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943367

registered interest
date	17/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the report by End Hunger UK, Fix Universal Credit, published in July; and what steps they are taking to respond to the criticisms of Universal Credit made in that report.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL9585
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>The Department follows a test and learn approach to Universal Credit, with a number of changes being delivered following feedback from stakeholders and other interested parties during the last few months. These include:</p><ul><li>From 29 November 2017, introducing Freephone numbers for Universal Credit phone lines.</li><li>From 3 January 2018, extending the repayment period of Universal Credit advances to 12 months, with claimants now able to apply for up to 100 per cent of their estimated monthly entitlement upfront (and from July 2018 claimants can apply for an advance online). These can be paid on the same day where there is urgent need.</li><li>From 14 February 2018, removing the seven day waiting period that some claimants faced at the start of their claim.</li><li>From 11 April, providing an additional payment for claimants already receiving support towards their housing costs of two weeks of their Housing Benefit to support them as they transfer onto Universal Credit. Claimants will not be required to repay this money.</li></ul><p>We engage at a personal and individual level with all of our claimants and are committed to tailoring the support we give, and any conditionality requirements, to the specific circumstances of the individual. Our work coaches undergo a comprehensive training and accreditation programme. Telephony or face to face services are also in place for those vulnerable claimants who cannot self-serve online.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Support is available to help claimants with the transition to Universal Credit and we are investing £200 million into budgeting and digital support to help claimants with the transition to Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>In 2016, the Department trialled a new process for JSA sanctions in response to the Work and Pensions Select Committee’s recommendations to review the JSA sanction process. The trial involved 6,500 claimants, with the findings (Jobseeker’s Allowance Sanctions Early Warning Trial Evaluation – Final report) published on 21 May 2018. Given the low proportion of cases in which claimants provided further evidence and the even lower proportion of cases where decision outcomes were changed, the Department has decided not to implement this trial process more widely, and will instead consider alternative processes.</p><p> </p><p>As part of our test and learn approach we will continue to work closely with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure Universal Credit continues to be introduced in a measured and careful way. Universal Credit ensures claimants are better off when they move into work, by smoothing the transition into work and replacing the benefits cliff edge of the past.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:10:01 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

943368

registered interest
date	17/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they will provide to those who are unable to use online forms and communications in relation to Universal Credit.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL9586
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>The Department is committed to providing personalised support for all claimants, including vulnerable groups. Each individual’s circumstances are different and therefore their barriers to work and the support needed must be tailored to these needs.</p><p> </p><p>Face to face and telephony support is in place for those vulnerable claimants who cannot self-serve online; the Universal Credit telephone helpline is now a free phone number.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Support provides Universal Credit claimants with additional help to use a computer to make or maintain their claim (Assisted Digital Support), help in managing their monthly Universal Credit payment and possible advice on their finances (Personal Budgeting Support).</p><p> </p><p>In certain circumstances, where a claimant is unable to manage their own affairs, an appointee can act on their behalf, taking responsibility for making and maintaining any benefit claim. An appointee can be an individual, e.g. a friend or relative, an organisation or representative of an organisation, e.g. a solicitor or local council. The process for enlisting a DWP appointee includes a visit to the claimant and an interview with the potential appointee.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:08:52 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

943369

registered interest
date	17/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) people, and (2) dependants are currently subject to Universal Credit sanctions; and what plans they have for reducing that number.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL9587
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2018 answer text <p>The number of people on Universal Credit with a sanction deduction in February 2018 was 31,720 against a total number of 774,600 people on Universal Credit at that time.</p><p> </p><p>Under Universal Credit dependants in a household cannot be sanctioned.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>As a sanction is only applied when a claimant fails to meet their conditionality requirements without good reason, the Department does not have expectations on the numbers of sanctions that will be applied.</p><p> </p><p>However, we take a number of steps to ensure claimants are supported to meet their conditionality requirements. Work coaches tailor claimants’ conditionality requirements, and the support they require to meet them, to their individual circumstances and capabilities. They work with claimants to agree their conditionality requirements, explaining what could happen should they fail to meet them. Claimants are given every opportunity to explain why they failed to meet their agreed conditionality requirements before a sanction decision is made. When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take all the claimant’s individual circumstances and any evidence of good reason provided, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.</p><p> </p><p>We review processes and learning materials continuously and have a strong quality assurance framework in place.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 31/07/2018 12:10:37 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

938813

registered interest
date	11/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the demand on the services of food banks, whether they plan to introduce any modifications and improvements to the administration of Universal Credit; and in particular whether they will reduce (1) the waiting time for first payments, and (2) the level of advance loan repayments.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL9429
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2018 answer text <p>We continuously modify and improve Universal Credit in response to feedback, and have also implemented a number of further improvements.</p><p>This package of measures, which are set out below, not only addresses concerns raised around the first assessment period and the budgeting issues faced by some claimants at the start of their claim, but also supports the vast majority of claimants transitioning onto Universal Credit. They include:</p><ul><li>from 29 November 2017, all DWP Universal Credit phone lines are free and claimants will not be charged when they need to get help with their Universal Credit claim.</li></ul><ul><li>from 3 January, the repayment period of Universal Credit advances has been increased to 12 months and claimants can now get up to 100 per cent of their estimated monthly entitlement upfront. These advances are available to claimants interest-free. Earlier this month (July 2018), advances also became available to apply for online.</li></ul><ul><li>from 14 February, the seven-day waiting period that some claimants had at the start of their Universal Credit claim was removed; and,</li></ul><ul><li>from 11 April, we have provided an additional payment for claimants already receiving support towards their housing costs of two weeks of their Housing Benefit to support them as they transfer onto Universal Credit. Claimants will not be required to repay this money.</li></ul> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 24/07/2018 16:37:41 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

938814

registered interest
date	11/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to increase Universal Credit payments in line with inflation; and what plans they have, if any, to make payments reflect more closely the Minimum Income Standard.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL9430
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2018 answer text <p>The Department will be conducting the annual review of benefit and pension rates later this year, as required by the Social Security Administration Act 1992. This will include many Universal Credit rates, though it will exclude the standard allowance which has been frozen at 2015/16 levels until the end of 2019/20, by the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to supporting people who cannot work or have additional needs as a result of illness or disability and has consistently increased the carer amount, Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity amount and higher disabled child addition in line with inflation since the introduction of Universal Credit. Additionally, although work allowances, have not been increased each year they were raised in line with inflation for 2018/19.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 24/07/2018 16:38:21 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

938815

registered interest
date	11/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce any improvement to Universal Credit in order to protect vulnerable groups, including people with mental health problems, and families with children under school age.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL9431
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2018 answer text <p>We are fully committed to providing personalised support for all claimants, including vulnerable groups. Each individual’s circumstances are different and therefore their barriers to work and the support required must be tailored to their needs.</p><p> </p><p>Work coaches are supported in building a strong relationship with their claimants through a comprehensive training and accreditation programme which includes support to identify and help claimants with complex needs. All work coaches delivering Universal Credit receive training on supporting claimants with health conditions. We are developing additional training in mental health that will be available to work coaches to build their expertise and provide the most effective support. The Department has also increased the numbers of Disability Employment Advisers who provide additional support to the work coaches.</p><p> </p><p>On 7 June we announced additional transitional protection for those moving onto Universal Credit via managed migration to protect people who receive a Severe Disability Premium. We also announced changes to make sure the protection we offer people that we move on to Universal Credit is not affected by them taking on a job, earning more or claiming childcare.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is also committed to providing additional support for working families, so we have increased childcare funding from 70 per cent of eligible costs in Tax Credits to 85 per cent in Universal Credit.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 25/07/2018 11:52:54 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

938816

registered interest
date	11/07/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to review the benefits system focussing on training and support for staff, and cooperation with Citizens' Advice and credit unions, in order to prevent rent and utility arrears and defaults on Council Tax.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL9432
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/07/2018 answer text <p>DWP is committed to making sure that claimants have the right support available to them to help make and maintain a Universal Credit claim and manage their finances. The Department works with local authorities, Citizens Advice and other third sector providers to make sure that this support is in place.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Support provides Universal Credit claimants with additional help to use a computer to make or maintain their claim (Assisted Digital Support), help in managing their monthly Universal Credit payment and possible advice on their finances (Personal Budgeting Support).</p><p> </p><p>We also refer claimants to Citizens Advice and the Money Advice Service for more specialist debt advice and have also worked with the Money Advice Service to develop a Money Manager Tool. The Money Manager is designed for people on Universal Credit to make the most of their money, both when they are waiting for their first Universal Credit payment and when they are getting regular monthly payments, and is available online through the Money Advice Service.</p><p> </p><p>DWP is currently looking at how Universal Support operates and will examine feedback from providers and users before making decisions related to the future and shape of Universal Support.</p><p> </p><p>If people have problems managing their monthly payments, alternative payment arrangements (APAs) are available. These include direct payment of rent to landlords, more frequent-than-monthly Universal Credit payments, and splitting household payments in some cases. Work coaches make claimants aware of APAs. Information is also available through <a href="http://gov.uk" target="_blank">gov.uk</a>, the Universal Credit helpline and Universal Credit at Work and DWP always prioritise vulnerable claimants for APAs.</p><p> </p><p>All DWP staff delivering Universal Credit undergo comprehensive training, which includes information on Universal Support. This training includes support to recognise and help claimants with complex needs, and is delivered through a range of methods, which includes facilitator-led learning and skills practice.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 18/07/2018 14:24:41 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

890718

registered interest
date	24/04/2018
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	Employment
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how they reconcile figures from the Office for National Statistics, in its UK labour market: April 2018 bulletin, showing that the employment rate is “the highest since comparable records began in 1971”, with statistics published by the Trussell Trust showing increasing demand for the services provided by food banks over the last two years.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL7238
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/05/2018 answer text <p>Work offers people the best opportunity to get out of poverty and to become self-reliant; adults in working families are around 4 times less likely to be in poverty than those in workless families. This is why we are undertaking the most ambitious reform to the welfare system in decades - so that it supports people to find and to stay in work. People use food banks for many and varied reasons and, while there are no official statistics on food bank usage, recent data from the Trussell Trust shows that the majority of users are out of work.</p><p>As a safeguard for people needing more support, we have a well-established system of hardship payments, benefit advances and budgeting loans. Universal Credit has introduced a further package of measures announced at the Autumn Budget 2017, such as making advances of up to 100 per cent of the indicative award available and increasing the repayment period to 12 months, removing the 7 waiting days, providing an additional payment of 2 weeks of Housing Benefit to support claimants when they transition to UC, and changing how claimants in temporary accommodation receive support for their housing costs.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 02/05/2018 14:31:44 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

890719

registered interest
date	24/04/2018
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they are taking to improve the administration of Universal Credit, including to ensure that Universal Credit and other benefit payments are made promptly.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL7239
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/05/2018 answer text <p>Payment timeliness has improved since the early days of rollout and our latest data shows that around 80 per cent of new claims are paid in full and on time. The Department’s internal data shows that for many cases where full payment is not made on time by the end of the first assessment period, this is as a result of unresolved issues: claimants have not signed their Claimant Commitment or passed identity checks, and the others have outstanding verification issues, such as for housing, self-employed earnings and childcare costs. Whilst their verification is ongoing, many of these claimants receive a part payment for those elements of the claim that have been resolved.</p><p> </p><p>We have always been clear that we will deliver Universal Credit in a way that allows us to continue to make improvements as it is rolled out. We have already done this, such as by modifying the rollout plan following the £1.5 billion package of measures that were introduced in Autumn Budget 2017. This has allowed Universal Credit rollout to continue safely and securely.</p><p> </p><p>To date, we have successfully rolled out Universal Credit Full Service to 264 Jobcentres and prior to each rollout, we carry out a range of implementation activities to ensure each site is well prepared for the arrival of Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>Since the autumn of 2017, we have announced a series of changes to the administration of Universal Credit. These include:</p><p> </p><ul><li>converting our enquiry helplines to freephone numbers</li><li>abolishing the 7 day waiting period, thus reducing the time that some claimants wait to receive their first payment</li><li>increasing the amount of an advance payment that a claimant can apply for from the start of their claim, from 50 per cent to 100 per cent of their indicative award</li><li>extending the period over which an advance payment is recovered from 6 to 12 months</li><li>providing new Universal Credit claimants who are already receiving support towards their housing costs an additional payment of two weeks of their housing benefit, to support them as they transition to universal credit</li></ul><p> </p><p>We plan to publish regular national statistics on Universal Credit, including payment timeliness, in the near future. This data is currently going through quality assurance clearance procedures in line with the National Statistics and Official Statistics publication standard.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 09/05/2018 13:26:47 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

890720

registered interest
date	24/04/2018
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	Food Banks
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government when they last met with food bank organisers; what was the outcome of that meeting; and whether they plan to hold further such meetings.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL7240
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/05/2018 answer text <p>DWP meets regularly with key stakeholders including the Trussell Trust, which operates a network of over 425 food banks in the UK. Jobcentre Plus district managers have discretion to work with food banks in their area if they are invited to do so, as part of their wider community outreach work.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 02/05/2018 14:32:15 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton