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1247951

registered interest
date	02/11/2020
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: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason she did not extend the £20 uplift in universal credit to legacy benefits; and whether she plans to extend that uplift to those legacy benefits.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	110064
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2020 answer text <p>The Government introduced measures earlier this year that could be quickly and effectively put in place to benefit those facing the most financial disruption during the pandemic, including the £20 weekly increase to the Universal Credit Standard Allowance rates as a temporary measure for the 20/21 tax year. There are no plans to extend this to legacy benefits.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 05/11/2020 14:25:56 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1216968

registered interest
date	23/06/2020
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	Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing her Department's spare room subsidy policy as part of the Government's response to the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	63233
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2020 answer text <p>There are no current plans to amend the removal of the spare room subsidy policy in response to covid-19. The policy already allows for the provision of an additional bedroom in certain circumstances, such as to support the needs of disabled people as well as exempting households in receipt of pension age Housing Benefit.</p><p> </p><p>If a claimant’s ability to mitigate any shortfall between their housing support and rent has changed, Discretionary Housing Payments can be considered by their local authority. We announced last year an additional £40 million for Discretionary Housing Payments for 2020/21 in England and Wales.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 29/06/2020 16:16:39 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1198838

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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	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, how many claimants for (a) universal credit, (b) pension credit, (c) income-based jobseeker's allowance, (d) income-related employment and support allowance, (e) housing benefit and (f) income support have had their payments reduced due to reaching the savings threshold since March 2020.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	51622
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2020 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.    <strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 04/06/2020 15:36:22 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1198841

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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	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 recent assessment she has made of the appropriateness of the savings thresholds for (a) universal credit, (b) pension credit, (c) income-based jobseekers allowance, (d) income-related employment and support allowance, (e) housing benefit and (f) income support.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	51623
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/06/2020 answer text <p>The capital limits are kept under continual review. However, they can be increased only when priorities and resources allow. The Government does not intend to increase the threshold at this time.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 23/06/2020 16:45:10 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 25862 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1195133

registered interest
date	12/05/2020
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: Appeals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who requested a mandatory reconsideration of their universal credit claim before the covid-19 outbreak are awaiting the outcome; what the average wait is for universal credit mandatory reconsiderations; and what steps she is taking to ensure that people are supported while waiting for the outcome of those reconsiderations.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	45963
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/05/2020 answer text <p>5% of the Mandatory Reconsiderations recorded prior to the CV19 outbreak are awaiting a decision.</p><p> </p><p>Where a decision has been made, the average time to reach a decision is 26 calendar days.</p><p> </p><p>Benefit claimants may also be eligible for assistance from their local Council through Local Welfare Support schemes. Councils will be able to use funding from the new £500 million Hardship Fund to provide further discretionary support to vulnerable people through other support arrangements such as Local Welfare Schemes.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 29/05/2020 14:48:39 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 22280 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1195135

registered interest
date	12/05/2020
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: Coronavirus
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 potential merits of amending the eligibility criteria for backdating universal credit payments to include people affected by the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	45964
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/05/2020 answer text <p>As Universal Credit claims can be made online or, where needed, by calling the Universal Credit helpline, most claims will not require backdating. However, backdating, up to a maximum of one month, is available where the circumstances are such that someone could not reasonably have been expected to claim earlier including due to illness, disability or an official computer system failure.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 19/05/2020 13:42:31 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 22281 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1195136

