The government is required to review the rates of benefits annually to determine whether they have kept pace with price inflation. CPI has been the default inflation measure for the government\u2019s statutory annual review of benefits since 2011 and it is standard practice for the government to uprate in line with September CPI, which was 3.1% in 2021.<\/p>
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September CPI is the latest available figure confirmed by the ONS prior to the annual review and allows sufficient time for the legislative and complex delivery process to take place.<\/p>
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The Government is already taking steps that will help families with the cost of living. We have cut the Universal Credit taper rate and increased the work allowances by £500 per year and we are increasing the National Living Wage to £9.50 an hour in April 2022. We have also announced a package of support to help households with rising energy bills, which will provide millions of households with up to £350 to help with rising energy bills. At the Spring Statement, the Chancellor went further, announcing an increase to the annual National Insurance Primary Threshold and Lower Profits Limit to £12,570, a cut to fuel duty, and an additional £500m to help the most vulnerable with the cost of essentials through the Household Support Fund.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4655", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Simon Clarke"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Simon Clarke"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-03-29", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "145919"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-03-29T10:45:28.697Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "14"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Treasury"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Treasury"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-03-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Social Security Benefits"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the rationale is for his Department's policy not to increase social security in the Spring Statement.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4471", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Rachael Maskell"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "York Central"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Rachael Maskell"} ], "uin" : "145918"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1437040", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Work and Pensions"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1437040/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
We do not hold records of cases where an Internal Process Review (IPR) was not started.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1609", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Chloe Smith"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Norwich North"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Chloe Smith"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2022-03-09", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2022-03-09T18:09:22.633Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "29"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2022-03-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Social Security Benefits"} , "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, how many cases of serious harm were considered by her Department as potential cases for investigation under an internal process review where a decision was made not to hold one, in each year since 2010-11.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4244", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Jonathan Ashworth"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Leicester South"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Jonathan Ashworth"} ], "uin" : "132261"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1437044", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Work and Pensions"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1437044/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
In 2020 improvements were made to the IPR referrals criteria. We began recording the referrals origins at this time and do not have records of referral origins prior to this period.<\/p>
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Please see the attached table that shows a breakdown as requested since 2020.<\/p>
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