Stephen Timms Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recently announced plans to set up a new taskforce as part of its Disability Action Plan after research indicated that disabled people are significantly affected by the rising cost of living. The ‘Extra Costs Taskforce’ will specifically look into the additional costs incurred by people on disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

The Work and Pensions Committee has said that uprating of benefits should be guaranteed by the UK Government every year and the Household Support Fund should be made permanent. Committee chairman Sir Stephen Timms said the annual “will they or won’t they speculation” in the run-up to each Budget announcement on whether benefits will rise in line with inflation must end.

Planned amendments to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill by the UK Government have sparked recent debate across Parliament on whether or not it is necessary to include monitoring the bank accounts of those in receipt of the State Pension. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has said that the new proposals aim to reduce fraud and error in the benefits system.

Ministers have faced questions about whether new data powers could be used to look at the bank accounts of older people in receipt of the State Pension. Conservative former minister David Davis claimed that measures aimed at tackling fraud in the benefit system within the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill would allow the state to “put people under surveillance without prior suspicion”.

Evil child serial killer Lucy Letby is set to die behind bars after fooling her friends and family into believing she was just an ordinary young woman.

This year will the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) hand out five cost of living payments to support low-income and vulnerable households with a boost of up to £1,350.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has shared more details of the new ‘online apply service’ for Personal Independence Payment (PIP). The service is currently only being offered to 60 new claimants each day who call the PIP phone line to start their application.

A new report by the Work and Pensions Committee has found that the health assessments system used by people who cannot work or face extra costs due to disability or ill-health to access vital benefits “continues to let down those who rely on it”.

A new report by the Work and Pensions Committee has found that the health assessments system used by people who cannot work or face extra costs due to disability or ill-health to access vital benefits “continues to let down those who rely on it”. However, the committee of cross-party MPs, led by chair Sir Stephen Timms MP, proposes several “quick and easy wins” to help restore confidence in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and “drive down the high rate of decisions reversed on appeal”.

The Work and Pensions Select Committee has launched a new inquiry to look at whether working age benefit levels in the UK are adequate to meet the needs of the people claiming. The cross-party Committee of MPs, chaired by Sir Stephen Timms MP, will ask if it is possible for the UK Government to reach consensus around what an ‘adequate’ benefits system would look like and how it would operate.

The most recent report published by the National Audit Office on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) accounts for 2021-22 was released in October last year and revealed that around 237,000 older people have been underpaid their State Pension by a total of £1.46billion.

New Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride, is set to face questions from MPs on November 30 in his first meeting with the cross-party Work and Pensions Committee, chaired by Sir Stephen Timms MP.

The Chair and members of the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) will face questions from MPs in a one-off session on Wednesday, October 12 examining the ‘managed migration’ process for moving people from legacy benefits to Universal Credit. The SSAC is an independent body responsible for advising the Secretary of State on Social Security matters.

The Secretary of State for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Dr Thérèse Coffey MP, has responded to a series of questions regarding the managed migration process for 2.6 million legacy benefit claimants to Universal Credit (UC), to be completed by the end of 2024.