Oral Answers to Questions

Eleanor Smith Excerpts

Monday 11th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

I would like to reassure the hon. Lady that I have looked into this case, and I do take seriously, as she and the House would expect, the issue of ensuring that the Windrush generation are supported correctly by the DWP. We have reinstated the claimant’s pension credit and have awarded arrears to date. With regard to the attendance allowance, I will be writing to the hon. Lady, and officials are working to resolve the matter. I will provide the letter as a matter of urgency.

[Eleanor Smith (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)]

T1. If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Amber Rudd)]

Today I am delighted to confirm that 10 million workers have now been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension. Since 2012 this policy has been transforming savings culture. The increase in pension uptake has been particularly marked in younger workers, women and those on low earnings. For many, a private workplace pension was once a pipe dream. Thanks to the action we have taken, it is now a reality. Today I am also bringing forward plans to strengthen the Pensions Regulator to protect final salary pensions, including a new prison sentence of up to seven years in certain circumstances. These measures show that the Government are on the side of workers saving for retirement and that we will protect their incomes from the reckless behaviour of a small number of unscrupulous bosses.

[Eleanor Smith]

I have many female constituents who are self-employed or on zero-hours contracts. They do not have a set regular monthly wage, yet the DWP insists on a four-week assessment period to assess their earnings and determine their benefits. Those women are being forced into hardship by sudden cuts to their benefit payment and a lengthy appeals process, which can take up to three to four months. Why can the DWP not recognise the situation that those on fluctuating incomes are put in and revise its guidelines accordingly?

Oral Answers to Questions

Eleanor Smith Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

The hon. Gentleman almost kept a straight face, but not quite.

[Eleanor Smith (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)]

18. Due to the massive backlog in universal credit appeals in Wolverhampton, what steps will the Minister take to ensure that my disabled constituents do not have to wait months on end without benefits for their court appeals?

[Justin Tomlinson]

This is an issue that has been raised and that is why additional judges have been recruited to the tribunal system to make sure that goes as quickly as possible. Through their individual work coach, people will get the tailored support as quickly as they can.

Oral Answers to Questions

Eleanor Smith Excerpts

Monday 26th March 2018 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Eleanor Smith (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)]

1. What steps she is taking to ensure support for former Carillion employees whose pensions will not be covered by the Pension Protection Fund.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Ms Esther McVey)]

There are 12 Carillion defined benefit schemes in a PPF assessment period. The PPF is working with scheme administrators to determine whether they can pay pensions at or above PPF benefits. Where a scheme cannot do this, the PPF will assume responsibility and pay compensation.

[Eleanor Smith]

The workers in the Carillion defined contribution scheme should not have to suffer any detriment to their pension. Will the Government be looking to draw back bonuses paid to the Carillion executives to put back into the pension funds?

[Ms McVey]

As I said, the Carillion schemes are at present in the assessment period for the funds, and we are looking at what happened in those instances. The hon. Lady will be pleased to know that we have brought forward our White Paper on defined benefits and increasing the regulator’s powers to support these schemes in the best way possible, to make sure pensioners get those pensions that they so rightly deserve. It is the Conservative party that will be strengthening that for workers, to make sure we look after such pensioners.

Work Capability Assessments

Eleanor Smith Excerpts

Wednesday 13th December 2017 Westminster Hall

[Eleanor Smith (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)]

I thank the hon. Member for Glasgow East (David Linden) for securing this debate. Many of my constituents have written to me regarding the degrading process of the work capability assessment and the effect it has on their mental health. They have complained about the lack of mental health expertise and the insensitive way that the questions are worded, which has led many of my constituents to feel as though there is no compassion.

My constituents have criticised the process, saying that assessors have not asked questions about how often they can undertake activities or about the kind of support they need to undertake them. Often, the way questions are worded makes it difficult for people with mental health problems to explain how their condition fluctuates.

One of my constituents—she gave me permission to highlight her case—has said she felt broken by the work capability assessment. She suffers from dissociative disorder and a complex post-traumatic stress disorder, and due to a reassessment she had violent flashbacks, which triggered self-harming behaviour. Although her case has now been dealt with, after she appealed the decision by the Department for Work and Pensions and won the case, she feels that the system is broken and has left her broken. Like many of us, she says the system needs reform.

As a nurse, I understand that people who have mental health problems need to be treated with care. That should also be the priority for the assessors. While the Government have announced the Green Paper on work, health and disability, will they commit to take on board the recommendations from mental health charities such as Mind to increase the use of specialist assessors and to train the current assessors, who are the people dealing with the clients who have mental health issues?

Oral Answers to Questions

Eleanor Smith Excerpts

Monday 13th November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

The CPAG report to which the right hon. Gentleman refers says in its summary that many claims seem to have disappeared, but the text refers to a small number, and then goes on to mention just one case. That is not to say that I ignore this matter or belittle it in any way—of course, I take what he says very seriously. He has my absolute assurance that I will pay attention to any glitches.

[Eleanor Smith (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr David Gauke)]

This Department’s mission is to support people through all stages of their lives. Universal credit is being introduced slowly, and it is steadily and positively transforming people’s prospects by bringing about the satisfaction and financial security of entering work and increasing earnings. We are also helping citizens to prepare for later life with our work on pensions, and we are committed to helping people from all walks of life at all stages of their lives. We will continue to build on that body of work to achieve our aims.

[Eleanor Smith]

How does the Department plan to respond to its own research, which shows that universal credit is a driver of rent arrears among families who rely on it for support?

[Mr Gauke]

As my ministerial colleagues have already said, we must recognise that a number of the statistics that have been quoted show that rent arrears have arisen before people have entered into universal credit, and that after time the numbers in rent arrears starts to fall. We continue to improve the system to ensure that payment timeliness is improved, for example, and that people are able to access advances when they need to.

Universal Credit Roll-out

Eleanor Smith Excerpts

Tuesday 24th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Eleanor Smith (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)]

I recently had a meeting with the Snow Hill citizens advice bureau in my constituency, which has expressed concerns about the roll-out of the full service. I agree that we need to simplify our benefit system, but universal credit is not working for most of its claimants. The six-week waiting period is pushing claimants further into debt, with some facing more delays if they have complicated circumstances. This forces claimants to borrow money and rely on food banks, and some face eviction while waiting for their first payment. Although the full service has not yet been implemented in my constituency, the shocking cases I have heard about from the citizens advice bureau and other organisations have prompted me to speak out. I agree with many of my colleagues that the Government should pause the roll-out until a system that is fully functional has been put in place.

Oral Answers to Questions

Eleanor Smith Excerpts

Monday 9th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Damian Hinds]

When one compares rates of poverty with those before the change of Government in 2010, we see that none of the four main measures has worsened and, in fact, three have improved.

[Eleanor Smith (Wolverhampton South West) (Lab)]

As of November 2016, youth unemployment in my constituency of Wolverhampton South West was 27%. Now, we are due to have the roll-out in December and this will see the enforcement of the youth obligation. What steps has the Minister taken to ensure that young people who reside in constituencies such as mine are provided with support into employment, while the transition to the full UC service is implemented?

[Damian Hinds]

I had the pleasure of visiting Wolverhampton just last week and had the opportunity to speak to my colleagues in jobcentres in the area about youth unemployment. Of course, the figure for young people who have left full-time education and are unemployed has dropped below 5% for the first time since that data series began. As we know about the scarring effect of any period out of work for a young person, we continue to work hard through things such as work experience and sector-based work academies, and that is showing great success.