Written questions by Bedford.

How many pensioners were in poverty in Mid Leicestershire in each of the last five years.

Statistics on the number of pensioners living in relative and absolute poverty are not available at a constituency level. Statistics on the number of pensioners living in relative and absolute poverty are published annually in the Households Below Average Income statistics: Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK. These statistics include regional breakdowns.

What discussions she has had with the National Crime Agency on tackling financial crime in relation to the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill.

The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill will help government better identify, prevent and deter public sector fraud and error and enable the better recovery of debt owed to the taxpayer. DWP has close links with other government departments and law enforcement agencies, including strong collaborative relationships with HMRC, Home Office and National Crime Agency, and will continue to build upon these to ensure the Bill measures are designed effectively.

What discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Home Affairs on tackling financial crime in relation to the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill.

The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill will help government better identify, prevent and deter public sector fraud and error and enable the better recovery of debt owed to the taxpayer. DWP has close links with other government departments and law enforcement agencies, including strong collaborative relationships with HMRC, Home Office and National Crime Agency, and will continue to build upon these to ensure the Bill measures are designed effectively.

If she will make an estimate of the (a) number of migrants who have arrived in the UK in the last five years in receipt of benefits in Mid Leicestershire constituency and (b) the total value of those benefits in the latest period for which data is available.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. The Department is exploring the feasibility of developing suitable official statistics related to the immigration status of non-UK / Irish Universal Credit customers.

What the average actual clearance times were for Pension Credit claims made from 25 November 2024 until the most recent date available.

Pension Credit application Average Actual Clearance Times (AACT) are measured weekly. The AACT clearances are based on the week the claim was cleared, rather than the week the claim was made. The table below the most recent national AACT data. Week Date25/11/2402/12/2409/12/2416/12/2423/12/2430/12/2406/01/2513/01/2520/1/25PC Claims AACT (Working Days)828387664742444545 Please noteThe AACT is shown rounded to the nearest whole working day.The data shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.These figures will not align to previous PQ responses due to retrospective updates as the data is sourced from live systems.DWP currently works to a planned timescale of 50 working days to clear Pension Credit claims.

What the average time taken is for Pension Credit appeals to be reviewed.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

How many Pension Credit applications were made in each of the last five years for which data is available.

The table below shows the volumes of Pension Credit applications received in each of the last 5 financial years. Pension Credit ClaimsReceivedApril 2024 to 17 November 2024215,200April 2023 to March 2024251,000April 2022 to March 2023267,000April 2021 to March 2022149,000April 2020 to March 2021142,000 The figures for 2024/25 are only covering part of the year and will be higher when all months are included. The latest statistics on Pension Credit application volumes were published on 28 November 2024. This includes numbers of applications that were received, awarded and not awarded, from 1 April 2024 up to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK. The next publication of Pension Credit application statistics is due around the end of February 2025 and will cover the data up to week commencing 10 February 2025. Please note, the data shown for previous years April 2020 to March 2024 is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standards.

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2024 to Question 16393 on Department for Work and Pensions: Staff, what the additional cost is of the private providers.

The information you request is not available. DWP operates a 'forecast and volumes' based pricing model, where supplier costs specific to the increase in Pension Credit New Claims demand, following the Chancellor's announcement in July 2024 are not itemised. However, we can confirm these costs were part of a contract extension worth £1.7m.

How many Pension Credit applications were (a) made and (b) awarded by the smallest geographical area for which data is available since 29 July 2024.

We do not hold data at regional or constituency level for applications made. Statistics published on 28 November 2024 show applications for Pension Credit received and also claims awarded since the 29 July 2024 announcement up to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK. Please note, the next publication of Pension Credit application statistics is due around the end of February 2025 and will cover the data up to week commencing 10 February 2025. The Department does not hold information regarding the number of Pension Credit claims awarded since 29 July 2024. The latest available data held on Stat-Xplore - Home shows Pension Credit caseload data by Parliamentary constituency at May 2024. Parliamentary constituency is the smallest geographical area available within the data.The next iteration of Pension Credit caseload statistics will be released on 18th February, as part of the DWP Benefits Statistics quarterly release. This will contain data for the period from June 2024 to the end of August 2024. Following release, the data can also be accessed at Stat-Xplore - Home.

How many Pension Credit claims have been awarded to (a) men and (b) women since 29 July 2024.

The latest available data on Stat-Xplore - Home - Home shows that, in May 2024, 1,355,256 Pension Credit claims were in place, of which 457,065 had been awarded to men and 898,193 had been awarded to women. The next iteration of Pension Credit caseload statistics will be released on 18th February, as part of the DWP Benefits Statistics quarterly release. This will contain data for the period from June 2024 to the end of August 2024. Following release, the data can also be accessed at Stat-Xplore - Home.

What estimate she has made of the number of pensioners eligible for Pension Credit in each region.

No estimate has been made of the number of pensioners eligible for Pension Credit by region. According to the latest available data, in financial year ending 2023, an estimated 2,134,000 households were eligible for Pension Credit in Great Britain. This has been calculated by adding the estimated number of households who are entitled to but not receiving Pension Credit to the number of eligible households that received Pension Credit. It is not possible to break this figure down by region. In published DWP Pension Credit Take-up statistics, it is estimated that up to 760,000 households who were entitled to receive Pension Credit did not claim the benefit. These statistics are only available at Great Britain level and cannot be broken down to smaller geographical areas. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2022 to 2023 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK The published Pension Credit caseload for Great Britain, for financial year 2022 to 2023 shows that an estimated 1,374,000 households received Pension Credit. This is obtained from the latest published Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 and is available at: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

What estimate she has made of the number of pensioners eligible for but not claiming Pension Credit in each region.

No estimate has been made of the number of pensioners eligible for Pension Credit by region. According to the latest available data, in financial year ending 2023, an estimated 2,134,000 households were eligible for Pension Credit in Great Britain. This has been calculated by adding the estimated number of households who are entitled to but not receiving Pension Credit to the number of eligible households that received Pension Credit. It is not possible to break this figure down by region. In published DWP Pension Credit Take-up statistics, it is estimated that up to 760,000 households who were entitled to receive Pension Credit did not claim the benefit. These statistics are only available at Great Britain level and cannot be broken down to smaller geographical areas. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2022 to 2023 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK The published Pension Credit caseload for Great Britain, for financial year 2022 to 2023 shows that an estimated 1,374,000 households received Pension Credit. This is obtained from the latest published Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 and is available at: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

How many Pension Credit applications have been made in each region since 29 July 2024.

On 28 November we published national Pension Credit applications and award statistics. This publication provides application volumes from 29 July 2024 to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK These statistics show that 150,000 Pension Credit claims were received between 29 July 2024 and 17 November 2024. Please note, the figures presented are from DWP’s Pension Credit system which has previously been collected for internal departmental operations use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics publication standards. We do not currently hold data at a regional level.

How many employee settlement agreements there were in her Department in each year since 2020; and what the total value of such agreements is.

Since April 2020 the DWP has agreed 127 employee settlements totalling £2,322,639. PeriodNumber of settlementsApril 2020 – March 202126April 2021 – March 202230April 2022 – March 202329March 2023 – April 202430April 2024 - date20 All settlements are made following a robust value for money assessment and on the basis of legal advice.

What estimate she has made of the time taken to (a) recruit and (b) train 3,000 additional staff in fraud and error.

Currently the time taken from the job advert being created to the individual being onboarded is between 7 to 20 weeks. Training time varies by function with the majority of new staff needing three to six months to fully consolidate learning, whereas special investigator roles can require up to 18 months – although these only make up a small proportion of the 3,000 specified.

How long it takes to train a new staff member to process pension credit applications.

The current training for staff on Pension Credit New Claims is 10 days. The training includes focus on the steps to process an application, with more activities to help with engagement and understanding. The training has been designed using experience, advice, observations, and feedback from a wide range of stakeholders.

If her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a Pension Credit uptake target.

The Government is committed to ensuring that older people receive the support they are entitled to. That’s why we have been running a nationwide communications campaign to promote Pension Credit since September. The latest phase of the campaign takes a new approach targeting friends and family - asking them to tell people they know about Pension Credit, encourage them to check their eligibility, as well as help them make a claim. It is running on TV, radio, social media such as Facebook and Instagram, on YouTube and on advertising screens, including on GP and Post Office screens. As part of our wider stakeholder outreach campaign and in order to get the message out through as many channels as possible, we have engaged with key stakeholders and partners, including other government departments, local councils, housing associations, community groups, local libraries and service providers as well as charities and third sector organisations. We have also directly targeted 120,000 pensioner households in receipt of Housing Benefit, identified as being potentially entitled to, but not currently claiming, Pension Credit. We do not believe that setting targets for take-up of Pension Credit would be helpful or that they would work. However, we have committed to bringing together the administration of Pension Credit and pensioner Housing Benefit for new claimants as soon as operationally possible in order to ensure pensioners receive all the benefits to which they are entitled

What estimate she has made of the cost of hiring 3,000 additional staff in fraud and error.

His Majesty’s Treasury allocated DWP £110m to deliver on the fraud, error and debt Autumn Budget measures over the next financial year. As part of this, the Department is hiring an additional 3,000 staff to expand DWP’s Fraud, Error and Debt (FED) operations.

Whether the additional 500 staff deployed to process Pension Credit applications were new employees.

Since the announcement to means test Winter Fuel payments, to date we have increased the resource in Pension Credit claims by approximately 500 staff through a combination of internal redeployments, use of external providers and external recruitment. This is in line with the overall resourcing plan for Pension Credit claims and Winter Fuel payments.

What data her Department holds on steps councils are taking to support pensioners with the cost of living in winter 2024-25.

The Government does not hold any data on the steps that councils are taking to support pensioners with the cost of living in winter 2024-25. In England, the Household Support Fund (HSF) is a scheme funded by the Department for Work and Pensions and delivered by all Upper Tier Local Authorities to support those most in need with the cost of essentials, such as food, energy and water. The HSF is intended to cover a wide range of low-income households in need, including households with children of all ages, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers and disabled people, larger households, single-person households, and those struggling with one-off financial shocks or unforeseen events. Since October 2022, there has been no ring-fencing of funding for certain groups. Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination that the Department for Work and Pensions have set out for the fund. This is because they have the ties and the knowledge to best determine how support should be provided in their local communities.