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1128341

	registered interest
	date	22/05/2019
	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, (a) how many and (b) what percentage of universal credit claimants had funds deducted for a universal credit overpayment in the most recent month for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	257575
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2019 answer text <p>Internal Management information shows that in April 2019, 80,000 payments of Universal Credit (UC) had a deduction applied to repay a UC overpayment (this figure does not include UC Advances and has been rounded to the nearest 10,000).</p><p> </p><p>It is not possible to show this figure as a percentage as the latest UC caseload data is only available as of 14<sup>th</sup> February 19. However, for context as of 14<sup>th</sup> February 19, 1.4m households received payments of UC.</p><p /><p>The Department ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants who have deductions from their benefit to repay overpayments. There are maximum rates of deduction that are set out in legislation, and if a claimant is struggling they can contact the Department’s Debt Management Team to discuss lowering their repayment rate.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 10/06/2019 15:03:56 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1145099

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2019
	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: Fraud
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, at what point during the universal credit claim process her Department checks claims for potentially fraudulent details.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	287640
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 09/09/2019 16:40:23 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1145574

	registered interest
	date	24/09/2019
	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: Fraud
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, at what point during the universal credit claim process her Department checks claims for potentially fraudulent details.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	290465
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/10/2019 answer text <p>Effective identity verification and authentication, using commonly applied standards across the Department, protects claimants' personal data and makes a direct contribution to the prevention of fraud.</p><p> </p><p>There are various ways in which a claimant can verify their identity to support a new claim to Universal Credit: online using the electronic Verify system; in person using primary and secondary ID verification or; by using biographical questions, for those who do not have identity documents.</p><p> </p><p>Staff are encouraged to report any instances of potentially fraudulent activity. All claims where fraud may have been committed are investigated. We will use penalties such as prosecutions and tough financial penalties, where appropriate, to discourage fraudulent behaviour. The Department considers all cases on their own merits and decisions are made on the strength of the evidence provided.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 01/10/2019 15:32:13 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 136335 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1145971

	registered interest
	date	25/09/2019
	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: Fraud
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many administrative penalties her Department has levied on individuals who have reported they have been a victim of universal credit fraud.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	291086
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/10/2019 answer text <p>The information you have requested could only be provided by manually examining a substantial number of individual cases. The Department estimates that this would incur disproportionate costs.</p><p> </p><p>For the sake of clarity the policy is that an Administrative Penalty is only ever considered as an alternative to a referral for a prosecution in cases where benefit fraud has been committed, and not for innocent victims who report fraud.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 01/10/2019 16:30:25 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 136341 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1145973

	registered interest
	date	25/09/2019
	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: Fraud
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many administrative penalties her Department has levied on victims of universal credit fraud who attended interviews under caution and who were accompanied by legal representatives.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	291088
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/10/2019 answer text <p>Administrative Penalties would not be used in any case where evidence showed that a claimant was an innocent victim of Universal Credit advances fraud.</p><p /><p>Administrative Penalties are financial penalties which can be used as an alternative to prosecution in cases where benefit fraud has been committed.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 01/10/2019 16:16:23 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman previous answer version 136344 answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1166882

	registered interest
	date	28/10/2019
	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, how many and what proportion of universal credit claimants with children are not eligible for a budgeting advance to pay for upfront childcare costs due to (a) an existing budgeting advance, (b) not having made a debt repayment and (b) not claiming universal credit for a sufficient amount of time in the most recent period for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	6505
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Eastleigh answering member printed Mims Davies question first answered 31/10/2019 17:45:17 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1127966

