The taper is the rate at which Universal Credit is reduced to take account of earnings. It is specifically for in work claimants and linked to earnings to incentivise work, and those in work to earn more. Universal Credit has a single taper of 63 per cent so payments reduce in a transparent and predictable way as earnings increase. Universal Credit is a means tested benefit, and income other than earnings, such as pensions, is taken fully into account in the assessment of Universal Credit. This is consistent with how legacy means tested benefits such as Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker\u2019s Allowance and Income Support treat pension income. Therefore it would not be consistent to extend the earnings taper to pensions income and doing so would also undermine the incentives to work for people of working age.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4014", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Sharma"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Reading West"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Alok Sharma"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-11-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-11-12T18:05:06.27Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "29"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2018-11-02", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Universal Credit"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the taper that is applied to wages is not applied to pensions in relation to universal credit.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "true", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4243", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dan Jarvis"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Barnsley Central"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dan Jarvis"} ], "uin" : "187333"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1000268", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Work and Pensions"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1000268/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Individual departments have set up complaints procedures. That approach has not changed under Labour 1997-2010 or successive governments. The DWP has a two tier complaints process which considers formal complaints about our service. <\/strong>Once a complainant has exhausted the DWP complaint process they are signposted to the Independent Case Examiner\u2019s Office if they are dissatisfied with the final response to their complaint.<\/p> The Independent Case Examiner is independent, and discusses complaints. The Independent Case Examiner is appointed under contract to adjudicate on escalated complaints about the DWP, and its contracted service providers, in cases where the complainant has exhausted the relevant internal complaints process and remains dissatisfied. If a complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome of an I Independent Case Examiner investigation (or the service provided by the Independent Case Examiner) they can ask their Member of Parliament to escalate their complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.<\/p> The table below provides details of the number of complaints concerning the equalisation of women\u2019s state pension age, that have been (a) received; (b) accepted for investigation and (c) resolved by the Independent Case Examiner in each month since January 2017 (we have interpreted (c) as a request for the number of concluded complaint examinations).<\/p> At the end of October 2018, there were 865 such cases awaiting a decision on whether the complaint could be accepted for investigation, which explains the drop in the number of cases accepted for investigation since April 2018.<\/p> <\/p> Month<\/p><\/td> Complaints received<\/p><\/td> Complaints accepted for investigation<\/p><\/td> Concluded complaint examinations<\/p><\/td><\/tr> January 2017<\/p><\/td> 2<\/p><\/td> 1<\/p><\/td> 0<\/p><\/td><\/tr> February 2017<\/p><\/td> 26<\/p><\/td> 5<\/p><\/td> 0<\/p><\/td><\/tr> March 2017<\/p><\/td> 211<\/p><\/td> 187<\/p><\/td> 0<\/p><\/td><\/tr> April 2017<\/p><\/td> 172<\/p><\/td> 157<\/p><\/td> 0<\/p><\/td><\/tr> May 2017<\/p><\/td> 171<\/p><\/td> 148<\/p><\/td> 0<\/p><\/td><\/tr> June 2017<\/p><\/td> 144<\/p><\/td> 124<\/p><\/td> 1<\/p><\/td><\/tr> July 2017<\/p><\/td> 222<\/p><\/td> 185<\/p><\/td> 0<\/p><\/td><\/tr> August 2017<\/p><\/td> 290<\/p><\/td> 243<\/p><\/td> 0<\/p><\/td><\/tr> September 2017<\/p><\/td> 297<\/p><\/td> 232<\/p><\/td> 0<\/p><\/td><\/tr> October 2017<\/p><\/td> 418<\/p><\/td> 338<\/p><\/td> 3<\/p><\/td><\/tr> November 2017<\/p><\/td> 320<\/p><\/td> 265<\/p><\/td> 6<\/p><\/td><\/tr> December 2017<\/p><\/td> 222<\/p><\/td> 177<\/p><\/td> 4<\/p><\/td><\/tr> January 2018<\/p><\/td> 314<\/p><\/td> 254<\/p><\/td> 11<\/p><\/td><\/tr> February 2018<\/p><\/td> 240<\/p><\/td> 210<\/p><\/td> 28<\/p><\/td><\/tr> March 2018<\/p><\/td> 171<\/p><\/td> 132<\/p><\/td> 16<\/p><\/td><\/tr> April 2018<\/p><\/td> 196<\/p><\/td> 2<\/p><\/td> 11<\/p><\/td><\/tr> May 2018<\/p><\/td> 159<\/p><\/td> 2<\/p><\/td> 15<\/p><\/td><\/tr> June 2018<\/p><\/td> 147<\/p><\/td> 2<\/p><\/td> 30<\/p><\/td><\/tr> July 2018<\/p><\/td> 131<\/p><\/td> 0<\/p><\/td> 13<\/p><\/td><\/tr> August 2018<\/p><\/td> 108<\/p><\/td> 5<\/p><\/td> 14<\/p><\/td><\/tr> September 2018<\/p><\/td> 101<\/p><\/td> 1<\/p><\/td> 15<\/p><\/td><\/tr> October 2018<\/p><\/td> 119<\/p><\/td> 0<\/p><\/td> 14<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table> <\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4142", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Guy Opperman"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hexham"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Guy Opperman"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-11-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-11-12T14:57:29.843Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
]}
, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "29"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2018-11-02", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "State Retirement Pensions: Females"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
}
], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2018 to Question 185131 on Independent Case Examiner, if she will publish that same information for complaints by women on the equalisation of the state pension age.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4672", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Ged Killen"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Rutherglen and Hamilton West"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Ged Killen"}
], "uin" : "187381"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1000285", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Work and Pensions"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1000285/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "