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1735563

registered interest
date	21/10/2024
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: Young People
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to removing differences in Universal Credit allowance entitlements for recipients under the age of 25 in their Universal Credit review.
tabling member printed	Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick
uin	HL1819
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2024 answer text <p>The lower rate of Universal Credit standard allowance for customers under 25 reflects the fact they are more likely to live in someone else’s household than customers 25 and over and are therefore likely to have lower living costs. They also typically earn less as they are earlier in their careers, with the lower rate maintaining the incentive to work.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is committed to reviewing Universal Credit. Details of the review will be set out in due course.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 29/10/2024 12:39:28 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
tabling member	4130 label Biography information for Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick

1735309

registered interest
date	17/10/2024
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
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what they estimate the total cost for all types of benefits available to working age adults and children will be for each 0.1 per cent increment increase in April 2025.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL1725
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2024 answer text <p>The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of benefits and State Pensions, based on a review of trends in prices and earnings growth in the preceding year. The Secretary of State announced her decisions to Parliament on 30 October.</p><p> </p><p>The basic and new state pensions, and the standard minimum guarantee in pension credit, will be increased by 4.1%, in line with the increase in average weekly earnings in the year to May-July 2024. Other state pension and benefit rates covered by the statutory review will be increased by 1.7%, in line with the increase in the consumer prices index in the year to September 2024. The full list of proposed State Pension and benefit rates for 2025/26 will be published in November.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>This increases expenditure on state pensions and benefits by £6.9 billion in 2025/26 compared with not uprating in 25/26, of which, £4.7 billion will be from state pensions and pensioner benefits, £0.9 billion from disability and carers benefits, and £1.2 billion from working-age benefits.</p><p>Statistics on the number and type of families and individuals in families benefitting from the uprating of benefits, were also made available on 30 October. Further detail can be found here <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-uprating-estimated-number-and-type-of-families-and-individuals-in-families-benefitting-from-the-uprating-of-benefits-in-2025-to-2026" target="_blank">Benefit uprating: estimated number and type of families and individuals in families benefitting from the uprating of benefits in financial year 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>.</p><p> </p><p>No estimate has been made of what the total cost for all types of benefits available to working age adults and children would be for each 0.1 per cent increment increase in April 2025.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 31/10/2024 17:05:22 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1735312

registered interest
date	17/10/2024
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	Incapacity Benefit
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of the population in each region are claiming incapacity benefits.
tabling member printed	Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown
uin	HL1728
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2024 answer text <p>The Department publishes quarterly statistics on benefit combinations on Stat-Xplore, which include those claiming incapacity benefits, where an individual claims one or more of Universal Credit (Health Journey), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Incapacity Benefit (IB), Severe Disablement Allowance (DSA), and Income Support (Incapacity Based) (IS(IB)).</p><p> </p><p>The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes mid-year population estimates for England and Wales, and Scotland.</p><p> </p><p>The administration of Incapacity benefits in Northern Ireland is devolved to the Department for Communities.</p><p> </p><p>The extracted statistics and the calculated estimated percentage of the total population on incapacity benefits in February 2024 are shown in the following table.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Number of individuals claiming incapacity benefits, February 2024, mid-year population estimates for England and Wales mid-2023 and Scotland mid-2022, estimated percentage of the population on incapacity benefits, February 2024.</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Regions</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Claimants on incapacity benefits</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Mid-year Population Estimates</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Estimated percentage of the total population on incapacity benefits</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>North East</p></td><td><p>186,734</p></td><td><p>2,711,380</p></td><td><p>6.9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>North West</p></td><td><p>474,790</p></td><td><p>7,600,126</p></td><td><p>6.2%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Yorkshire and The Humber</p></td><td><p>318,191</p></td><td><p>5,594,125</p></td><td><p>5.7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>East Midlands</p></td><td><p>244,835</p></td><td><p>4,991,265</p></td><td><p>4.9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>West Midlands</p></td><td><p>319,138</p></td><td><p>6,085,687</p></td><td><p>5.2%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>East of England</p></td><td><p>260,988</p></td><td><p>6,468,665</p></td><td><p>4.0%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>London</p></td><td><p>404,646</p></td><td><p>8,945,309</p></td><td><p>4.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>South East</p></td><td><p>340,698</p></td><td><p>9,482,507</p></td><td><p>3.6%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>South West</p></td><td><p>262,208</p></td><td><p>5,811,259</p></td><td><p>4.5%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Wales</p></td><td><p>218,571</p></td><td><p>3,164,404</p></td><td><p>6.9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Scotland</p></td><td><p>364,308</p></td><td><p>5,447,700</p></td><td><p>6.7%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>Source:</strong> <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Stat-Xplore</a>, <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates" target="_blank">ONS Population Estimates</a></p><p> </p><p><strong>Note:</strong></p><ol><li>Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data. Percentages are given to 1 decimal place.</li><li>‘Claimants on incapacity benefits’ includes where an individual claims one or more of Universal Credit (Health Journey), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Incapacity Benefit (IB), Severe Disablement Allowance (DSA), and Income Support (Incapacity Based) (IS(IB)), at the end of February 2024 and is taken from the ‘<a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/openinfopage?id=Ben_Com_New" target="_blank">Benefit Combinations - Data from May 2019 for England and Wales</a>’ dataset and the ‘<a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/openinfopage?id=Ben_Com_Scot" target="_blank">Benefit Combinations – Data from May 2019 for Scotland</a>’ dataset on Stat-Xplore.</li><li>‘Mid-year Population Estimates’ are produced by the Office for National Statistics for <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/estimatesofthepopulationforenglandandwales/regionalpopulationestimatesforenglandandwales1971to2023editionofthisdataset/regionalpopestimatesenglandandwales19712023.xlsx" target="_blank">England and Wales to mid-2023</a> and for <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/estimatesofthepopulationforenglandandwales/ukpopulationestimates1838to2023editionofthisdataset/ukpopulationestimates18382023.xlsx" target="_blank">Scotland to mid-2022</a>.</li></ol> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 31/10/2024 17:08:34 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
tabling member	655 label Biography information for Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown

1735325

registered interest
date	17/10/2024
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 Independence Payment: Medical Examinations
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average waiting time for Personal Independence Payment assessments.
tabling member printed	Baroness Thomas of Winchester
uin	HL1741
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2024 answer text <p>These figures can be found at part 6 of the Personal Independence Payment: Official Statistics to July 2024 and are <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-independence-payment-statistics#latest-release" target="_blank">published</a> quarterly as part of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) statistics on GOV.UK.</p><p> </p><p>As of July 2024, clearance times for normal rules new claims are 15 weeks “end to end” (from registration to a decision being made) and 10 weeks from the assessment provider (AP) referral to the DWP decision on entitlement.</p><p> </p><p>The clearance times in July 2023 were 15 weeks and 10 weeks respectively. The clearance times peaked in August 2021 at 26 weeks “end to end” (from registration to a decision being made) and 21 weeks from the AP referral to the decision.</p><p> </p><p>This was partly because claims that had been allowed a longer deadline for return of the PIP 2 form during the period late February to late May 2021 were reaching clearance, and partly because priority in some areas was given to claims that had been waiting longer for processing due to the COVID-19 disruption.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 31/10/2024 17:06:14 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
tabling member	3785 label Biography information for Baroness Thomas of Winchester

1735326

registered interest
date	17/10/2024
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 Independence Payment: Medical Examinations
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 way Personal Independence Payments are accessed by people with fluctuating conditions.
tabling member printed	Baroness Thomas of Winchester
uin	HL1742
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2024 answer text <p>The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment is designed to take into account the impact of variations in an individual's level of functional impairment. The criteria consider an individual’s ability over a 12-month period, ensuring that fluctuations are taken into account.<strong> </strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Health professionals carrying out PIP assessments are required to assess individuals in line with the statutory criteria, including whether an individual can complete each of the PIP activities, the manner in which they do it, and whether they can complete each activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time period.</p><p> </p><p>The PIP assessment criteria were developed in collaboration with independent specialists in health, social care &amp; disability, including disabled people. The Department aims to continually improve the assessment process through customer insight, stakeholder engagement and qualitative research. We are exploring the option of a Health Impact Record that claimants could use on a voluntary basis, in addition to other evidence, to capture the changing effect of their condition on day-to-day functionality. This could help claimants present evidence in a structured way at or preceding an assessment.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 25/10/2024 13:05:51 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
tabling member	3785 label Biography information for Baroness Thomas of Winchester

1734011

registered interest
date	14/10/2024
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	Civil Servants: Clothing
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 18 September (HL1037), whether the attire described in the Daily Telegraph article “Transgender civil servant wearing ‘fetish gear’ sparks Whitehall row”, published on 4 August, accords with the Department for Work and Pensions’ interpretation of professional and business-like clothing.
tabling member printed	Baroness Jenkin of Kennington
uin	HL1553
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2024 answer text <p>I refer the noble Baroness to the answer I gave to question <a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-09-12/hl1037" target="_blank">HL1037</a> on 18 September.</p><p> </p><p>The DWP’s standards of behaviour statement requires employees to dress in a professional and business-like way. Professional and business-like has a normal, everyday meaning.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 25/10/2024 12:58:59 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
tabling member	4229 label Biography information for Baroness Jenkin of Kennington

1734018

registered interest
date	14/10/2024
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	Winter Fuel Payment: Correspondence and Email
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to provide an address for pensioners who would like assistance with the cost of winter fuel to ask for advice.
tabling member printed	Lord Marlesford
uin	HL1561
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2024 answer text <p>The Department is committed to assisting customers with advice on Winter Fuel payments and the best way to seek advice is by contacting the Winter Fuel payment centre helpline on:</p><p> </p><p>Telephone - 0800 731 0160; or</p><p>Textphone - contact Relay UK on 18001 then 0800 731 0160</p><p>Customers can also use the British Sign Language (BSL) video relay service to contact the department.</p><p> </p><p>Customers may also contact the Winter Fuel payment centre through Gov.uk.</p><p><a href="https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsecure.dwp.gov.uk%2Fcontact-winter-fuel-payments-centre%2Fcontact-form&amp;data=05|02|SPDPQSANDBRIEFINGS%40DWP.GOV.UK|8274bcd7cc374c51b30e08dced2a1503|96f1f6e910574117ac2880cdfe86f8c3|0|0|638646012201460831|Unknown|TWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D|0|||&amp;sdata=gBSg2ChpqYPuA82Q2lbavqc%2BqcESWVMusFl5xdfZceE%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">https://secure.dwp.gov.uk/contact-winter-fuel-payments-centre/contact-form</a></p><p> </p><p>For those customers who wish to write to the department, the postal address is:</p><p>Winter Fuel Payment Centre <br> Mail Handling Site A <br> Wolverhampton <br> WV98 1LR</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 23/10/2024 11:53:08 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
tabling member	1854 label Biography information for Lord Marlesford

1734020

registered interest
date	14/10/2024
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	Maternity Allowance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government when they will make the next quarterly claimant data for Maternity Allowance available.
tabling member printed	Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway
uin	HL1569
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2024 answer text <p>A new operational system to record Maternity Allowance cases is currently being developed. As such, Maternity Allowance statistics have been suspended from the quarterly statistics release until data can be extracted from the new system.</p><p> </p><p>Analysts are currently unable to provide a timescale for when the Maternity Allowance statistics will be reinstated, as work to develop the statistics from the new system is in very early stages. Users will be updated of progress via the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/maternity-allowance-quarterly-statistics" target="_blank">Maternity Allowance statistics</a> page and the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-statistical-work-programme" target="_blank">DWP Statistical Work Programme</a> page on GOV.UK.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock question first answered 23/10/2024 11:52:44 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
tabling member	4977 label Biography information for Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway

1734021

registered interest
date	14/10/2024
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	Maternity Allowance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to review the treatment of Maternity Allowance as unearned income, so that employed women receiving Maternity Allowance are not worse off than those on statutory maternity pay and Universal Credit.
tabling member printed	Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway
uin	HL1570
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2024 answer text <p>We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work in the later stages of their pregnancy and in the months following childbirth in the interests of their own and their baby's health and wellbeing.</p><p>Maternity Allowance is intended for those who cannot get Statutory Maternity Pay and is designed to have a range of in-built flexibilities making it accessible to as many women as possible. Work is underway to make Maternity Allowance even more accessible so that women will, in future, be able to make their claims online. Further information on when this will be available will be provided in due course.</p><p>There are two qualifying conditions for Maternity Allowance: a woman must have worked for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks prior to the expected week of childbirth and she must have average weekly earnings at least equal to the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance purposes (£123.00 a week, 2023/24).</p><p>The work does not have to be for the same employer nor continuous, nor undertaken on the same basis. A claim can be made where there is a mixture of employment and self-employment and work for part weeks also counts as a full week’s work when calculating entitlement. A women can choose any 13 weeks within the 66-week period to calculate her earnings. To ensure that women gets the best rate, we have introduced a real time information calculator tool in collaboration with HMRC. Full details of eligibility and how to apply for maternity pay are available on Gov.uk.</p><p>Statutory Maternity Pay is paid by employers and reimbursed by HMRC and is treated as earnings in Universal Credit (UC). As with other earnings, SMP is subject to the work allowance and tapering rules that are built into UC. Maternity Allowance is a contribution-based benefit paid by the State and is classed as unearned income in the same way as other benefits.</p><p>The High Court judgment in 2020 upheld the policy of treating Statutory Maternity Pay paid by employers as earnings as well as the treatment of Maternity Allowance. A subsequent joint NI court judgement on 25<sup>th</sup> April 2022 also upheld the treatment of MA as unearned income in UC.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock grouped question UIN HL1571 question first answered 23/10/2024 11:52:20 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
tabling member	4977 label Biography information for Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway

1734022

registered interest
date	14/10/2024
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	Maternity Allowance
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, following the finding in the Parental Rights Survey 2019 that only nine per cent of mothers who do not receive Statutory Maternity Pay apply for Maternity Allowance, whether they plan to make the process for claiming Maternity Allowance more accessible.
tabling member printed	Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway
uin	HL1571
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2024 answer text <p>We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work in the later stages of their pregnancy and in the months following childbirth in the interests of their own and their baby's health and wellbeing.</p><p>Maternity Allowance is intended for those who cannot get Statutory Maternity Pay and is designed to have a range of in-built flexibilities making it accessible to as many women as possible. Work is underway to make Maternity Allowance even more accessible so that women will, in future, be able to make their claims online. Further information on when this will be available will be provided in due course.</p><p>There are two qualifying conditions for Maternity Allowance: a woman must have worked for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks prior to the expected week of childbirth and she must have average weekly earnings at least equal to the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance purposes (£123.00 a week, 2023/24).</p><p>The work does not have to be for the same employer nor continuous, nor undertaken on the same basis. A claim can be made where there is a mixture of employment and self-employment and work for part weeks also counts as a full week’s work when calculating entitlement. A women can choose any 13 weeks within the 66-week period to calculate her earnings. To ensure that women gets the best rate, we have introduced a real time information calculator tool in collaboration with HMRC. Full details of eligibility and how to apply for maternity pay are available on Gov.uk.</p><p>Statutory Maternity Pay is paid by employers and reimbursed by HMRC and is treated as earnings in Universal Credit (UC). As with other earnings, SMP is subject to the work allowance and tapering rules that are built into UC. Maternity Allowance is a contribution-based benefit paid by the State and is classed as unearned income in the same way as other benefits.</p><p>The High Court judgment in 2020 upheld the policy of treating Statutory Maternity Pay paid by employers as earnings as well as the treatment of Maternity Allowance. A subsequent joint NI court judgement on 25<sup>th</sup> April 2022 also upheld the treatment of MA as unearned income in UC.</p> answering member printed Baroness Sherlock grouped question UIN HL1570 question first answered 23/10/2024 11:52:20 answering member 4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock
tabling member	4977 label Biography information for Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway