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1605054

registered interest
date	16/03/2023
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	Childcare and Occupational Health
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to expand the workforce by improving access to (1) affordable childcare, and (2) occupational health services.
tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
uin	HL6585
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/03/2023 answer text <p>The Government clearly recognises that high childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to take up paid work or increase their working hours which is why the changes to the UC childcare element announced in the Spring Budget 2023 will provide generous additional financial support to parents moving into work and/or increasing their working hours.</p><p> </p><p>The Department will address the issue of ‘upfront’ childcare costs by exempting any Flexible Support Fund (FSF) payment for upfront childcare costs made to childcare providers from the UC childcare cost calculation when parents move into work or significantly increase their working hours. In practice, this means that the parent will be reimbursed for up to 85% of that FSF payment, as if they had paid it themselves. This provides parents with a significant payment of childcare costs, upfront, to use for their next set of childcare costs, thereby easing UC claimants into the UC childcare costs payment cycle.</p><p> </p><p>The Department will also increase the generosity of the UC childcare costs ‘caps’ (maximum amounts) - Allowing parents to claim back over £300 more for one child or over £500 for two or more children of their childcare costs per month. This will increase the caps from £646.35 for one child and £1,108.04 for two or more children to £950.92 and £1,630.15 respectively.</p><p> </p><p>By September 2025, eligible working parents of children aged 9 months to when they start school will be able to get 30 hours of free childcare in England.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>As set out in the Spring Budget, and the health is everyone’s business consultation response, increasing access to quality occupational health (OH) services can support disabled people and people with health conditions to remain in and thrive in work. This can contribute to reducing health-related inactivity.</p><p> </p><p>To increase access to OH the government is delivering a range of actions including: proposals to consult on tax incentives to encourage greater take-up of OH and new ways to boost OH coverage; an expanded trial of a subsidy for SMEs and the Self Employed to purchase OH services; a £1m fund to stimulate innovation in the OH market focussed on new models of service delivery and better use of technology; and plans to develop the multidisciplinary OH workforce needed to deliver services.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 30/03/2023 16:52:41 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1603006

registered interest
date	09/03/2023
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 His Majesty's Government, further to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Trussell Trust report An Essentials Guarantee: Reforming Universal Credit to ensure we can all afford the essentials in hard times, published on 27 February, what assessment they made of the recommendation contained in that report to "introduce an Essentials Guarantee" to ensure those on Universal Credit are not going without essential items.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Durham
uin	HL6307
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2023 answer text <p>The Government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to tackling poverty and supporting people on lower incomes.  As seen in measures announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Statement, the Government have committed to a series of measures to ensure support for UK citizens. Raising the Universal Credit award by 10.1% to bring rates in-line with national inflation and ensure claimants are supported.</p><p> </p><p>The current rates of income-related benefits such as Universal Credit do not represent a minimum requirement, and are not described as such in legislation or Government literature. The Government specifies the rates which are applicable to different benefits, and these may vary according to claimants' circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>There is no objective way of deciding what an adequate level of benefit should be as every person has different requirements. Income-related benefit rates are not made up of separate amounts for specific items of expenditure such as food or fuel charges, and beneficiaries are free to spend their benefit as they see fit, in the light of their individual commitments, needs and preferences.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living, which is why, in addition to the £37 billion of support we have provided for cost-of-living pressures in 2022/23, we are acting now to ensure support continues throughout 2023/24.</p><p> </p><p>We will be delivering further cost of living payments, worth up to £900 for claimants on means-tested benefits, £300 for pensioner households and £150 for those on disability benefits.</p><p> </p><p>For those who require extra support, the Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year. This is on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 23/03/2023 11:33:44 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4312 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Durham

1602552

registered interest
date	08/03/2023
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	Access to Work Programme
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 3 March (HL5641), what is the average wait time for new claims for a new job where the claimant received Access to Work support in their previous employment.
tabling member printed	Lord Blunkett
uin	HL6234
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2023 answer text <p>Applications with jobstarts in the next four weeks are prioritised; however, the specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>However, the Access to Work statistics includes how many applications result in provision being approved from 2007/08 to 2021/22.</p><p> </p><p>The latest Access to Work statistics can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/access-to-work-statistics" target="_blank">Access to Work statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 21/03/2023 15:35:15 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	395 label Biography information for Lord Blunkett

1602589

registered interest
date	08/03/2023
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	State Retirement Pensions: Expenditure
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what is the annual cost of aligning the women’s pre-2016 and post-2016 state pension with the amounts paid out to men.
tabling member printed	Lord Sikka
uin	HL6276
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/03/2023 answer text <p>The way that the National Insurance system and the State Pension systems interact means that it would not be possible align payments in the way the question suggests. The amount of State Pension paid to individuals is dependent on their National Insurance contributions. State Pensions are paid in accordance with the rules in place at the point the person reaches State Pension age. This means that outcomes are calculated on an individual basis and reflect a person’s National Insurance history throughout their careers, in line with the contributory principle.</p><p> </p><p>The latest figures (August 2022) for new State Pension show that on average, women receiving the new State Pension receive £18.40 per week more than women under the pre 2016 system. It also shows that the gap between women and men has narrowed from £26.48 pw to £5.32 pw. This puts women at receiving 85% of the rate received by men under the pre 2016 system and 97% under the new State Pension. The table below shows the average amounts in payment in August 2022. The design of the new State Pension means that the gap between men and women’s outcomes is likely to continue to diminish, with outcomes being equalised in the future.</p><p> </p><p>Average State Pension amounts in payment (August 2022).</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong> </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Male</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Female</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Pre-2016 State Pension </strong>(basic State Pension, plus Additional Pension) <br> (for those reaching State Pension age before 6.4.16)</p></td><td><p>£ 178.60</p></td><td><p>£ 152.12</p></td><td><p>£ 163.17</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>New State Pension </strong> (for those reaching State Pension age from 6.4.16 onwards)</p></td><td><p>£ 175.84</p></td><td><p>£ 170.52</p></td><td><p>£ 173.71</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>For people with lower amounts, Pension Credit provides a safety net for those most in need. Pension Credit provides a top up for people of State Pension age with a weekly income below £182.60 (for single people) or £278.70 (for couples). Information about Pension Credit is available from the Gov.uk website.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 22/03/2023 16:08:11 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4885 label Biography information for Lord Sikka

1602176

registered interest
date	07/03/2023
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 His Majesty's Government, further to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report An Essentials Guarantee: Reforming Universal Credit to ensure we can all afford the essentials in hard times, published on 27 February, which found that "95 per cent of people on Universal Credit facing debt deductions are going without essentials", what steps they are taking to prevent debt from being (1) generated, and (2) sustained, in the social security system.
tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Durham
uin	HL6188
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2023 answer text <p>The DWP takes significant steps to ensure the accuracy of all benefit payments, and figures released in May 2022 showed the overwhelming majority of benefit, nearly 95%, was paid correctly. There are a number of measures in place to minimise the risk of debt, such as a quality checking regime and the use of HMRC’s Real Time Information.</p><p> </p><p>Where errors do occur with UC payments, the DWP takes steps to detect them at the earliest opportunity. Where debt does arise, and a person feels they cannot afford the proposed rate of recovery, they are encouraged to contact the DWP. When they do, we work with them to review their financial circumstances and, in most instances, agree a temporary reduction in their rate of repayment.</p><p> </p><p>We remain committed to His Majesty’s Treasury’s Breathing Space policy, which provides those with problem debt (where applicable) the right to legal protections from creditor action for a period of 60 days.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 21/03/2023 15:02:19 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4312 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Durham

1602178

registered interest
date	07/03/2023
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: Disqualification
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what were the (1) minimum, and (2) maximum, benefit sanctions issued in the latest period for which data are available; and what was the average duration of benefit stoppage in that period.
tabling member printed	Lord Field of Birkenhead
uin	HL6190
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2023 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 21/03/2023 14:15:38 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1602179

registered interest
date	07/03/2023
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	Personal Income
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Bright Blue Building up: The future of social security, published in January; and what steps they will take to establish the minimum living income proposed in that report.
tabling member printed	Lord Field of Birkenhead
uin	HL6191
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/03/2023 answer text <p>No assessment has been made.</p><p> </p><p>We will spend £245bn through the welfare system in 2022/23, including £111bn on people of working age and around £134 billion on pensioners. Of the total amount, around £66 billion will be spent on supporting disabled people and people with health conditions in Great Britain.</p><p> </p><p>In April, we are uprating benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions, the benefit cap levels are also increasing by the same amount.</p><p> </p><p>To further support those who are in work, from 1 April 2023 the National Living Wage (NLW) will increase by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW.</p><p> </p><p>There is no objective way of deciding what an adequate level of benefit should be - each household will always have different requirements depending on their circumstances. Income–related benefit rates are not made up of separate amounts for specific items of expenditure, such as food. The Government firmly believes claimants should be free to spend their benefit as they see fit, in line with their individual needs and preferences. The Government does not consider it appropriate to introduce changes that would prioritise one particular area of household expenditure over the cost of other essential goods and services that benefit claimants have to meet.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise the pressures of the rising cost of living which is why households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments in 2023/24. This will be split into three payments of around £300 each across the 2023/24 financial year. A separate £300 payment will be made to pensioner households on top of their Winter Fuel Payments and individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits will receive a £150 payment. Further to this, the Energy Price Guarantee will be extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, meaning a typical household bill will be around £3,000 per year in Great Britain.</p><p> </p><p>This support is in addition to that provided in 2022/23, including cost of living payments for people on eligible benefits, the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 15/03/2023 12:07:41 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1602180

registered interest
date	07/03/2023
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 His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants received (1) £10–19 per week, (2) £20–£29 per week, (3) £30–39 per week, (4) £40–£49 per week, (5) £50–£59 per week, (6) £60–£69 per week, (7) £70–£79 per week, (8) £80–£89 per week, (9) £90–£99 per week, (10) £100–£109 per week, (11) £110–£119 per week, (12) £120–£129 per week, (13) £130–£139 per week, (14) £140–£149 per week, and (15) £150 and above per week, in the latest period for which figures are available.
tabling member printed	Lord Field of Birkenhead
uin	HL6192
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2023 answer text <p>Universal Credit is paid to households monthly and the official statistics, including the amounts paid per month, are published every three months on Stat-Xplore. The latest statistics are in the following table.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 1: Number of Households in receipt of Universal Credit, by monthly payment amount, in November 2022.</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Payment Amount</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of Households</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Less than £40</p></td><td><p>72,857</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£40 - £79.99</p></td><td><p>53,878</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£80 - £119.99</p></td><td><p>63,360</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£120 - £159.99</p></td><td><p>73,342</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£160 - £199.99</p></td><td><p>77,612</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£200 - £239.99</p></td><td><p>100,586</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£240 - £279.99</p></td><td><p>224,528</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£280 - £319.99</p></td><td><p>136,853</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£320 - £359.99</p></td><td><p>203,224</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£360 - £399.99</p></td><td><p>67,924</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£400 - £439.99</p></td><td><p>74,063</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£440 - £479.99</p></td><td><p>85,036</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£480 - £519.99</p></td><td><p>111,719</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£520 - £559.99</p></td><td><p>103,904</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£560 - £599.99</p></td><td><p>130,586</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>£600 or more</p></td><td><p>2,747,768</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total</p></td><td><p>4,327,245</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Stat-Xplore</a> – Households on Universal Credit</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes: </strong></p><ol><li>Statistical disclosure control has been applied to these figures to avoid the release of confidential data. Totals may not sum due to the disclosure control applied.</li><li>These figures do not include households with a nil award. Households may not be in payment if, for example, earnings for the period are sufficiently high that the taper rate reduces their entitlement to £0.</li><li>These figures are provisional and will be subject to revision. It is expected that overall provisional figures will be within two per cent of their revised figure in future releases.</li><li>Monthly award amounts include any awards due to entitlement such as the standard allowance or housing entitlement plus any advance payments. Advance payments will normally be recovered during subsequent assessment periods.</li></ol> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 21/03/2023 14:59:09 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1601524

registered interest
date	06/03/2023
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	State Retirement Pensions: Telephone Services
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the average wait time for calls to the Future Pension Centre helpline; and what steps they will take to improve the wait time.
tabling member printed	Lord Truscott
uin	HL6171
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/03/2023 answer text <p>Due to the unprecedented demand with the end of the tax year approaching, call waiting times for Futures Pension Centre helplines have been higher than expected. As a result of this, increased demand across both DWP and HM Revenue &amp; Customs, and the impact on customer service levels, agreement has been reached to extend the period for payment of Voluntary National Insurance until 31 July 23. DWP anticipates this will reduce demand and improve average call wait times.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 16/03/2023 16:37:22 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	3682 label Biography information for Lord Truscott

1600567

registered interest
date	01/03/2023
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	Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government how many households in England are affected by the under-occupancy charge for (1) one extra bedroom, or (2) more than one extra bedroom; and what assessment they have made of the financial impact of these deductions on those households.
tabling member printed	Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle
uin	HL6023
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/03/2023 answer text <p>For the latest data available, related to September 2022, 286,149 households were subject to the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) for 1 extra bedroom, and 63,759 for 2 or more extra bedrooms. This data is available on Stat-Xplore.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>For 2021/22, a total of £434m worth of deductions were made for RSRS in Great Britain. This includes households on Universal Credit and Housing Benefit. No wider assessment has been made.</p><p> </p><p>The RSRS policy applies to claims for housing support - either Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit - where the claimant is living in the social rented sector in a property that is deemed too large for their needs.</p><p> </p><p>The policy helps encourage mobility within the social rented sector to make better use of the existing social housing stock and strengthens work-incentives. An additional bedroom is allowed in certain circumstances such as for disabled people and carers, foster carers, and parents of service personnel. Additionally, those in receipt of pension age housing benefit are exempt.</p><p> </p><p>Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP’s) are available for those who need additional support with housing costs. Since 2011 we have provided nearly £1.6 billion in DHP’s to local authorities.</p> answering member printed Viscount Younger of Leckie question first answered 09/03/2023 12:33:58 answering member 4169 label Biography information for Viscount Younger of Leckie
tabling member	4719 label Biography information for Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle