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1133648

registered interest
date	20/06/2019
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	Personal Independence Payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of personal independence payment for additional costs that claimants have as a result of their disabilities or health conditions.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	267191
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p>Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is intended to act as a contribution towards the extra costs that arise as a result of a long-term health condition or disability and entitlement is assessed on the basis of the needs arising from a health condition or disability, rather than the health condition or disability itself.</p><p>At the core of PIP’s design is the principle that awards of the benefit should be made according to a claimant’s overall level of need. The scope of the criteria does not include a direct assessment of an individual’s extra costs.</p><p>PIP is uprated annually to maintain its value.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 25/06/2019 11:31:52 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1133157

registered interest
date	19/06/2019
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	Universal Credit
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 18 June 2019 to Question 264329, of the 0.749 million claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debts, how much debt has been repaid from each benefit in the Prescribed Social Security Benefits / Payments category.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	266717
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The table below details the amount recovered from Universal Credit to repay non-Universal Credit overpayments in 2018-19. To provide a full picture we have included recovery of all benefit related debt including such things as non UC Advances and Tax Credit recoveries even though these are not strictly prescribed payments.</p><p><br></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Amount Recovered</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Attendance Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Administrative Penalty</strong></p></td><td><p>£537,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Bereavement Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£3,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Carers Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,541,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Civil Penalties </strong></p></td><td><p>£1,090,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Disability Living Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£281,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Disability Working Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>Less than £1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Employment &amp; Support Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£2,988,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Family Credit</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Housing Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p>£11,198,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Incapacity Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p>£368,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Income Support</strong></p></td><td><p>£8,479,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Invalidity Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p>Less than £1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Jobseeker's Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£3,987,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Maternity Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£13,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Non-Contributory Retirement Pension</strong></p></td><td><p>Less than £1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>New State Pension</strong></p></td><td><p>Less than £1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Pension Credit</strong></p></td><td><p>£11,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Personal Independence Payment</strong></p></td><td><p>£64,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Retirement Pension: Contributory</strong></p></td><td><p>£2,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Sickness Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Severe Disablement Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£12,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Social Fund Loan</strong></p></td><td><p>£27,014,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Social Fund Overpayment</strong></p></td><td><p>£239,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Non - Universal Credit short term advances</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,546,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Tax Credit Overpayment</strong></p></td><td><p>£94,722,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Widow's Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p>£70,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Widowed Mother's Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>Less than £1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Widows Pension</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Widowed Parent's Allowance</strong></p></td><td><p>£3,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Christmas Bonus</strong></p></td><td><p>£1,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Other</strong></p></td><td><p>£3,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </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><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 24/06/2019 15:47:54 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132600

registered interest
date	17/06/2019
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	Universal Credit: Overpayments
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 17 June 2019 to Question 263062 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, if she will place in the Library an estimate of the costs of answering that Question.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	265448
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions follows guidance from Cabinet Office in setting the Disproportionate Cost Threshold. The current Disproportionate Cost Threshold across Government is set at £850.</p><p> </p><p>All waiver documents are stored clerically. We have estimated that reviewing the remaining waiver documents to ascertain how many related to Universal Credit overpayments would take around 51 hours of staff time and therefore would breach the cost limit of £850.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/06/2019 14:30:44 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132601

registered interest
date	17/06/2019
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	Universal Credit: Overpayments
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 5 June 2019 to Question 257458 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, how many overpayments were waived in (a) full and (b) part as a result of applications made by (i) claimants and (ii) their representatives in 2017-18.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	265449
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/06/2019 answer text <p>In 2017/18 there were fewer than 5 successful applications for the full waiving of a Universal Credit overpayment, and fewer than 5 successful partial waiver applications for UC overpayments.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has an obligation to ensure that public funds are administered responsibly and to abide by the principles set out in Her Majesty’s Treasury’s guidance on Managing Public Money (which can be found on gov.uk). Waivers are only granted in limited circumstances including where the recovery of an overpayment is causing substantial financial and/or medical hardship and clear supporting evidence of this is provided.</p><p> </p><p>We are unable to provide a breakdown of how many applications were made by claimants or their representatives as this information is not stored.</p><p> </p><p><em>*The figures provided in this response have been sourced from internal management information and were not intended for public release. They should therefore not be compared to any other figures subsequently released by the Department. We are not able to report exact figures that are lower than 5, therefore this have been listed as “fewer than 5”.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/06/2019 15:01:13 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132050

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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	Universal Credit: Overpayments
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 5 June 2019 to Question 257458, how many (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful applications there have been for a reduction in repayment rates for benefits overpayment in each year since 2013.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	264327
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not available.</p><p> </p><p>Our systems do not hold data on the recovery rates that were applied to debts that have either been fully repaid, or have been written off. It is therefore not possible to give a complete figure for the total number of successful, or unsuccessful applications for a reduction in an overpayment recovery rate.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/06/2019 15:00:09 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132084

