move into and progress in work as quickly as possible. This is based on clear evidence around the importance of parental employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty. We are investing over £30 billion in our ambitious Plan for Jobs which is already delivering for people of all ages right across the country.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 28/05/2021 14:03:43 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

1299900

registered interest
date	05/03/2021
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	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 number of families in temporary accommodation subject to the (a) benefit cap and (b) two-child limit.
tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
uin	913012
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/03/2021 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.</p><p> </p><p>The Benefit Cap and the two-child limit policies restore fairness between those receiving working age benefits and taxpayers in employment and a benefits structure adjusting automatically to family size is unsustainable</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 08/03/2021 17:41:44 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

1278729

registered interest
date	20/01/2021
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	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, whether her Department has made an estimate of the potential additional costs to welfare benefit spending in the event that (a) one million, (b) two million and (c) three million people were to become unemployed.
tabling member constituency	Tatton
tabling member printed	Esther McVey
uin	140805
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/01/2021 answer text <p>At each fiscal event the Department works closely with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to estimate welfare spend based on latest unemployment projections. The OBR’s latest projections are available here: <a href="http://cdn.obr.uk/CCS1020397650-001_OBR-November2020-EFO-v2-Web-accessible.pdf" target="_blank">http://cdn.obr.uk/CCS1020397650-001_OBR-November2020-EFO-v2-Web-accessible.pdf</a></p><p /><p>The latest Universal Credit forecasts for number of households, estimated each year are published in the Benefit Expenditure and Caseload Tables and can be found in, Table 1c, Table 2c and Table 3c, at: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/953118/outturn-and-forecast-autumn-budget-2020-revised.xlsx" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/953118/outturn-and-forecast-autumn-budget-2020-revised.xlsx</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 140806 question first answered 28/01/2021 14:50:05 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4084 label Biography information for Esther McVey

1277611

registered interest
date	18/01/2021
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	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, if she will publish the (a) number of people who had debt deductions from their legacy benefits in each of the last 12 months and (b) total amount recovered in each of those months.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	138958
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2021 answer text <p>The number of people who had debt deductions from their legacy benefits and the value of those deductions for the last twelve months, are detailed in the table below.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of people who had deductions from Legacy Benefits</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Value of those deductions</strong> <strong> </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Jan-20</strong></p></td><td><p>205,700</p></td><td><p>£11.300m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Feb-20</strong></p></td><td><p>199,200</p></td><td><p>£10.331m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Mar-20</strong></p></td><td><p>200,100</p></td><td><p>£11.849m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Apr-20</strong></p></td><td><p>181,100</p></td><td><p>£10.083m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>May-20</strong></p></td><td><p>162,300</p></td><td><p>£8.454m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Jun-20</strong></p></td><td><p>95,700</p></td><td><p>£3.030m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Jul-20</strong></p></td><td><p>9,000</p></td><td><p>£0.370m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Aug-20</strong></p></td><td><p>66,800</p></td><td><p>£4.326m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Sep-20</strong></p></td><td><p>70,200</p></td><td><p>£4.900m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Oct-20</strong></p></td><td><p>70,200</p></td><td><p>£5.029m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Nov-20</strong></p></td><td><p>72,500</p></td><td><p>£5.361m</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Dec-20</strong></p></td><td><p>75,800</p></td><td><p>£5.982m</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>We recognise that there will be some claimants who may be experiencing financial difficulty, and anyone unable to afford the rate of recovery proposed is encouraged to contact DWP Debt Management to review the proposed rate of recovery.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 21/01/2021 18:08:34 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

1259787

registered interest
date	09/12/2020
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	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, whether she will suspend all benefit debt deductions during the winter months with immediate effect.
tabling member constituency	Bradford West
tabling member printed	Naz Shah
uin	127578
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/12/2020 answer text <p>DWP and HMRC currently have no plans to suspend benefit debt deductions.</p><p> </p><p>There are established support processes in place for any claimants who may be experiencing financial difficulty.</p><p> </p><p>Anyone unable to afford a rate of recovery proposed by DWP is encouraged to contact them so an affordable rate of repayment can be negotiated.</p><p> </p><p>Anyone unable to afford a rate of recovery proposed by HMRC is encouraged to check the HMRC webpages, or contact them to see what support they can offer.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 17/12/2020 17:33:42 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4409 label Biography information for Naz Shah