	registered interest
	date	21/05/2019
	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, how many and what proportion of universal credit claims that had a deduction applied had (a) up to 20 per cent, (b) between 21 and 30 per cent, (c) between 31 and 40 per cent and (d) more than 41 per cent deducted in the latest period for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	257147
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government recognises the importance of safeguarding the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. Universal Credit already has procedures and regulations in place to protect claimants from excessive deductions. The maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed 40 per cent of the Universal Credit standard allowance, and from October 2019 this will be reduced to 30 per cent.</p><p> </p><p>However, last resort deductions can be applied to protect vulnerable claimants from eviction and/or having their fuel supply (gas/electricity) cut off, by providing a last resort repayment method for arrears of these essential services. In these circumstances, when it is considered to be in the best interests of the claimant and their family, deductions may be taken above the 40 per cent limit.</p><p> </p><p>If a claimant is in financial difficulty as a result of the level of deductions being made they can contact the Department to request that a reduction in deductions be considered.</p><p> </p><p>Of all eligible claims to Universal Credit Full Service due a payment in Feb 2019, 57% (840,000 claims) had a deduction.</p><p> </p><p>Of this 840,000 claims with a deduction:</p><p>a) 50% (420,000 claims) had deductions up to 20% of the Standard Allowance (29% of all eligible claims).</p><p>b) 20% (170,000 claims) had deductions between 21% and 30% of the Standard Allowance (12% of all eligible claims).</p><p>c) 28% (238,000 claims) had deductions between 31% and 40% of their Standard Allowance (16% of all eligible claims).</p><p>d) 1% (13,000 claims) had deductions above 40% of their Standard Allowance (1% of all eligible claims).</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p>Claim numbers may not match official statistics caseloads due to small methodological differences.</p><p>Claim numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000</p><p>When categorising claims into the groups above the figures for the percentage of the Standard Allowance for individual claims have been rounded to the nearest percent.</p><p>Deductions include advance repayments and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties which are reductions of benefit rather than deductions.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p /> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 04/06/2019 15:57:14 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1138132

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	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	Flexible Support Fund
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for funding from the Flexible Support Fund have been received for up-front childcare costs in each of the last 12 months; and how many of those applications have been (a) paid in full, (b) paid in part and (c) refused.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	275816
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not held in a format that can be easily disaggregated and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 15/07/2019 14:14:48 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1134525

	registered interest
	date	25/06/2019
	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, how many civil penalties have been passed to debt collection agencies by her Department in each of the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	269121
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/07/2019 answer text <p>The table below details the total number of Civil Penalties which have been passed to Debt Collection Agencies in each of the last 12 months*.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Civil Penalties</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Jun-18</strong></p></td><td><p>700</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Jul-18</strong></p></td><td><p>900</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Aug-18</strong></p></td><td><p>800</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Sep-18</strong></p></td><td><p>600</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Oct-18</strong></p></td><td><p>600</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Nov-18</strong></p></td><td><p>800</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Dec-18</strong></p></td><td><p>500</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Jan-19</strong></p></td><td><p>900</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Feb-19</strong></p></td><td><p>600</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Mar-19</strong></p></td><td><p>600</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Apr-19</strong></p></td><td><p>700</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>May-19</strong></p></td><td><p>700</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Grand Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>8400</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><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>When recovering overpayments, DWP ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants from any undue financial hardship. Like the Department, private collection agencies will look to establish sustainable repayment arrangements.</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 100. </em></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 01/07/2019 16:54:13 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1134522

	registered interest
	date	25/06/2019
	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, how many civil penalties relating to failure to undertake tasks required for universal credit compliance have been issued in each of the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	269119
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2019 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 to UC Overpayments in the last 12 months along with the value of recoveries in the last 12 months where a Civil Penalty was imposed on a UC debt. *</p><p> </p><p>Note that there is no correlation between the number applied and the value of recovery for the associated month. Civil Penalties issued in a 12-month period will not necessarily be recovered in that same 12-month period as debts will be repaid over different timeframes, in accordance with a debtor’s particular commitments.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number applied to UC overpayment </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Value of </strong> <strong>Recovery </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Jun-18</strong></p></td><td><p>140</p></td><td><p>£4,300</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Jul-18</strong></p></td><td><p>120</p></td><td><p>£4,700</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Aug-18</strong></p></td><td><p>190</p></td><td><p>£8,100</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Sep-18</strong></p></td><td><p>130</p></td><td><p>£5,800</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Oct-18</strong></p></td><td><p>80</p></td><td><p>£8,600</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Nov-18</strong></p></td><td><p>20</p></td><td><p>£5,700</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Dec-18</strong></p></td><td><p>Fewer than 5</p></td><td><p>£5,400</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Jan-19</strong></p></td><td><p>10</p></td><td><p>£4,800</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Feb-19</strong></p></td><td><p>20</p></td><td><p>£3,700</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Mar-19</strong></p></td><td><p>20</p></td><td><p>£3,800</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Apr-19</strong></p></td><td><p>10</p></td><td><p>£2,300</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>May-19</strong></p></td><td><p>10</p></td><td><p>£1,600</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>When recovering overpayments, DWP ensures that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect claimants from any undue financial hardship. Like the Department, private collection agencies will look to establish sustainable repayment arrangements.</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 100. </em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 269120 question first answered 03/07/2019 15:34:36 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 126281 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George