Sarah Olney MP: written questions
4 Jul 2024–3 Jul 2025
How these years work
Our reporting years run from 4 July to 3 July, starting with the 2024 general election. They are not official parliamentary sessions. Office costs keep IPSA’s April–March financial years. Records may cover only part of a year; a missing record does not mean no work was done.
Read what this MP said, asked and contributed in Parliament.
22 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Social Security Benefits: Bipolar DisorderDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 24 Jun 2025AnsweredUIN 62271More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of proposed welfare reforms on people with bipolar disorder.
Answer: As I made clear in my statement to the House, Hansard, 1 July, col 219, any changes to PIP eligibility will come after a comprehensive review of the benefit, which I am leading, and which will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that re...
Answered 2 Jul 2025
Original Parliament recordDisability Living AllowanceDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 6 May 2025AnsweredUIN 50198More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of claims for Disability Living Allowance were processed within the 50 working day target between April 2024 and April 2025.
Answer: The most recent information on processing times for Disability Living Allowance for children was published in the DWP annual report and accounts 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (ARA) on 22nd July 2024. This shows that in 2023/24 DWP cleared 3.5% of Disability Livin...
Answered 14 May 2025
Original Parliament recordWork Capability Assessment: Greater LondonDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39056More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average wait time is for a Work Capability Assessment reassessment when a claimant reports improved health in South West London.
Answer: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. ESA clearance times for initial claims only are reported via Stat-Xplore and UC WCA clearance times are planned to be released under Phase 4 of the UC ...
Answered 24 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordWork Capability AssessmentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39055More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average wait time is for a Work Capability Assessment reassessment when a claimant reports improved health.
Answer: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. ESA clearance times for initial claims only are reported via Stat-Xplore and UC WCA clearance times are planned to be released under Phase 4 of the Uni...
Answered 24 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordPersonal Independence Payment: Greater LondonDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39054More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average wait time is for a PIP reassessment when a claimant reports improved health in South West London.
Answer: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. PIP clearance times for New Claims and Reassessments can be found in the latest Personal Independence Payment statistics to January 2025 - GOV.UK. Figu...
Answered 24 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordPersonal Independence PaymentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39053More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time was for a Personal Independence Payment reassessment after a claimant has reported improved health in the latest period for which data is available.
Answer: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. PIP clearance times for New Claims and Reassessments can be found in the latest Personal Independence Payment statistics to January 2025 - GOV.UK.
Answered 24 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Work and Pensions: Hearing ImpairmentDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 11 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 30670More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how frequently deaf awareness training is provided to (a) decision-makers, (b) people in customer-facing roles and (c) other staff in her Department.
Answer: Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is mandatory learning completed by all staff as part of their induction into the department and can then be revisited at any time. Within the learning there is a scenario-based activity around deaf awareness. In addition...
Answered 19 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Security Benefits: Lone ParentsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 11 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 30669More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the (a) benefit cap and (b) two-child limit on single parents.
Answer: Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy which will deliver lasting change. The Strategy will look at all available ...
Answered 17 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 5 Nov 2024AnsweredUIN 12742More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for pension credit there were from 28t October 2024 to 4 November 2024.
Answer: Data on how many Pension Credit applications made between 1 April 2024 and 22 September 2024 was recently published on gov.uk, Weekly Pension Credit claims received from 1 April 2024 to 22 September 2024 - GOV.UK. On 28 October 2024, The Department announ...
Answered 12 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 31 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 12100More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were waiting to be assessed for pension credit on 28 October 2024.
Answer: As of 29th July, there were 33,883 claims outstanding and as of 28th October, there were 76,569 claims outstanding. Since the announcement to means test Winter Fuel payments, to date we have increased the resource in Pension Credit claims by around five h...
Answered 11 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 31 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 12099More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were waiting to be assessed for pension credit on 29 July 2024.
Answer: As of 29th July, there were 33,883 claims outstanding and as of 28th October, there were 76,569 claims outstanding. Since the announcement to means test Winter Fuel payments, to date we have increased the resource in Pension Credit claims by around five h...
Answered 11 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 31 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 12098More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pension credit claims were processed within her Department’s planned timescale in 2024.
Answer: As per the publication of the DWP Annual Report and Accounts (ARA), 77.7% of Pension Credit claims were processed within the Department’s planned timescales in the Financial Year 2023 to 2024. The next publication of the ARA will include claims processed ...
Answered 8 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 31 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 12097More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claims for pension credit there were in each week from 23 September to 28 October 2024.
Answer: As per Gov.uk, the Department has announced it will publish updated Pension Credit application and award statistics on 28 November 2024. Releases will be quarterly, including Pension Credit application, clearance, and award/non-award volumes data from 1 A...
Answered 8 Nov 2024
Original Parliament recordPension Credit: ApplicationsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 16 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 9518More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the average number of pension credit applications processed within 50 working days dropped between (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2022-23.
Answer: The department supports customers to claim Pension Credit through a range of take up campaigns. In June 2019, the BBC announced its intention to limit free TV licenses to people 75+ and in receipt of Pension Credit from June 2020. The subsequent mass mail...
Answered 24 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 16 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 9517More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pension credit applications made between 29 July and 9 August 2024 are waiting to be processed.
Answer: Data on how many pension credit applications have been made between 29 July and 9 August 2024 was recently published on gov.uk, Weekly Pension Credit claims received from 1 April 2024 to 22 September 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Because of how we capture ou...
Answered 24 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordDisability Living AllowanceDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 16 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 9516More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many children are waiting for over the 50 working day target for their disability living allowance claim to be processed in the latest period for which data is available.
Answer: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does not have a target timeframe, but we aim to process Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claims for children within 40 working days, not 50. As published in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts 2023 to 2024, which...
Answered 24 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordDisability Living Allowance: StandardsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 16 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 9515More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the rate of disability living allowance claims processed dropped between (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2023-24.
Answer: DWP has seen a substantial increase in claims for Disability Living Allowance (Children) since Covid-19, and this upward trajectory continues. This has resulted in increased pressures on early years services for children with additional needs and neurodiv...
Answered 24 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 9 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8188More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average wait for a pension credit application to be approved was in each year since 2015.
Answer: The Department does not hold information on the annual average waiting time for Pension Credit and cannot provide the figures requested. The Department does publish our annual performance against a 50 working day clearance rate for Pension Credit in the D...
Answered 16 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 9 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8187More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the average waiting time between a pension credit application and a decision by the Department.
Answer: The most recent information on processing times for Pension Credit was published in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts on 22nd July 2024 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts...
Answered 16 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 9 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8186More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 29 July 2024 on Public Spending: Inheritance, Official Report, column 1033, how many people have applied for pension credit
Answer: We have recently published Weekly Pension Credit claims received from 1 April 2024 to 22 September 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) which provides the number of Pension Credit claims received by the department.
Answered 16 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordPension CreditDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 9 Oct 2024AnsweredUIN 8185More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are waiting to be assessed for pension credit.
Answer: The total outstanding Pension Credit claims as at the end of week commencing 30th September 2024 is 77,703. This includes 8,245 advanced claims where the application can be started up to 4 months before reaching State Pension age. The Department is signif...
Answered 28 Oct 2024
Original Parliament recordHousing BenefitDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 26 Jul 2024AnsweredUIN 1966More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress she has made on the transition from housing benefit to Universal Credit; and what steps she is taking to reduce (a) hardship, (b) debt and (c) eviction risks for households using housing b
Answer: The DWP started sending Migration Notices to Housing Benefit only customers from 17 July 2024 and is committed to ensuring that the transition to Universal Credit works as smoothly as possible for all individuals. DWP has processes in place within Univers...
Answered 5 Aug 2024
Original Parliament record
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4 Jul 2024–3 Jul 2025. One record per UIN and tabled date; the named department is not a measure of answer quality.
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