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1136188

registered interest
date	02/07/2019
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	Pensions
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 increase in impartial pensions guidance usage following the introduction of the Financial Guidance and Claims Act’s provisions for ensuring savers first receive impartial pensions guidance before accessing their pension savings.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Erdington
tabling member printed	Jack Dromey
uin	272167
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2019 answer text <p>Since its creation in January, the Money and Pensions Service has been working with government and pension providers in developing tests to determine how a stronger nudge into taking pensions guidance would work effectively in practice. Prior to its launch this work was progressed by Pension Wise under DWP.</p><p> </p><p>An independent contractor has been appointed to carry out these tests in partnership with a number of pension providers. An evaluation report will be published this financial year, which will form the basis for which option is selected. Until the report has been published, we are unable to make an estimate in relation to an increase in the expected take up of Pension Wise guidance.</p><p> </p><p>The Money and Pensions service continue to provide guidance appointments via Pension Wise, making 205,000 appointments available across their channels this financial year which would be almost three and a half times higher than Pension Wise’s first year of operation. Pension Wise have been successful in increasing demand for appointments year on year across all its channels.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman grouped question UIN 271427 question first answered 09/07/2019 13:57:40 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	3913 label Biography information for Jack Dromey

1136197

registered interest
date	02/07/2019
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	Funeral Payments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to ensure that the Social Fund Funeral Payments meet the costs of cremation.
tabling member constituency	Stroud
tabling member printed	Dr David Drew
uin	272119
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2019 answer text <p>The Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payments scheme, provides a significant contribution towards funeral costs for claimants in receipt of a qualifying benefit. It continues to meet the legislated necessary costs of a cremation, with the amount of the average award increasing year-on-year to meet these costs. It also provides up to £700 towards other costs, such as flowers, coffin and funeral director fees.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/07/2019 14:37:06 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	252 label Biography information for Dr David Drew

1136302

registered interest
date	02/07/2019
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	Debt Collection
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 1 July 2019 to Question 269123, the total amount of civil penalties her Department has issued in each of the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	272257
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>A £50 Civil Penalty may be imposed by both Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Local Authorities where an individual incurs a recoverable overpayment as a result of failing to provide accurate information as part of their benefit claim or in connection with an award of benefit, and has not taken reasonable steps to correct the error.</p><p> </p><p>The table below shows the volume of Civil Penalties applied in the 12 months from July 2018 to June 2019*.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Civil Penalties Applied</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jul-18</p></td><td><p>6,600</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aug-18</p></td><td><p>7,300</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-18</p></td><td><p>6,800</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Oct-18</p></td><td><p>8,900</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nov-18</p></td><td><p>8,900</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dec-18</p></td><td><p>7,500</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jan-19</p></td><td><p>10,600</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Feb-19</p></td><td><p>10,800</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mar-19</p></td><td><p>9,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-19</p></td><td><p>8,200</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May-19</p></td><td><p>8,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-19</p></td><td><p>7,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>99,600</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>If a claimant is having difficult repaying a benefit overpayment or Civil Penalty, they can request a review of the amount that is being taken. Any adjustment in the rate of repayment will be based on the individual circumstances of the debtor.</p><p> </p><p>When recovering benefit overpayments, the DWP ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants from any undue financial hardship.</p><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. All figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.</em></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 08/07/2019 13:00:06 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1136303

registered interest
date	02/07/2019
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	Debt Collection
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 1 July 2019 to Question 269122, what sums her Department has spent on the use of enforcement agencies to collect (a) civil penalties and (b) benefit overpayments in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	272258
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is commercially sensitive.</p><p> </p><p>Suppliers have to comply with the Credit Services Association code of practice, Office of Fair Trade guidance, Financial Conduct Authority principles around fair treatment of customers and are bound by the Data Protection Act 2018.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 08/07/2019 12:48:50 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1136339

registered interest
date	02/07/2019
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	Local Housing Allowance
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 uprating Local Housing Allowance rates from April 2020; and if she will bring forward proposals to extend the exemption from the shared accommodation rate for people who have lived in a homeless hostel to include people aged 18 to 25.
tabling member constituency	Ealing Central and Acton
tabling member printed	Dr Rupa Huq
uin	272268
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2019 answer text <p>There are no current plans to extend or maintain the Benefit Freeze after March 2020. Specific decisions on how to uprate the Local Housing Allowance rates from April 2020 will form part of the discussions in support of fiscal events later this year.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>There is an exemption from the shared accommodation rate for those aged 25-34 who have previously spent 3 months (which doesn’t have to be continuous) in a homeless hostel/hostels specialising in rehabilitation and resettlement. There are no plans to extend this exemption to those under the age of 25.</p><p> </p><p>For other individuals who may require more support and whose circumstances may make it difficult for them to share accommodation, Discretionary Housing Payments are available.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/07/2019 14:29:46 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4511 label Biography information for Dr Rupa Huq

1136357

registered interest
date	02/07/2019
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	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 24 June 2019 to Question 264329 on universal credit, of the 749,000 claimants with deductions from universal credit for non-universal credit debits, how many of those tax credit overpayments were repaid by each year to which those overpayments were made to those claimants.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	272126
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Tax Credit overpayments were referred to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Debt Management from 2016/17.</p><p> </p><p>The table shows Tax Credit recoveries for 2018/19 apportioned across the financial year in which the Tax Credit overpayment ended*.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Tax Credit Overpayment</strong> <strong> Period End Date</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Percentage of Recoveries by Value</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Unknown</p></td><td><p>Less than 0.05%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2003-04</p></td><td><p>0.10%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2004-05</p></td><td><p>0.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2005-06</p></td><td><p>0.4%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2006-07</p></td><td><p>0.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2007-08</p></td><td><p>1.2%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2008-09</p></td><td><p>2.3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>1.6%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>2.9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>4.1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>4.9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>6.1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014-15</p></td><td><p>7.3%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015-16</p></td><td><p>9.0%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016-17</p></td><td><p>14.1%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017-18</p></td><td><p>26.7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018-19</p></td><td><p>18.2%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Universal Credit (UC) is expected to lead to savings across welfare as we are able to adjust benefit entitlement in line with changing circumstances in real time. Internal and external data matches are increasingly helping inform benefit payments and alerting staff to check for any undeclared changes in people’s circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>When recovering benefit overpayments, the DWP ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants from any undue financial hardship.</p><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 DWP. All figures have been rounded to one decimal place. Due to this rounding, the figures will not sum 100%. </em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 16:50:19 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1136380

registered interest
date	02/07/2019
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	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 2014-15.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	272129
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>In 2014/15 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 “less than 5”.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 16:53:18 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1136399

registered interest
date	02/07/2019
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	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether welfare advisers have the discretion not to impose job seeking conditions on a claimant in their (a) customer agreement and (b) claimant commitment when that claimant is no longer entitled to employment and support allowance and is advised to claim universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	272130
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>When people move from ESA to UC due to a change of circumstances (e.g. house move) not connected to their WCA, they will move into the equivalent conditionality group. Work search requirements are not imposed on people who have been found to have Limited Capability for Work or Limited Capability for Work and Work Related activity.</p><p> </p><p>When people move from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) to Universal Credit (UC) due to being found ‘fit for work’ at their work capability assessment (WCA) their UC conditionality will be decided based on their individual and household circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>There are a range of circumstances on UC where work-related requirements must be switched off temporarily because people are experiencing difficult personal circumstances and our work coaches do have the discretion to reduce or suspend job seeking conditions on their Claimant Commitment. Even for people who have been found fit for work, work coaches may still agree to tailor the number of hours, type, and location of work, to take account of the person’s health condition. Work coaches receive training on how to adjust conditionality to reflect a person’s individual circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>People who are full time carers or have caring responsibility for a child under 1 will not be asked to complete any work related requirements when they move to UC in recognition of their current situation.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 17:00:22 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1136406

registered interest
date	02/07/2019
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	Marriage Guidance: Finance
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding the Government has allocated under section 22 of the Family Law Act 1996 to (a) the provision of marriage support services and (b) research into (i) the causes of and (ii) preventing marital breakdown in each year since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Congleton
tabling member printed	Fiona Bruce
uin	272228
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Responsibility for delivering relationship support services moved to the Department for Work and Pensions in 2013. Although DWP does not make grants under s22 of the Family Law Act (1996), we have funded a range of services to support families to improve the quality of their relationships – including those who are married.</p><p>DWP is currently delivering the Reducing Parental Conflict programme, which is backed by up to £39m and aims to encourage local authorities and their partners across England to integrate services which address parental conflict into local provision for families. Around a third of this budget is being used to test eight face-to-face interventions, which evidence shows have the potential to be effective at reducing parental conflict.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 08/07/2019 12:47:27 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	3958 label Biography information for Fiona Bruce

1135705

registered interest
date	01/07/2019
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	Pension Credit
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that those who are entitled to claim (1) pension credit, and (2) a TV licence from June 2020, but currently do not, take up those benefits.
tabling member printed	Lord Foulkes of Cumnock
uin	HL16798
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>In the 2015 funding settlement, the Government agreed with the BBC that responsibility for the concession would transfer to the BBC. The implementation of the licence fee and the concession from June 2020 is a matter for the BBC and TV Licensing, which are independent of Government.</p><p> </p><p>However, we expect the BBC to put in place robust plans to support those who might be affected. The BBC has said it will write to all over 75 TV licence holders advising them of how the new policy will work and when they need to act.</p><p> </p><p>Irrespective of this, the Government is committed to ensuring that older people receive the support they are entitled to and the DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances. The DWP uses a wide range of channels to communicate information about benefits to potential claimants; including information on gov.uk, in leaflets and by telephone. DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres including visiting officers are able to provide help and advice about entitlement to benefits, as are staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit.</p><p> </p><p>Potential claimants can use the Pension Credit calculator to check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive. People wishing to claim Pension Credit can do so by calling 0800 99 1234.</p><p> </p><p>One of the best ways to reach eligible claimants is through trusted stakeholder working in the community and we have developed the Pension Credit toolkit, as an on-line tool for agencies and welfare rights organisations to use in order to encourage Pension Credit take-up.</p><p> </p><p>The toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. The toolkit also provides links to information about disability and carers benefits.</p><p> </p><p>Most recently we have provided to relevant stakeholders a fact sheet about Pension Credit and the changes introduced on 15 May for mixed age couples to ensure that accurate information is available in the places where people are most likely to seek information.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 15/07/2019 16:38:11 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	579 label Biography information for Lord Foulkes of Cumnock