registered interest
date	12/05/2020
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: EU Nationals
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) EU nationals and (b) EU nationals with proof of Settled Status have had their claims for universal credit refused since March 2019; and what steps she is taking to ensure Settled Status is accepted as proof of residence by her staff.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	45965
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/05/2020 answer text <p>Eligibility for Universal Credit depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK. DWP operates a Habitual Residence Test in order to assess whether individuals have a legal right to reside for the purpose of accessing benefits and are factually habitually resident.</p><p> </p><p>Since 1<sup>st</sup> March 2019 to January 2020 there have been 27,600 UC Full Service claims closed due to failing the HRT from EEA nationals. Nearly 200,000 EEA nationals were successful in gaining access to Universal Credit during this period, showing the vast majority were accepted. It is normal on UC for some claims to be closed prior to first payment, this can be due to a number of reasons including claimants withdrawing their claim and some claims not being eligible.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Home Office’s EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) allows EEA citizens to apply for settled status (typically on the basis of five years’ residence in the UK) and confirm their right to reside in the UK. The Habitual Residence Test recognises leave granted under the EU Settlement Scheme. EEA citizens with settled status who demonstrate habitual residence in the UK will pass the Habitual Residence Test (HRT) and be eligible to access tax-payer funded benefits, such as Universal Credit (UC).</p><p> </p><p>The Department does not hold information on the number of EU nationals with settled status who have been refused UC.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 18/05/2020 17:08:58 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1193663

registered interest
date	06/05/2020
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: Telephone Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the opening times of the universal credit helpline have changed; and if she will ensure that the (a) UK Government and (b) universal credit websites are updated with the new information.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	43840
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2020 answer text <p>Since the start of the pandemic, we have received unprecedented levels of claims for Universal Credit. This was accompanied by a significant increase in call volumes which was impacting our ability to support customers, particularly those making new claims.</p><p>To enable our people to pay customers their benefit, we implemented a temporary pause to the handling of general queries through the telephony service at the beginning and end of the day. The purpose of this change was to allow case managers to focus on progressing claims during these times.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>New claim appointments and new claims by phone remained open as usual.</p><p> </p><p>At the moment, people making new claims for Universal Credit do not in fact need to call the Department as part of the process and we have communicated that widely. Once they have completed their online application we will call them if we need to check any of the information they have given us.</p><p>The Universal Credit helpline returned to our normal operating hours from 11 May (8am-6pm, Monday to Friday).</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 15/05/2020 10:37:59 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 20796 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1191595

registered interest
date	29/04/2020
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: Wales
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many EU citizens holding (a) settled status and (b) pre-settled status in Wales have had their applications for universal credit refused in each month in 2020.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	41392
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/05/2020 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 04/05/2020 15:47:06 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams

1190290

registered interest
date	24/04/2020
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	Carer's Allowance: Coronavirus
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has plans to increase carer's allowance to reflect the (a) additional care that carers may be providing and (b) financial difficulties they may face as a result of loss of income during the covid-19 outbreak.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	39479
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/04/2020 answer text <p>DWP has now introduced two important temporary measures to help unpaid carers through the current emergency:</p><ul><li>unpaid carers will be able to continue to claim Carer’s Allowance if they have a temporary break in caring, because they or the person they care for gets coronavirus or if either have to isolate because of it. (Under normal rules there are restrictions on breaks in care, but these have been lifted.); and</li><li>providing “emotional support” (rather than just more traditional forms of care) to a disabled person will also now count towards the Carer’s Allowance threshold of 35 hours of care a week.</li></ul><p> </p><p>The rate of Carer’s Allowance was also increased in early April as part of the annual uprating process. Since 2010, the rate of Carer’s Allowance has increased from £53.90 to £67.25 a week, meaning nearly an additional £700 a year for carers. The standard allowance in Universal Credit has been temporarily increased for the 20/21 tax year by £86.67 per month (equivalent to £20 per week) on top of the planned annual uprating. This additional increase means claimants will be up to £1040 better off. Carers receiving Universal Credit will benefit from this.</p><p> </p><p>Income replacement benefits help people and households on lower incomes, and can include a carer premium, currently £37.50 a week. An equivalent additional amount applies in Pension Credit. Universal Credit also includes a carer element at the rate of £162.92 per monthly assessment period. These amounts recognise the additional contribution and responsibilities associated with caring and mean that lower-income carers can receive more money than others who receive these benefits.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 29/04/2020 12:33:36 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams