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1079383

registered interest
date	28/02/2019
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 adequacy of staffing levels in universal credit centres; and what proportion of fixed-term staff working in universal credit centres are on (a) permanent contracts and (b) zero-hour contracts.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	227130
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/03/2019 answer text <p>The Department regularly reviews both the numbers of people working in Universal Credit service centres and their performance to ensure we have the right number of people available to manage claimants Universal Credit claims. Services and staff training is assessed, both in real time to meet any short term peaks in demand and also reviewed for longer term improvements to ensure the service continues to meet customer service expectation.</p><p> </p><p>Our priority is to give all employees, including those delivering Universal Credit, the necessary resources, including manageable workloads, so that they can carry out their roles successfully.</p><p> </p><p>The size of a Case Manager’s caseload is dependent on a number of factors, including the complexity of the caseload and experience of the case manager.</p><p> </p><p>All staff on fixed-term contracts are employed on the basis of agreed full or part time hours. No staff are employed on zero-hour contracts.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 05/03/2019 17:53:37 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1078458

registered interest
date	27/02/2019
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 universal credit claimants have benefited from the provisions under section 119 (3) (a) and (b) of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 that hardship payments cease to be recoverable in the event that such claimants have earnings above the thresholds specified in those regulations in each month since August 2015.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	226487
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 04/03/2019 17:21:46 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1078473

registered interest
date	27/02/2019
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 bringing forward the increase of the maximum period for recovery of universal credit advance payments from 12 to 16 months, currently scheduled for October 2021.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow North
tabling member printed	Patrick Grady
uin	226694
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit new claim advances are made on account of a claimant’s expected future Universal Credit entitlement. They are available to those who cannot wait until their first Universal Credit payment is due, in order to provide extra financial support for those who need it most. Because this payment is an advance of entitlement, this is recovered over time.</p><p> </p><p>It was announced at Autumn Budget 2018 that there would be an increase to the maximum recovery period for Universal Credit advances from 12 to 16 months from October 2021.</p><p> </p><p>There is no minimum recovery rate for Universal Credit advances. The rate deducted from a claimant’s Universal Credit is generally determined by the amount of their entitlement advance divided by the number of monthly assessment periods which they choose at the outset for the advanced amount to be recovered from. This is subject to an overall maximum rate of 40 per cent of the claimant’s standard allowance. As a result of the change introduced in the 2018 Autumn Budget, from October 2019 this maximum will reduce to 30 per cent of the claimant’s standard allowance.</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.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 226695 226696 226697 question first answered 04/03/2019 17:31:04 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4432 label Biography information for Patrick Grady

1078474

registered interest
date	27/02/2019
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 the new minimum rate of monthly deductions towards repayment of universal credit advance payments will be as a proportion of a claimant’s standard allowance once the maximum repayment period has been extended to 16 months, as scheduled for October 2021.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow North
tabling member printed	Patrick Grady
uin	226695
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit new claim advances are made on account of a claimant’s expected future Universal Credit entitlement. They are available to those who cannot wait until their first Universal Credit payment is due, in order to provide extra financial support for those who need it most. Because this payment is an advance of entitlement, this is recovered over time.</p><p> </p><p>It was announced at Autumn Budget 2018 that there would be an increase to the maximum recovery period for Universal Credit advances from 12 to 16 months from October 2021.</p><p> </p><p>There is no minimum recovery rate for Universal Credit advances. The rate deducted from a claimant’s Universal Credit is generally determined by the amount of their entitlement advance divided by the number of monthly assessment periods which they choose at the outset for the advanced amount to be recovered from. This is subject to an overall maximum rate of 40 per cent of the claimant’s standard allowance. As a result of the change introduced in the 2018 Autumn Budget, from October 2019 this maximum will reduce to 30 per cent of the claimant’s standard allowance.</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.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 226694 226696 226697 question first answered 04/03/2019 17:31:04 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4432 label Biography information for Patrick Grady

1078475

registered interest
date	27/02/2019
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 her Department have carried out impact assessments on the requirement for universal credit advance payments to be repaid at a minimum rate of 10 per cent of the standard allowance.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow North
tabling member printed	Patrick Grady
uin	226696
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit new claim advances are made on account of a claimant’s expected future Universal Credit entitlement. They are available to those who cannot wait until their first Universal Credit payment is due, in order to provide extra financial support for those who need it most. Because this payment is an advance of entitlement, this is recovered over time.</p><p> </p><p>It was announced at Autumn Budget 2018 that there would be an increase to the maximum recovery period for Universal Credit advances from 12 to 16 months from October 2021.</p><p> </p><p>There is no minimum recovery rate for Universal Credit advances. The rate deducted from a claimant’s Universal Credit is generally determined by the amount of their entitlement advance divided by the number of monthly assessment periods which they choose at the outset for the advanced amount to be recovered from. This is subject to an overall maximum rate of 40 per cent of the claimant’s standard allowance. As a result of the change introduced in the 2018 Autumn Budget, from October 2019 this maximum will reduce to 30 per cent of the claimant’s standard allowance.</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.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 226694 226695 226697 question first answered 04/03/2019 17:31:04 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4432 label Biography information for Patrick Grady

1078476

registered interest
date	27/02/2019
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 introducing a means-tested income and expenditure assessment in respect of deductions from universal credit for the recovery of advance payments to ensure that repayment rates are based on a claimant's ability to pay.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow North
tabling member printed	Patrick Grady
uin	226697
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit new claim advances are made on account of a claimant’s expected future Universal Credit entitlement. They are available to those who cannot wait until their first Universal Credit payment is due, in order to provide extra financial support for those who need it most. Because this payment is an advance of entitlement, this is recovered over time.</p><p> </p><p>It was announced at Autumn Budget 2018 that there would be an increase to the maximum recovery period for Universal Credit advances from 12 to 16 months from October 2021.</p><p> </p><p>There is no minimum recovery rate for Universal Credit advances. The rate deducted from a claimant’s Universal Credit is generally determined by the amount of their entitlement advance divided by the number of monthly assessment periods which they choose at the outset for the advanced amount to be recovered from. This is subject to an overall maximum rate of 40 per cent of the claimant’s standard allowance. As a result of the change introduced in the 2018 Autumn Budget, from October 2019 this maximum will reduce to 30 per cent of the claimant’s standard allowance.</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.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 226694 226695 226696 question first answered 04/03/2019 17:31:04 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4432 label Biography information for Patrick Grady

1077687

registered interest
date	26/02/2019
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 people her Department has helped through its Universal Support Assisted Digital Service.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	226014
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>For the last completed financial year, 2017/18, the total number of claimants helped through Universal Support Assisted Digital Support by Local Authorities was 55,941. This figure is derived from the quarterly returns submitted by Local Authorities as part of the funding arrangement. These figures provided by Local Authorities do not include the large numbers of people helped daily with digital support by Jobcentres, and other organisations, which are unrecorded.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 04/03/2019 17:37:17 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1077694

registered interest
date	26/02/2019
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 funding has been allocated to the Help to Claim Scheme.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	226015
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/03/2019 answer text <p>The Department is providing £51 million (which includes £12 million to set up delivery in the run-up to April 2019) of funding to Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland to deliver the Help to Claim service from April 2019. This was announced by the Government, Citizen’s Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland and Government on 1 October 2018.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 04/03/2019 17:30:05 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1077186

registered interest
date	25/02/2019
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, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2019 to Question 221994, whether it was the research contractor or the Department who made the decision to report without differentiating between live and full service; for what purpose live service was included as a separate sample to full service in the claimant survey at the beginning of the 2017-18 year; whether live service and full service have been reported separately internally for 2017-18; what the total cost was of the claimant survey research conducted for 2017-18; what plans he has to compare the full service findings of the 2018-19 claimant survey with the full service findings from the 2017-18 survey; and what questions within the survey questionnaire have not been reported within the annual report and data tables.
tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
tabling member printed	Frank Field
uin	225407
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2019 answer text <p>The Department has made the decision not to differentiate between Live and Full service for a number of Universal Credit data sets, including the claimant survey. This is because both services operate within the same policy framework and live service is being phased out.</p><p> </p><p>For the 2017/18 survey year, the cost was £382,435.26 across all main benefits.</p><p> </p><p>We track trends in claimant satisfaction, although individual year results are not always comparable; where this is the case we point that out for users of the survey.</p><p> </p><p>The questions within the survey questionnaire that have not been reported within the annual report and data tables are listed in the table in the document attached:</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 25/03/2019 16:51:32 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma attachment 1 file name Claimant service and experience survey 225407.pdf title Claimant Service and Experience Survey previous answer version 105110 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1077188

registered interest
date	25/02/2019
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, with reference to the online application form for universal credit, how many people answered Yes to the question, Did anyone help you make your claim - for example a family member, friend or someone from the jobcentre or a charity, in each month since December 2015.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	225372
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/02/2019 answer text <p>Information on help with the digital claim was not collected before December 2016. The table below provides the requested information we hold.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Month</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>% of Universal Credit claims declared </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dec-16</p></td><td><p>2,000</p></td><td><p>19%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jan-17</p></td><td><p>4,000</p></td><td><p>21%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Feb-17</p></td><td><p>4,000</p></td><td><p>21%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mar-17</p></td><td><p>5,000</p></td><td><p>21%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-17</p></td><td><p>4,000</p></td><td><p>22%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May-17</p></td><td><p>5,000</p></td><td><p>23%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-17</p></td><td><p>6,000</p></td><td><p>22%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jul-17</p></td><td><p>7,000</p></td><td><p>22%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aug-17</p></td><td><p>8,000</p></td><td><p>23%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-17</p></td><td><p>8,000</p></td><td><p>23%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Oct-17</p></td><td><p>10,000</p></td><td><p>23%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nov-17</p></td><td><p>13,000</p></td><td><p>24%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dec-17</p></td><td><p>12,000</p></td><td><p>24%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jan-18</p></td><td><p>21,000</p></td><td><p>22%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Feb-18</p></td><td><p>19,000</p></td><td><p>23%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mar-18</p></td><td><p>21,000</p></td><td><p>22%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-18</p></td><td><p>22,000</p></td><td><p>22%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May-18</p></td><td><p>23,000</p></td><td><p>22%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-18</p></td><td><p>27,000</p></td><td><p>22%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jul-18</p></td><td><p>33,000</p></td><td><p>21%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aug-18</p></td><td><p>36,000</p></td><td><p>22%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-18</p></td><td><p>37,000</p></td><td><p>22%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Oct-18</p></td><td><p>45,000</p></td><td><p>22%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nov-18</p></td><td><p>48,000</p></td><td><p>22%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dec-18</p></td><td><p>38,000</p></td><td><p>22%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><ul><li>The data supplied is derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and has not been quality assured to<br>National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. These results can change retrospectively as further information is received. They should therefore be treated with caution.</li><li>The numbers provided are the number of claimants that answered ‘yes’ to the question 'Did you have help making your claim’.</li><li>Information on help with the digital claim was not collected before December 2016.</li><li>Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000.</li><li>These figures are for GB.</li></ul> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 28/02/2019 16:45:05 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms