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1387837

registered interest
date	14/12/2021
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 it is her policy to use digital by default when contacting universal credit recipients; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Garston and Halewood
tabling member printed	Maria Eagle
uin	92820
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2022 answer text <p>It is not the Department’s policy to use digital methods by default when contacting all Universal Credit recipients.</p><p> </p><p>We have a number of methods to support us in communicating with claimants. When making an initial application for Universal Credit, individuals are able to opt for their preferred contact method.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Work coaches and claimants can also use Universal Credit online journals to communicate, unless it has been previously identified that this is not an option for the claimant. In these cases, the journal will be updated, however the claimant will also be contacted in a way that suits their individual needs, for example by a phone call.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 05/01/2022 16:38:35 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	483 label Biography information for Maria Eagle

1196296

registered interest
date	15/05/2020
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of universal credit claimants did not receive their first payment within five weeks in the latest period for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	Garston and Halewood
tabling member printed	Maria Eagle
uin	47191
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/05/2020 answer text <p>The latest available information on Universal Credit payment timeliness is published and can be found at: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 19/05/2020 13:50:04 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	483 label Biography information for Maria Eagle

1196297

registered interest
date	15/05/2020
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
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 advance payments were made in (a) March and (b) April 2020.
tabling member constituency	Garston and Halewood
tabling member printed	Maria Eagle
uin	47192
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2020 answer text <p>The department published a set of supplementary management information on the number of Universal Credit Advances paid by the four advance types. It is available at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-declarations-claims-and-advances-management-information" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-declarations-claims-and-advances-management-information</a></p><p> </p><p>This management information will be updated on each Tuesday up to the end of June. Each week the release will include daily data for the time up to a week before the release date.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 20/05/2020 15:32:04 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	483 label Biography information for Maria Eagle

1196298

registered interest
date	15/05/2020
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many alternative payment arrangements for payment of universal credit were made with claimants in (a) March and (b) April 2020.
tabling member constituency	Garston and Halewood
tabling member printed	Maria Eagle
uin	47193
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2020 answer text <p>This information is intended for future publication</p><p> </p><p>Statistics on Alternative Payment Arrangements for March and April will be published on 11 August 2020 and can be found at <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 22/05/2020 12:18:28 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 23125 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	483 label Biography information for Maria Eagle

1196301

registered interest
date	15/05/2020
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
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to inform universal credit claimants that they can apply to have their historic benefit over-payment debts waived on (a) health and (b) and financial grounds.
tabling member constituency	Garston and Halewood
tabling member printed	Maria Eagle
uin	47195
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2020 answer text <p>The Department is open and transparent about our approach to benefit recovery, publishing our full Benefit Overpayment Recovery staff guide on gov.uk. Information regarding the waiver process can be found in chapter 8 of this guide. I have included a link below for your information.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/878823/benefit-overpayment-recovery-guide.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/878823/benefit-overpayment-recovery-guide.pdf</a></p><p> </p><p>In addition, when the Department informs claimants of a benefit overpayment (either by letter, or via the journal in Universal Credit), they are advised to contact the Department’s Debt Management Team to discuss repayment. During this discussion, if a claimant expresses concern about repayment, Debt Management staff will inform them that they can request a waiver be considered.</p><p> </p><p>It should be noted that a waiver can only be granted where the recovery of the overpayment is causing substantial medical and/or financial hardship, and where clear evidence of this can be provided.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 20/05/2020 16:02:38 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	483 label Biography information for Maria Eagle

992785

registered interest
date	22/10/2018
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria her Department uses to calculate the value of an advance under universal credit provided to claimants awaiting their first universal credit instalment.
tabling member constituency	Garston and Halewood
tabling member printed	Maria Eagle
uin	182114
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/01/2019 answer text <p>The maximum value of an advance payment of Universal Credit is the claimant’s standard allowance plus any additional amounts to provide for extra needs such as housing, children or disability, up to 100% of the claimant’s indicative award and can be repaid over 12 months.</p><p>There is not a prescriptive list of exceptional circumstances to allow the deferral of the advance repayment. Consideration is given to whether the household would face genuine hardship.</p><p>During the recovery of the advance, exceptional circumstances may occur that were not foreseen when the advance was taken out. For example hospital visits resulting in unexpected and regular bus/taxi fares. If these circumstances push the claimant into genuine hardship resulting in difficulty repaying the advance over the agreed recovery time, a maximum 3 month deferral can be considered. Full recovery must currently be made within 12 months. However, from October 2021, the recovery period for advances will increase from 12 to 16 months.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 182115 question first answered 03/01/2019 17:29:14 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	483 label Biography information for Maria Eagle

992786

registered interest
date	22/10/2018
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how exceptional circumstances is defined when determining whether a universal credit claimant in receipt of a universal credit advance payment is eligible for the three-month discretionary period after the first universal credit instalment before repayments of that advance begin.
tabling member constituency	Garston and Halewood
tabling member printed	Maria Eagle
uin	182115
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/01/2019 answer text <p>The maximum value of an advance payment of Universal Credit is the claimant’s standard allowance plus any additional amounts to provide for extra needs such as housing, children or disability, up to 100% of the claimant’s indicative award and can be repaid over 12 months.</p><p>There is not a prescriptive list of exceptional circumstances to allow the deferral of the advance repayment. Consideration is given to whether the household would face genuine hardship.</p><p>During the recovery of the advance, exceptional circumstances may occur that were not foreseen when the advance was taken out. For example hospital visits resulting in unexpected and regular bus/taxi fares. If these circumstances push the claimant into genuine hardship resulting in difficulty repaying the advance over the agreed recovery time, a maximum 3 month deferral can be considered. Full recovery must currently be made within 12 months. However, from October 2021, the recovery period for advances will increase from 12 to 16 months.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 182114 question first answered 03/01/2019 17:29:14 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	483 label Biography information for Maria Eagle

987931

registered interest
date	15/10/2018
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will take steps to collect official statistics on food bank usage in the UK following the national roll-out of universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Garston and Halewood
tabling member printed	Maria Eagle
uin	179129
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2018 answer text <p>We review research carried out by organisations including the Trussell Trust to add to our understanding of food bank use, and are considering requirements to add to our evidence base.</p><p> </p><p>We have no current plans to develop official national statistics on food bank use. However, the Office for National Statistics is leading a project to improve statistics on household food insecurity by reviewing all existing official and non-official sources of data and looking at options to fill data gaps in partnership with government departments, including the Department for Work and Pensions.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 23/10/2018 14:40:45 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	483 label Biography information for Maria Eagle

987933

registered interest
date	15/10/2018
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	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 effect of the national roll-out of universal credit on the incidence of food bank usage in the UK.
tabling member constituency	Garston and Halewood
tabling member printed	Maria Eagle
uin	179130
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2018 answer text <p>People use food banks for many reasons, and it would be misleading to link them to any single cause. We are constantly reviewing research carried out by organisations including the Trussell Trust, to add to our understanding of food bank use, and will consider requirements to add to our evidence base. Work offers people the best opportunity to get out of poverty and Universal Credit gets people to work faster and staying in work longer than the outdated legacy benefits system.</p><p> </p><p>As a safeguard for people needing more support, we have a well-established system of hardship payments, benefit advances and budgeting loans. We have introduced a further package of measures this year for Universal Credit claimants which were announced at Autumn Budget 2017. This comprehensive package worth £1.5 billion to help people in their first assessment period included, the abolition of waiting days, the introduction of advances up to 100% of a claimant’s indicative award (repayable over a period of up to 12 months), and a two week transitional payment for those previously claiming Housing Benefit.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 23/10/2018 16:44:04 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	483 label Biography information for Maria Eagle

973404

registered interest
date	13/09/2018
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	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how the amount given in budgetary advances to claimants awaiting their first universal credit payment is calculated.
tabling member constituency	Garston and Halewood
tabling member printed	Maria Eagle
uin	174624
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2018 answer text <p>The purpose of a Budgeting Advance is to help pay for emergency household costs, or for help getting a job or staying in work. It is not an advance of benefit; therefore no Budgeting Advances have been paid in the last 12 months to cover delays in the payment of benefits.</p><p> </p><p>A Budgeting Advance is available to claimants where they have been in receipt of Universal Credit, or a combination of a legacy benefit and Universal Credit, for at least 6 months or for a lesser period of time if it relates to either them, or their partner, obtaining or retaining employment.</p><p> </p><p>The calculation of the amount of a Budgeting Advance available to a claimant will vary depending upon whether they are single, part of a couple and/or responsible for a child or qualifying young person. It will also be reduced pound for pound by any savings they may have over £1000 and eligibility can be affected depending upon the amount of earnings received in the previous six month period. A Budgeting Advance is repayable over 12 months, which can be extended by up to 6 months in exceptional circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>Exceptional circumstances would be an unforeseen expense that occurs after an advance is agreed, and continued recovery for the initial agreed repayment period would cause the claimant and their household genuine hardship.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 174625 174626 question first answered 22/10/2018 10:52:49 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	483 label Biography information for Maria Eagle