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1104645

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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	Pensioners: Social Security Benefits
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance they have issued, or intend to issue, to advise mixed age couples to claim (1) pension credit, and (2) pension age housing benefit before 15 May.
tabling member printed	Lord Beecham
uin	HL14770
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The Government announced on 14 January that the mixed age couple policy change legislated for in the Welfare Reform Act 2012 will come into force on 15 May, following the roll out of Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>Information was placed on GOV.UK regarding the change and how people could be affected for the purposes of claiming Pension Credit and Housing Benefit for pensioners. This sets out that mixed age couples already claiming Pension Credit or Housing Benefit for pensioners at the point of change will not be affected for as long as they remain entitled to either benefit. It also makes clear that mixed age couples who would be eligible for either benefit on 14 May but who have not yet claimed will have until 13 August to make a backdated claim from that date.</p><p> </p><p>Following the announcement, we are implementing comprehensive plans to raise awareness of the change among people who may be affected. We have written directly to mixed-age couples who are already in receipt of Pension Credit or Housing Benefit for pensioners to ensure they know about the change and how they could be affected if their circumstances change on or after 15 May. The Department has also engaged with a number of relevant organisations, including Age UK, Citizen’s Advice and Local Authority representatives. A factsheet about the change has been provided, to help ensure that accurate information is available in the places where people are most likely to seek information.</p><p> </p><p>DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres will be able to provide information and advice, as will staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 04/04/2019 16:34:12 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4181 label Biography information for Lord Beecham

1104664

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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	Arcadia Group: Pensions
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made any representations to, or met, the Pensions Regulator in the last three months in connection with Arcadia Group.
tabling member printed	Lord Myners
uin	HL14789
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/04/2019 answer text <p>The Pensions Regulator carries out its functions independently. The Department has not made any representations to the Pensions Regulator in relation to the Arcadia Group in the last three months.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 04/04/2019 16:46:09 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	3869 label Biography information for Lord Myners

1104721

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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: Wales
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of universal credit claimants in (a) Cardiff South and Penarth, (b) the Vale of Glamorgan and (c) Wales who have (ii) had their housing benefit stopped without notice and (ii) are in rent arrears.
tabling member constituency	Cardiff South and Penarth
tabling member printed	Stephen Doughty
uin	236386
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>Local Authorities have a duty to notify changes to a Housing Benefit award. Therefore, if a Housing Benefit claim ends because of a move to Universal Credit, the claimant is notified that the Housing Benefit claim has ended.</p><p> </p><p>However, we know that many tenants are arriving on Universal Credit with pre-existing rent arrears, that their arrears tended to increase prior to making a claim for Universal Credit, and that Universal Credit actually appears to be helping to clear arrears over time. According to latest figures (November 2018) only about 8% of social rented households were on Universal Credit.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 28/03/2019 09:35:46 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4264 label Biography information for Stephen Doughty

1104722

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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	Social Security Benefits: Wales
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people in (a) Cardiff South and Penarth, (b) the Vale of Glamorgan and (c) Wales that have waited more than 6 weeks to receive benefit payments in the latest period for which figures are available.
tabling member constituency	Cardiff South and Penarth
tabling member printed	Stephen Doughty
uin	236387
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>For Universal Credit New Claims no claimant has to go five weeks without receiving support, as advances, worth up to 100 per cent of a claimant’s indicative award, are available, if required and a two week ‘transitional housing payment’ is available to those claimants who were receiving Housing Benefit before they moved onto Universal Credit.</p><p>In many cases where full payment is not made on time, it is due to unresolved issues such as: claimants not accepting their Claimant Commitment or passing identity checks, or having outstanding verification issues, such as housing costs and self-employed earnings. In order to support claimants to claim, we have taken steps to improve verification processes. For example, we have listened to feedback and built processes into the system to make it easier and quicker for people to verify their housing costs, for example through the landlord portal.</p><p>The table below shows the number and proportion of UC New Claims where full payment/part payment was made within 6 weeks of the claim being submitted.</p><p>These figures relate to New Claims where the first payment was due in November 2018.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>Waited more than 6 weeks from declaration for any UC payment</p></td><td><p>As a proportion of all payments due this month</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Cardiff South and Penarth</p></td><td><p>20</p></td><td><p>8%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Vale of Glamorgan</p></td><td><p>10</p></td><td><p>4%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wales</p></td><td><p>310</p></td><td><p>5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 28/03/2019 16:25:47 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4264 label Biography information for Stephen Doughty

1104832

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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	Social Security Benefits: Glasgow South West
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many advance benefit payments have been made to people in Glasgow South West in each month since September 2018.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	236535
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>The below table shows the number of advance payments that have been made to claimants in Glasgow South West from September 2018-December 2018, the most recent data we have available.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of Advances</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-18</p></td><td><p>40</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Oct-18</p></td><td><p>380</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nov-18</p></td><td><p>540</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dec-18</p></td><td><p>370</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Universal Credit full service began to rollout across Glasgow from September 2018, with the final site rolling out in November 2018. Nationally around 60% of new claims receive an advance.</p><p>Notes</p><p>1. Figures relate only to Universal Credit full service</p><p>2. The number of advances is rounded to the nearest 10</p><p>3. If a claimant has applied for more than one advance, each one is counted separately in these figures.</p><p>4. Universal Credit full service rolled out across Glasgow between September 2018 and November 2018.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 28/03/2019 16:35:25 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1104834

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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	Pensioners: Means-tested Benefits
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the take-up rate has been of each income-based pensioner benefit in each of the last five years for which data are available.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	236312
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>The latest Official statistics on the take-up of income related benefits relate to 2016/17 and can be found in the ‘Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up in 2016 to 2017’ publication at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017</a></p><p /><p> </p><p>Official statistics relating to earlier years can be found at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up--2" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up--2</a></p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 28/03/2019 09:53:29 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1104836

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people who cannot claim universal credit online because they cannot access (a) a computer or (b) the internet.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	236314
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>Our Universal Credit Claimant Survey, found that 98 per cent of claimants have internet access and did claim online, and the majority of those said they found the claim process overall to be straightforward. This can be accessed at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-full-service-claimant-survey" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-full-service-claimant-survey</a></p><p> </p><p>To help claimants using online services, Universal Support is available, which is advice, assistance or support to help Universal Credit claimants with managing their claim or award. From 1 April 2019 Citizens Advice (England and Wales) and Citizens Advice Scotland will deliver a new “Help to Claim” service to support vulnerable claimants through the process of making a claim to Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>All Jobcentre Plus offices across the country have Wi-Fi and computers available for claimants to access the internet. For those that are still unable to access or use digital services, or are not able to travel, assistance to make and maintain their claim is available via the Freephone Universal Credit helpline. In exceptional circumstances, a home visit can be arranged to support a claimant in making and maintaining their claim.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 236315 question first answered 28/03/2019 16:33:48 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1104837

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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, what recent estimate she has made of the number of universal credit claimants who do not have access to a computer or the internet.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	236315
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p>Our Universal Credit Claimant Survey, found that 98 per cent of claimants have internet access and did claim online, and the majority of those said they found the claim process overall to be straightforward. This can be accessed at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-full-service-claimant-survey" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-full-service-claimant-survey</a></p><p> </p><p>To help claimants using online services, Universal Support is available, which is advice, assistance or support to help Universal Credit claimants with managing their claim or award. From 1 April 2019 Citizens Advice (England and Wales) and Citizens Advice Scotland will deliver a new “Help to Claim” service to support vulnerable claimants through the process of making a claim to Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>All Jobcentre Plus offices across the country have Wi-Fi and computers available for claimants to access the internet. For those that are still unable to access or use digital services, or are not able to travel, assistance to make and maintain their claim is available via the Freephone Universal Credit helpline. In exceptional circumstances, a home visit can be arranged to support a claimant in making and maintaining their claim.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 236314 question first answered 28/03/2019 16:33:48 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1104838

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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: Disqualification
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many sanctions applied to universal credit claimants result from a matter relating to the Online Journal system.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	236316
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/03/2019 answer text <p><strong>S</strong>anctions are only used when people fail to meet their conditionality requirements without good reason. When a claimant provides evidence of why they failed one of their requirements (for example, a matter relating to the Online Journal system) in order to determine good reason, this information is recorded on our systems. However, this is not centrally collated in a way that allows analysis to be undertaken. An extensive interrogation of our systems would be required in order to provide the information requested, which would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 28/03/2019 16:46:40 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1104863

registered interest
date	25/03/2019
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	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 claimants who applied for (a) attendance allowance, (b) employment support allowance and (c) universal credit have died within six months of having those applications rejected.
tabling member constituency	Bridgend
tabling member printed	Mrs Madeleine Moon
uin	236324
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/04/2019 answer text <p>The Department holds data across a number of data sets which would require analysis and quality assurance and would be a substantial piece of work to bring together to answer these questions; therefore the information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p /><p /> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 236325 question first answered 02/04/2019 11:46:02 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	1490 label Biography information for Mrs Madeleine Moon