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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	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 claimants (a) received and (b) did not receive an advance payment in 2018-19.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	264328
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit new claim advances provide access to a payment for those in financial need, which can be accessed on the same day, until their first payment is due. Claimants can access up to 100% of the total expected monthly award, for which they can pay back over a period of up to 12 months. From October 2021, this maximum repayment period will be extended from 12 to 16 months.</p><p> </p><p>The Department ensures claimants are made aware of their maximum advance entitlement and informed that their Universal Credit award will be adjusted over the relevant recovery period to take into account the advance of benefit they received.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>There were 1,046,000 claims made to Universal Credit during January to December 2018 which went into payment. Of these claims, 598,000 (57%) received an advance by end of February 2019 and 449,000 (43%) did not receive an advance.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><ol><li>Figures relate to Universal Credit full service</li><li>Figures capture all advances types</li><li>Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000</li><li>Advances paid are provided for claims which went into payment in the 2018 calendar year to ensure enough time has elapsed to be certain these claims did actually progress to payment</li></ol> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/06/2019 14:57:13 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132085

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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	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 claimants had (a) an advance payment repayment deduction, (b) a historic debt repayment and (c) both attached to their claim in 2018-19.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	264329
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department recognises the importance of safeguarding the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. Under Universal Credit there is a structured approach to deductions from benefit, which simplifies the complex arrangements that exists within legacy benefits. From October 2019 the maximum rate of deductions from a claimant’s standard allowance will be reduced from 40% to 30%. From October 2021 we are increasing the recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months, further supporting those in financial need.</p><p> </p><p>If a claimant considers that they are facing financial hardship because of the amount that is being deducted from their Universal Credit award, they can ask the Department to consider reducing their deductions. Furthermore, work coaches can pause some repayments in certain circumstances to ensure they are manageable. This is called a financial hardship decision.</p><p> </p><p>During 2018/19 there were: (a) 1.043m claimants with deductions from UC for UC Advance repayments; (b) 0.749m claimants with deductions from UC for non-UC debts; and; (c) 0.491m claimants with deductions from UC for both UC Advance repayments and non-UC debts in 2018/19 (this volume is included in volumes for (a) and (b).</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 18/06/2019 15:20:34 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132141

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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	Universal Credit
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 13 June 2019 to Question 259875 on Universal Credit, how many individual claims are represented by each percentage figure given.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	264333
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is available in the attached document for both new claims and existing claims. The Limited Capability for Work (LCW) addition is no longer payable on new claims to Universal Credit (UC) since 3rd April 2017.</p><p> </p><p>Figures for the number of claims paid in full on time is subject to fluctuation. This particularly effects the figures for LCW in the first assessment period which are subject to change.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants in the Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity (LCWRA) group may not receive their additional element within the first assessment period due to the additional element being calculated based on the outcome of their Work Capability Assessment (WCA) which, due to the need for medical evidence and assessment, may not be complete by the end of the first assessment period.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants who naturally migrate to UC from Employment and Support Allowance, and are currently receiving the LCW / LCWRA addition, will continue to receive it on their UC claim from day 1 as long as there has been no break in their claim and they have declared the same health condition when they moved across to UC.</p><p> </p><p>UC payment timeliness has continued to improve during its rollout, we are also continually introducing improvements to its design, for example most recently, by making childcare and housing verification easier. These improvements are not yet fully reflected in the data supplied.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 21/06/2019 14:07:56 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma attachment 1 file name PQ264333 - data tables.xlsx title Data Tables
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132142

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions inaccurate returns from Real Time Information has affected claims for universal credit in each of the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	264334
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department has been working closely with HMRC since Universal Credit went live in 2013 to support and inform employers who report earnings to emphasise the importance of timely reporting via the Real Time Information (RTI) system.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC have updated their guidance to reiterate to employers the importance of reporting accurate dates and the impact on payment cycles; the Financial Secretary to the Treasury is also working closely with HMRC and employers to do this.</p><p> </p><p>RTI concerns, questions and complaints data is not centrally collated and could only be supplied at disproportionate to the Department.</p><p> </p><p>The Department received over 31 million RTI notifications from employers for Universal Credit claimants in the last 12 months (17 June 2018 to 16 June 2019). These records were used to produce over 18.5 million individual earnings calculations and 77,952 of those calculations were disputed by claimants, of which around a fifth were upheld.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 264335 question first answered 21/06/2019 13:28:30 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1132143

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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	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 occasions universal credit claimants have registered concerns, questions, or complaints on Real Time Information in each of the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	264335
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department has been working closely with HMRC since Universal Credit went live in 2013 to support and inform employers who report earnings to emphasise the importance of timely reporting via the Real Time Information (RTI) system.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC have updated their guidance to reiterate to employers the importance of reporting accurate dates and the impact on payment cycles; the Financial Secretary to the Treasury is also working closely with HMRC and employers to do this.</p><p> </p><p>RTI concerns, questions and complaints data is not centrally collated and could only be supplied at disproportionate to the Department.</p><p> </p><p>The Department received over 31 million RTI notifications from employers for Universal Credit claimants in the last 12 months (17 June 2018 to 16 June 2019). These records were used to produce over 18.5 million individual earnings calculations and 77,952 of those calculations were disputed by claimants, of which around a fifth were upheld.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 264334 question first answered 21/06/2019 13:28:30 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead