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1002036

registered interest
date	05/11/2018
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 many hours of training is planned to be given to her Department's decision-makers to identify people who may be vulnerable or have complex needs for the purposes of the universal credit managed migration.
tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Edgbaston
tabling member printed	Preet Kaur Gill
uin	188159
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/01/2019 answer text <p>All DWP staff working with customers complete training that prepares them for their role. This includes developing the skills they need to support and communicate with a diverse range of customers, and specific training is provided for working with different vulnerable groups.</p><p> </p><p>We are taking a slow, measured approach to managed migration and this will allow for on-going evaluation of the process to ensure that it is working successfully, which will enable us to refine our methods to support claimants.</p><p> </p><p>The revised draft regulations now before Parliament provide that we must give claimants a minimum of three months in which to make a claim for Universal Credit and sets no maximum period in which a claim must be made. With unlimited flexibility to extend claim periods we will work with representative groups to produce guidance that will ensure adequate support for each individual claimant’s needs.</p><p> </p><p>Decision makers and all our customer facing staff undertake learning related to supporting vulnerable claimants. Decision Makers receive 19.5 hours of training on dealing with vulnerable groups and line managers review whether there is a need to refresh the knowledge / learning with individuals where appropriate.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 07/01/2019 16:15:59 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4603 label Biography information for Preet Kaur Gill

992737

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 assessment she has made of the potential merits of creating a work allowance for second earners as part of universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	182256
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2018 answer text <p>We have not made an assessment.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit targets resources towards reducing the number of workless households, by increasing the incentive for at least one member of the household to enter work. Compared to children from working families, children who grow up in workless families are almost twice as likely to not reach the expected attainment level at all stages of their education, and are also more likely to be workless themselves in adult life. Helping at least one person into work could help break the cycle of worklessness in a family.</p><p> </p><p>As announced at Autumn Budget 2018, on 29 October 2018, work allowances will be increased by £1000 a year from April 2019. This increase for working parents and people with disabilities, means 2.4 million households will be up to £630 better off per year, in a package worth £1.7bn by 2023/24.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 11/12/2018 10:28:12 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

992740

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 proportion of claimants used implicit consent to make a benefits claim under the legacy system.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	182259
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/12/2018 answer text <p>Implicit Consent is usually used when a third party wants to check the progress of a claim or assist a customer with a question about their entitlement. For more vulnerable claimants unable to mange their own affairs, an appointee or corporate acting body will make the claim on their behalf. If implicit consent was used to make a new claim there is no specific area that the details are held on the legacy system.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 03/12/2018 16:30:22 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

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

989499

registered interest
date	17/10/2018
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, whether she plans to increase (a) universal and (b) other transitional support to help the transition to universal credit under managed migration.
tabling member constituency	Airdrie and Shotts
tabling member printed	Neil Gray
uin	180755
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/01/2019 answer text <p>We will identify those who, during the transition to Universal Credit under managed migration, will require additional support and, equally importantly, what that support should be. As we start to migrate claimants, we will do this in a gradual way, to learn from our approach and adapt it further to ensure it meets the needs of our vulnerable claimants.</p><p> </p><p>The Universal Credit (Managed Migration) 2018 regulations which have been laid before Parliament ensure that those living in temporary and supported accommodation will have access to transitional protection if they are managed migrated. These claimants will remain in receipt of their existing Housing Benefit while they continue to live in this form of accommodation and, therefore, no support paid for housing will be taken into account when considering if transitional protection should be awarded. This transitional protection is dependent on the Managed Migration regulations receiving Parliamentary approval.</p><p> </p><p>As announced in the 2018 Autumn Budget, the income related elements of Employment and Support Allowance and Jobseeker’s Allowance, and Income Support will continue for two weeks after a claim for Universal Credit has been made from July 2020. Claimants will therefore receive one two week run-on payment when being migrated to Universal Credit. Both of these measures are subject to parliamentary approval. These payments are in addition to the 2 week run-on of Housing Benefit to support claimants when they transition to Universal Credit, which we introduced in April 2018.</p><p><em> </em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 07/01/2019 16:15:27 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4365 label Biography information for Neil Gray

988881

registered interest
date	16/10/2018
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: Disability
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make publish her Department’s calculations of the number of disabled people who will (a) lose benefit funding from the introduction of universal credit and (b) would lose benefit funding but for transitional protection.
tabling member constituency	Battersea
tabling member printed	Marsha De Cordova
uin	180310
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2018 answer text <p>When fully rolled out, Universal Credit will support low income households with around £62 billion a year across the whole of Great Britain.</p><p> </p><p>More people who are severely disabled will receive higher payments under Universal Credit. The rate in Universal Credit for these claimants is higher at £326 per month (up from £158 per month on the equivalent ESA Support Group). The managed migration regulations, which are currently before Parliament, includes transitional protections to ensure that no one loses out at the point of transition.</p><p> </p><p>This means that around 1 million disabled households will gain on average around £100 more per month on Universal Credit, than on legacy benefits. Within the legacy system there are £2.4bn of unclaimed benefits not taken up by people who need them, because they do not know about them. These Regulations will ensure that 700,000 more households will get paid their full entitlement under Universal Credit.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/12/2018 12:15:53 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4676 label Biography information for Marsha De Cordova

982489

registered interest
date	08/10/2018
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: Private Rented Housing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the introduction of universal credit on the financial sustainability of private sector landlords.
tabling member constituency	Crewe and Nantwich
tabling member printed	Laura Smith
uin	176609
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2018 answer text <p>There are many complex factors which contribute to and affect the financial sustainability of landlords in this sector. Research carried out by the National Federation of ALMOs shows over three quarters of their tenants come onto Universal Credit with pre-existing rent arrears.</p><p>Arrears are usually temporary and the majority of claimants do succeed in paying their rent, managing their monthly payments and clearing their arrears over time</p><p>We continually review and improve Universal Credit in response to feedback. In 2018, following Autumn Budget 2017, we have implemented a comprehensive and wide-ranging package of improvements worth £1.5 billion. These include making advances of up to 100% of the indicative award available (from the start of a claim) and increasing the repayment period to 12 months, removing the 7 waiting days, providing an additional payment of 2 weeks of Housing Benefit to support claimants when they transition to Universal Credit, and changing how claimants in temporary accommodation receive support for their housing costs.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 20/11/2018 16:14:52 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4648 label Biography information for Laura Smith