Department for Work and Pensions

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Statistics related to households on Universal Credit with three or more children, affected by the Universal Credit two child limit policy, are published annually. The last publication was published on 10 July 2025 with data for April 2025.

The relevant information is shown in the data tables attached:

1, table 10A for country and region

2, table 09A for ethnicity

4, table 07A for age group of any claimant

5, table 04A for health and disability benefit entitlement

The full publication is available here: Universal Credit claimants statistics on the two child limit policy, April 2025 - GOV.UK

Data broken down by 3) religion is not available.

Alternatively, statistics for the number of households on Universal Credit by family type and number of children are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore. Universal Credit statistics are available in the Households on Universal Credit dataset.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) remains committed to providing timely, transparent, and accurate information to parents.

Parents can access full statements at any time via the Child Maintenance Self Service portal, My Child Maintenance Case (MCMC), which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They do not need to request this from the CMS, as an online statement is always available.

When CMS recalculates maintenance due to a change in circumstances or a variation, we are legally required to notify both parents in writing. These letters, which include a detailed breakdown of the calculation, are also available online via MCMC.

Where a parent disputes their arrears balance, they can request a full account breakdown. This is a manual process. CMS does not systematically record the time taken to complete these requests, so the data requested is not available.

All calculation decisions can be challenged through the Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) process, which allows a parent to ask CMS to review a decision before appealing to His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. During MR, CMS re-examines the decision and considers any new information provided. If the original decision is found to be incorrect, it will be revised.

Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) is the process where a parent asks the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to review a decision before appealing to His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. It can be requested at any stage of a case or after an unsuccessful application. If CMS finds the original decision incorrect or receives new information, the decision may be revised.

The CMS is committed to ensuring decisions are timely, accurate, fair, and based on all relevant information provided by parents.

The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) and the latest statistics are currently available to June 2025.

Table 9 of the latest National tables includes information on the total number of mandatory reconsideration requests received by the CMS and the outcomes occurring each quarter, and the number and percentage cleared within 28 days of receipt, from quarter ending June 2015 to quarter ending June 2025.

Table 10 of the latest National tables includes information on the total number of appeals made by parents to His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service to review a decision made by the CMS each quarter, from quarter ending June 2015 to quarter ending June 2025.

The information requested on the average time it takes the Child Maintenance Service to review these requests and, total value of revised liabilities, is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) is the process where a parent asks the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to review a decision before appealing to His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. It can be requested at any stage of a case or after an unsuccessful application. If CMS finds the original decision incorrect or receives new information, the decision may be revised.

The CMS is committed to ensuring decisions are timely, accurate, fair, and based on all relevant information provided by parents.

The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) and the latest statistics are currently available to June 2025.

Table 9 of the latest National tables includes information on the total number of mandatory reconsideration requests received by the CMS and the outcomes occurring each quarter, and the number and percentage cleared within 28 days of receipt, from quarter ending June 2015 to quarter ending June 2025.

Table 10 of the latest National tables includes information on the total number of appeals made by parents to His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service to review a decision made by the CMS each quarter, from quarter ending June 2015 to quarter ending June 2025.

The information requested on the average time it takes the Child Maintenance Service to review these requests and, total value of revised liabilities, is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) aims to complete 80 percent of initial maintenance calculations within six weeks The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) and the latest statistics are currently available to June 2025. Table 1 of the latest National tables includes information on the total number of applications received by CMS for each quarter and the percentage cleared within 6 weeks and 12 weeks, from quarter ending June 2024 to quarter ending June 2025

The main causes of delay in completing maintenance calculations include parent disputes, where we need to trace and verify the paying parent’s identity or location and when income investigation and verification is required

We continue to mitigate these factors through income verification from HMRC or benefits systems, quality assurance controls, and responsive resourcing to meet service-level targets.

The CMS is committed to making the most effective use of its strong enforcement powers, and we have made a number of improvements to its processes to drive case compliance and challenge non-compliant behaviours, but we do not currently have performance targets on the time to enforcement following non-payment.

We are dedicated to using enforcement powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families, but the specific actions taken following non-payment, and associated timescales will vary depending on the circumstances of a case.

CMS monitors customer experience and satisfaction as part of its regular operational rhythm, however, we do not currently have customer satisfaction performance targets for CMS, but work is ongoing to develop benchmarks against which we can measure performance.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) aims to complete 80 percent of initial maintenance calculations within six weeks The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) and the latest statistics are currently available to June 2025. Table 1 of the latest National tables includes information on the total number of applications received by CMS for each quarter and the percentage cleared within 6 weeks and 12 weeks, from quarter ending June 2024 to quarter ending June 2025

The main causes of delay in completing maintenance calculations include parent disputes, where we need to trace and verify the paying parent’s identity or location and when income investigation and verification is required

We continue to mitigate these factors through income verification from HMRC or benefits systems, quality assurance controls, and responsive resourcing to meet service-level targets.

The CMS is committed to making the most effective use of its strong enforcement powers, and we have made a number of improvements to its processes to drive case compliance and challenge non-compliant behaviours, but we do not currently have performance targets on the time to enforcement following non-payment.

We are dedicated to using enforcement powers fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families, but the specific actions taken following non-payment, and associated timescales will vary depending on the circumstances of a case.

CMS monitors customer experience and satisfaction as part of its regular operational rhythm, however, we do not currently have customer satisfaction performance targets for CMS, but work is ongoing to develop benchmarks against which we can measure performance.

Where the Independent Case Examiner identifies maladministration in cases it investigates, an upheld finding will be reached. Such findings are either upheld, whereby the complaint is fully accepted and evidence supports the complaint, or partially upheld whereby some, but not all, of the issues raised in the complaint have merit.

The data in the table below provides a combined total of upheld and partially upheld outcomes in the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) cases the Independent Case Examiner considered over the last five full reporting years.

Joanna Wallace, the Independent Case Examiner, provided written evidence to the House of Lords Public Services Committee Child Maintenance Inquiry 2025, in which she commented on emergent themes or common issues seen in CMS complaints.

The government is investing £820m to help young people earn or learn through the Youth Guarantee. This includes a Jobs Guarantee where eligible 18–21-year-olds, who have been on Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months, will be guaranteed six-months paid work. We are also investing £725m for the Growth and Skills Levy will help support apprenticeships for young people, alongside reforms that will simplify the apprenticeship system.

The government is investing £820m to help young people earn or learn through the Youth Guarantee. This includes a Jobs Guarantee where eligible 18–21-year-olds, who have been on Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months, will be guaranteed six-months paid work. We are also investing £725m for the Growth and Skills Levy will help support apprenticeships for young people, alongside reforms that will simplify the apprenticeship system.

We are continuing our efforts to improve our telephony services.

We have prioritised service reform through focusing extra resource to boost our performance.

Our call answering rate has increased to 86 per cent, the average answering time improving from eight minutes 34 seconds to seven minutes 22 seconds.

Our efforts have cleared up agent work queues and freed up capacity.

The government recognises that people are still feeling the squeeze on their finances with essential areas such as energy, food and housing remaining too high. That is why we have announced a range of support, including taking around £150 on average off household energy bills and expanding the £150 Warm Home Discount to 6 million lower income households and freezing regulated rail fares and NHS prescription fees for one-year.

We are taking a pragmatic approach to reforming pension contributions made via salary sacrifice, the costs of which were set to nearly triple to £8bn between 2017 and the end of this decade. The £2,000 cap means that only 5% of workers earning below £30,000 making salary sacrificed contributions will be affected. And the government continues to support pension saving with no changes to pensions tax relief, worth over £70 billion a year.

Customers who are unhappy with the service they receive from Access to Work, including delays or lack of response, can raise a complaint directly with the team handling their case.

If the issue is not resolved, the complaint can be escalated through the Department’s formal complaints process. This includes:

Stage 1: Contacting the business area or team directly to resolve the concern.

Stage 2: Asking for the complaint to be referred to the DWP Complaints Team for review, who will aim to resolve it within 15 working days.

Stage 3: If still dissatisfied, customers can escalate their complaint to the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) within six months of the final response.

With regards to the Answer of 28 November 2025 to Question 94068, there have been no changes since July 2024.

HMRC has the responsibility to ensure employers report earnings information accurately and timeously.

DWP has a process to ensure any inaccurate data is corrected as soon as is possible.

The Timms Review will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, and other experts.

The Review is focussed on ensuring we have a system that supports disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence. We are committed to spending public money as effectively as possible to support disabled people in living independent and fulfilling lives.

It will be for the Steering Group to determine the Review’s recommendations, subject to the Terms of Reference which specify that the Review will operate within the OBR’s projections for future Personal Independence Payment expenditure.

Entitlement to contributory Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is based on a claimant’s National Insurance (NI) contribution record.

Aggregating each ESA claimant’s NI contributions would require detailed analysis of individual claimants’ administrative records across both DWP and HMRC and would incur disproportionate cost.

The Motability Scheme supports many disabled people and families, by enabling them to lease a car, wheelchair accessible vehicle, scooter or powered wheelchair in exchange for an eligible disability benefit allowance.

The Motability Scheme will continue to offer a choice of vehicles to meet a range of accessibility needs. The scheme will also continue to offer vehicles which require no advance payment, meaning that people will be able to access a suitable vehicle using only their qualifying disability benefit.

The Motability Scheme supports many disabled people and families, by enabling them to lease a car, wheelchair accessible vehicle, scooter or powered wheelchair in exchange for an eligible disability benefit allowance. The scheme helps people with significant mobility issues participate in society, including by breaking down barriers to work.

The Motability Foundation have published its strategy to support and empower disabled people by improving their access to transport. The plan sets out how they will act directly and work with others to drive change.

No estimate has been made on the impact of AI on the number of individuals who will claim health and disability benefits over the course of this Parliament.

People with learning disabilities often face very significant challenges in being able to find work. We know that most people with learning disabilities want to have a job, and evidence shows that they bring many positive benefits to their employers.

Connect to Work is our voluntary, locally commissioned, Supported Employment programme which is rolling out this year and early 2026. This £1bn programme is for anyone who is disabled, has a health condition or is experiencing more complex barriers to work and will support around 300,000 people by the end of the decade. Participants are given a dedicated specialist employment support adviser who works alongside them to understand their career goals and help them to address any specific barriers to employment. Local Authorities are required to follow two models of Supported Employment – Individual Placement and Support and Supported Employment Quality Framework. The latter framework has been specifically designed, and has a proven track record, to support individuals with learning disabilities or who are neurodivergent to get into sustainable employment.

No estimate has been made.

This data is not held. Determining this would require a manual review of individual claimant applications to examine employment details, which would incur a disproportionate cost.

Details of the specific special aides/equipment an individual claims payment for is stored as descriptive free-text information and would require manual examination of individual applications to analyse and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost.

Details of the specific special aides/equipment an individual claims payment for is stored as descriptive free-text information and would require manual examination of individual applications to analyse and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost.

Details of the specific special aides/equipment an individual claims payment for is stored as descriptive free-text information and would require manual examination of individual applications to analyse and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost.

Details of the specific special aides/equipment an individual claims payment for is stored as descriptive free-text information and would require manual examination of individual applications to analyse and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost.

Details of the specific special aides/equipment an individual claims payment for is stored as descriptive free-text information and would require manual examination of individual applications to analyse and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost.

Information on the number of items received by successful applicants is stored as descriptive free-text information. Providing an answer would require manual examination of individual applications, and would incur a disproportionate cost.

The Pensions Commission has been tasked with considering how to deliver financial security in retirement and support those approaching retirement through a pensions framework that is strong, fair and sustainable. The Pensions Commission is expected to publish its final report in early 2027.

My Department has actively engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund, including reporting requirements, through a structured co-design process involving a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in due course.

My Department has actively engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund, including reporting requirements, through a structured co-design process involving a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in due course.

My Department has actively engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process involving a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in due course.

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

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

No assessment has been made.

We have interpreted service users as Access to Work (AtW) customers and providers as support workers, third parties, and stakeholders who deliver support to AtW customers.

AtW provides tailored support to help disabled people overcome workplace barriers that go beyond an employer’s reasonable adjustments. Awards are based on an assessment of the customer’s individual needs.

When hours or hourly rates are changed the AtW case manager consults directly with the customer to explain the reasons for the change. As the customer is the recipient of the grant, the case manager does not consult with providers such as support workers or organisations delivering services. It is for the customer to liaise with their chosen provider regarding any changes.

If a customer is dissatisfied with a change to their hours or hourly rates, they may request that their award is reviewed by a different AtW case manager.

The package of reforms to the Motability Scheme announced as part of the Budget will ensure the Scheme delivers fairness for the taxpayer, while continuing to support disabled people. The Scheme will continue to offer a choice of affordable vehicles to meet a range of accessibility needs and offer vehicles which require no advance payment, meaning that people will be able to access a suitable vehicle using only their qualifying disability benefit. Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) will apply to leases at the standard rate, bringing tax treatment in line with commercial leasing firms.

Existing leases and vehicles substantially designed for, or adapted for, wheelchair or stretcher users will continue to benefit from VAT reliefs on advance payments and the IPT exemption, in recognition of the additional costs associated with these vehicles.

Motability Foundation, the independent charity with responsibility for overseeing the Scheme, will continue to offer means-tested grants to support eligible people who would otherwise struggle to afford the advance payment.

The package of reforms to the Motability Scheme announced as part of the Budget will ensure the Scheme delivers fairness for the taxpayer, while continuing to support disabled people. The Scheme will continue to offer a choice of affordable vehicles to meet a range of accessibility needs and offer vehicles which require no advance payment, meaning that people will be able to access a suitable vehicle using only their qualifying disability benefit. Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) will apply to leases at the standard rate, bringing tax treatment in line with commercial leasing firms.

Existing leases and vehicles substantially designed for, or adapted for, wheelchair or stretcher users will continue to benefit from VAT reliefs on advance payments and the IPT exemption, in recognition of the additional costs associated with these vehicles.

Motability Foundation, the independent charity with responsibility for overseeing the Scheme, will continue to offer means-tested grants to support eligible people who would otherwise struggle to afford the advance payment.