Every parliamentary written question tabled by Neil Duncan-Jordan this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 261–277 of 277 · Department for Work and Pensions
What steps her Department is taking to work with (a) disabled people and (b) disabled people's organisations to improve disabled people’s experiences of the benefits system.
I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave on 14 October to PQs 7651and 6447.
What assessment she has made of the adequacy of Personal Independence Payments at supporting the extra costs of disability.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) provides a contribution to the extra costs that may arise from a disability or health condition. There is no objective way of deciding what an adequate level of PIP should be, as everyone has different requirements refl...
Whether her Department has considered the potential merits of (a) reviewing and (b) reforming the Carer's Allowance.
Unpaid carers play a vital role in supporting elderly or disabled relatives or friends. Sometimes unpaid carers will need to turn to the benefit system for financial support, so it is right that we keep Carer’s Allowance under review, to see if it is meet...
If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of adding Attendance Allowance to the list of benefits that qualify for the Winter Fuel Payment.
This Government is committed to pensioners. Everyone in our society, no matter their working history or savings deserves a comfortable and dignified retirement. Given the substantial pressures faced by the public finances this year and next, the Governmen...
What steps her Department is taking to reform the Work Capability Assessment.
The government is committed to reforming or replacing the Work Capability Assessment, alongside putting in place a proper plan to support disabled people into work. We will say more about this in due course. We will continue to engage with stakeholders to...
Whether pensioners who qualify for pension credit after 22 September 2024 and before 31 December 2024 are entitled to receive the winter fuel payment during winter 2024-25.
A claim for Pension Credit may be backdated for up to three months as long as the entitlement conditions are met during that period. This means that a pensioner who was eligible for, but had not claimed, Pension Credit during the qualifying week for the W...
For the number of pensioners with an annual income of between £15,000 and £20,000.
We estimate that the number of pensioner units with an annual income of between £15,000 and £20,000 is approximately 1.5 million. This number has been rounded to the nearest 100,000. This estimate is based on Pensioners’ Incomes data derived from the Fami...
How many pensioners have an annual income of between £11,383 and £20,000.
We estimate that the number of pensioner units with an annual income of between £11,383 and £20,000 is approximately 2.3 million. This number has been rounded to the nearest 100,000. This estimate is based on Pensioners’ Incomes data derived from the Fami...
Whether she has made an estimate of how many pensioners not receiving Pension Credit are spending more than 10% of their income on energy bills.
Information relating to Pension Credit eligibility is only available via take-up statistics. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2021 to 2022 and are available at: Income-related benefits: esti...
If she will set up a Pensioner Task Force to (a) assess intersecting issues of income, housing, health and fuel costs and (b) make recommendations to tackle pensioner poverty.
We are determined to support pensioners and give them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement. The Government has committed to reviewing the pensions landscape. The first phase, focusing on investment outcomes, began in July and we will follow...
Whether she is taking steps to establish a long-term strategy to end pensioner poverty.
This Government takes pensioner poverty extremely seriously – everyone in our society, no matter their working history or savings deserves a comfortable and dignified retirement.As part of Pension Credit Awareness Week of Action, we joined forces with nat...
What plans her Department has to extend the household support fund after 30 September 2024.
The Government has announced funding to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) for a further 6 months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025. An additional £500 million will be provided to enable the extension of the HSF, including funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual. As with previous HSF schemes, the Fund will be made available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to provide discretionary support to those most in need. The HSF scheme guidance and individual Local Authority funding allocations for the forthcoming extension will be announced as soon as possible ahead of the scheme beginning on 1 October 2024.
How many people in Poole constituency are (a) eligible for and (b) in receipt of pension credit.
Information relating to Pension Credit eligibility is only available via take-up statistics. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2021 to 2022 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). However, these statistics are only available at Great Britain level and cannot be broken down to smaller geographical areas. Caseload statistics are routinely published and made publicly available via DWP Stat-xplore. At November 2023, there were 2,139 people claiming Pension Credit in Poole.
How many people (a) claimed and (b) were eligible to claim Pension Credit in each of the last three financial years.
The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2021 to 2022 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). These statistics were suspended for financial year ending (FYE) 2021 due to data issues following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. More recent caseload statistics are made publicly available via DWP Stat-xplore. These are published quarterly. It should be noted that any numbers regarding eligibility are estimates based on the number of Pension Credit recipients in each of the last three financial years and the estimated number of Pension Credit entitled non-recipients in each of the last three financial years). FYENumber of recipients (millions)20201.4920211.4120221.35 FYEEstimated number of people eligible (millions)20202.262021Not available20222.15
How much pension credit was unclaimed in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.
The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics cover the financial year 2021 to 2022 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). These statistics were suspended for financial year ending 2021 due to data issues following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In the financial year ending 2022, the estimated amount of unclaimed Pension Credit was £1.72 billion.
How many people over state pension age have been (a) assessed as spending more than 10% of their income on fuel (b) assessed as being eligible for pension credit and (c) receiving pension credit for the financial year 2023-24.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero published the latest Fuel Poverty Statistics for England in February 2023 on gov.uk here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics#2023-statistics Table 22 of this publication provides statistics on the number of fuel poor households by age of youngest person in household in 2023 using the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) fuel poverty metric. Available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fuel-poverty-detailed-tables-2024-2023-data Statistics on the number of households that spend more than 10% of their income on fuel costs can be found in Annex D of Fuel Poverty Annual report, covering all households. The figures in this annex are not broken down by age groups. In 2021/22 (the latest year for which statistics are available) 2.15million people were estimated to be eligible for Pension Credit. Based on the most recent data (November 2023) 1.4million households in Great Britain currently receive Pension Credit.
What the cost to the public purse was of the winter fuel allowance in 2022/23; what estimate she has made of the savings to the public purse of only paying the winter fuel allowance o people claiming pension credit; how many excess winter deaths there were in each of the last three years; and what estimate she has made of the annual cost of administering a means-tested winter fuel allowance.
In 2022/23, 11.4 million people in 8.4 million households in Great Britain received a Winter Fuel Payment, at a total cost of £2 billion. The Government estimates that linking entitlement to receipt of Pension Credit and other relevant DWP income-related benefits will reduce expenditure by around £1.4 billion in 2024/25 and £1.5bn in 2025/26. In terms of administrative costs, in 2022/23 the Department for Work and Pensions spent £2.6m on the administration of Winter Fuel Payments. It is currently assessing the delivery costs for future years. Details of excess winter deaths in England and Wales can be found at: Winter mortality in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk).The Government is determined to ensure that the poorest pensioners get the support they need. As part of the Pension Credit Week of Action, we joined forces with national charities, broadcasters and local authorities to encourage pensioners to check their eligibility and make a claim.From 16 September, we will be running a national marketing campaign on a range of channels. The campaign will target potential pension-age customers, as well as friends and family who can encourage and support them to apply.Our future campaign messaging will also focus on encouraging pensioners to apply for Pension Credit before the 21 December 2024, which is the last date for making a successful backdated claim for Pension Credit in order to receive a Winter Fuel Payment.We will work with external partners, local authorities and the Devolved Governments to boost the take-up of Pension Credit.Our continued commitment to the triple lock means the full new state pension is forecast to increase by a further £1,700 over this course of the parliament.We are also providing support through our Warm Homes Plan which pensioners will benefit from. This will support investment in insulation and low carbon heating – upgrading millions of homes over this Parliament. Our long-term plan will protect billpayers permanently, reduce fuel poverty, and get the UK back on track to meet our climate goals. Our other steps include cutting waiting times in the NHS which will help many pensioners currently waiting in pain and discomfort for treatment, and delivering the economic stability which is so crucial for pensioners.