| Description / aims |
The Enabling Retirement Savings Programme (ERSP) was set up to implement the Governments workplace pension reforms. The overarching aim of the workplace pension reforms is to get more people saving more for their retirement. The Programme went live in October 2012, delivering:
· Automatic-enrolment - a new duty on employers to automatically enrol their eligible workers into a qualifying workplace pension scheme. To increase the incentive to remain saving in a pension scheme there is a mandatory employer contribution.
· The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) - offers low cost pension provision to individuals on low to moderate earnings and their employers. NEST must accept any employer who wishes to use it to meet their employer duty.
· There is a proportionate compliance regime - run by the Pension Regulator (tPR) to support these measures.
The implementation period for the Programme runs to six years. Employers subject to the new duty are being 'staged' in by size, starting with the largest, over the period October 2012 to February 2018. Contributions in to pension schemes will be phased in over time to provide a period of adjustment for employers and individuals, with full contributions being paid from October 2018. Once fully implemented, we expect to see an increase the number of people saving or saving more into a workplace pension by between 6 to 9 million. |
The Fraud and Error Programme will deliver services to prevent and detect fraud and error in the welfare benefit system.
The Programme will adopt a phased delivery approach between 2012 and 2015 and build on the successful work of the "Spend to Save" data matching activity to ensure a sustainable reduction in losses in the benefit and tax credit system. The Fraud and Error Programme will be introducing a range of new controls and services delivered across DWP, HMRC and Local Authorities as required.
The Programme will introduce an Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service (IRIS) to gather and process all data on fraud and error, brigading analytical support into a central unit and a Single Fraud Investigation Service (SFIS) to replace current Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) of DWP, Local Authorities and HMRC with a single service, and new sanctions including tougher penalties and loss of benefits. |
The IB (IS) Reassessment Project delivered the reassessment of all Incapacity Benefits claimants, all those claiming Income Support on grounds of incapacity, and working age claimants of Severe Disablement Allowance, for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) using the Work Capability Assessment. Reassessment commenced October 2010 and will complete in 2014. The Project objectives are:
1) IB customers who are assessed as being entitled to ESA gain from a new, simpler, more active benefit - those not entitled will have IB withdrawn.
2) Everyone who is able, engages with back to work support including through the Work Programme.
3) Through the Work Capability Assessment, we ensure that the right people are on the right benefit and subject to the appropriate conditionality.
4) All disabled people and people with health conditions are treated equally over time and receive fair levels of financial support.
5) Administration on the same systems for all those on incapacity benefits, cutting down on error and dual provision.
6) A transfer to new systems that is as seamless as possible, with claimants' rate of payment protected as part of the transition and no administration interruption in payment. |
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will be introduced from April 2013 to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for people aged 16-64. It will be targeted to those people who face the greatest challenge to remaining independent and participating in society. It will provide a more objective assessment of needs and be more responsive to changes in those needs. PIP will be simpler to claim and to administer.
The Personal Independence Payment Implementation Programme will:
Deliver a controlled start for New Claims in April 2013, followed by a planned national roll out in June 2013. Reassessment of existing DLA claimants will commence in October 2013 with reassessments of indefinite DLA awards not commencing until Oct 2015
Introduce new assessment criteria with assessment being provided by Health Professionals through Independent Assessment Providers.
Provide new business processes and supporting IT for staff and the Independent Assessment Providers. Deliver more targeted support for those most in need. |
Implementation of the recommendations from the independent SAYCE Review:
1. Investing more funding and improving the delivery and services available through Access to Work;
2. Moving Remploy out of government control, seeking other entities to take over the running of businesses and services, and supporting ex Remploy employees made redundant as part of this process;
3. Implementing decisions made in the forthcoming Disability Strategy regarding the future of Residential Training Colleges. |
The white paper "The single tier pension; a simple foundation for saving, impact assessment and draft Bill were published in January 2013 setting out the proposals for state pension reform. The Work and Pensions Select Committee (WPSC) undertook pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill and published their report on 4 April 2013. The committee broadly supported the reforms which will deliver four key outocmes: clarity; a reduction in means testing; a fairer system, appropriate to the lives and employment patterns of today's working-age population; and improved sustainability. The Pensions Bill 2013 was introduced in Parliament on 9 May and the Government responded to WPSC report on 10 May.
DWP will work with HMRC to implement the policy intent of a simpler State Pension by:
1) Introducing a single-tier State Pension set above the basic level of means-tested support.
2) Ending the Savings Credit element of Pension Credit for future pensioners.
3) Ending contracting out for Defined Benefit schemes.
4) Modernising the delivery of the Pension Statement service to be digital by default. |
Universal Credit provides a new single system of means-tested support for working-age people who are in or out of work. It aims to reduce the number of workless households by reducing the financial and administrative barriers to work that exist in the current system of benefits and tax credits, and replacing the complexity of the income-related benefits system (Housing Benefit, Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-related Jobseekers Allowance, Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit) with a single payment which supports people to find work, find more work, and find better paid work. |
The Governments Coalition Agreement gave a commitment to "create a single welfare to work programme to help all unemployed people get back into work". The Work Programme, which has been in place nationally since June 2011, does this by providing an integrated package of back-to-work support for a range of claimants - from Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) recipients who have been out of work for some time, to claimants who may have received Employment Support Allowance (ESA) or Incapacity Benefits. The Programme design offers:
1) Support for all long-term unemployed people, those who spend a continuous period of 12 months on JSA.
2) Early access to the Programme for all young people on JSA to recognise the risks of long-run problems for this group.
3) Early access for JSA recipients with particular disadvantage in the labour market.
4) Access for those ESA recipients most likely to benefit from early work preparation interventions so that more people become fit for work more quickly, and can move into work rapidly as they become able to do so.
The Innovative features of the Work programme include:
1) Payment largely by results for the first time
2) Long-term focus once a claimant is referred to a Work Programme prime provider, they remain with that provider for 2 years
3) Differential pricing payments up to £14,000 for getting those with the biggest barriers to employment into sustained work
4) Process not prescribed providers are given the freedom to innovate and use what works best. |
The Youth Contract was a response to unacceptably high levels of youth unemployment. The offer made through the Youth Contract is a substantial addition to the range of support already available for unemployed young people through jobcentre Plus and the Work Programme. Taken as a whole, the Youth Contract will ensure that every unemployed young person who needs support to gain and keep employment will get it.
The Youth Contract is worth almost £1 billion over the next 3 years (April 2012 - March 2015). At the core of the Youth Contract is:
1) 160,000 wage incentives worth £2,275 each, for employers who recruit an 18-24 year-old from the Work Programme into sustainable work (in July 2012 eligibility was extended to those 18-24 year olds residing in one of 20 LAAs [youth unemployment hotspots] who reach 6 months on benefit.
2) An extra 250,000 Work Experience or Sector-Based Work Academy places over the next three years, ensuring that there is an offer of a Work Experience place for every 18 to 24 year-old who wants one, before they enter the Work Programme. |
