Department for Work and Pensions

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy. As the UK’s biggest public service department it administers the State Pension and a range of working age, disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers.



Secretary of State

 Portrait

Liz Kendall
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Shadow Ministers / Spokeperson
Liberal Democrat
Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (LD - Life peer)
Liberal Democrat Lords Spokesperson (Work and Pensions)
Steve Darling (LD - Torbay)
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson (Work and Pensions)

Conservative
Helen Whately (Con - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Junior Shadow Ministers / Deputy Spokesperson
Conservative
Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con - Excepted Hereditary)
Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con - Life peer)
Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
Danny Kruger (Con - East Wiltshire)
Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
Ministers of State
Stephen Timms (Lab - East Ham)
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Alison McGovern (Lab - Birkenhead)
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Baroness Sherlock (Lab - Life peer)
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State
Andrew Western (Lab - Stretford and Urmston)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Torsten Bell (Lab - Swansea West)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are no upcoming events identified
Debates
Wednesday 7th May 2025
Select Committee Docs
Thursday 8th May 2025
11:48
Select Committee Inquiry
Thursday 3rd April 2025
Get Britain Working: Pathways to Work

The Work and Pensions Committee is undertaking a short inquiry into the impact of the Government’s proposals to reform the …

Written Answers
Friday 9th May 2025
Personal Independence Payment
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many working-age people are in receipt of the PIP …
Secondary Legislation
Thursday 27th March 2025
Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker's Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Claims and Payments) (Modification) Regulations 2025
These Regulations modify paragraph 5(2) and (4) of Schedule 6 to the Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and …
Bills
Wednesday 22nd January 2025
Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill 2024-26
A Bill to make provision about the prevention of fraud against public authorities and the making of erroneous payments by …
Dept. Publications
Friday 9th May 2025
11:42

Department for Work and Pensions Commons Appearances

Oral Answers to Questions is a regularly scheduled appearance where the Secretary of State and junior minister will answer at the Dispatch Box questions from backbench MPs

Other Commons Chamber appearances can be:
  • Urgent Questions where the Speaker has selected a question to which a Minister must reply that day
  • Adjornment Debates a 30 minute debate attended by a Minister that concludes the day in Parliament.
  • Oral Statements informing the Commons of a significant development, where backbench MP's can then question the Minister making the statement.

Westminster Hall debates are performed in response to backbench MPs or e-petitions asking for a Minister to address a detailed issue

Written Statements are made when a current event is not sufficiently significant to require an Oral Statement, but the House is required to be informed.

Most Recent Commons Appearances by Category
Mar. 17
Oral Questions
Apr. 23
Adjournment Debate
View All Department for Work and Pensions Commons Contibutions

Bills currently before Parliament

Department for Work and Pensions does not have Bills currently before Parliament


Acts of Parliament created in the 2024 Parliament

Department for Work and Pensions has not passed any Acts during the 2024 Parliament

Department for Work and Pensions - Secondary Legislation

These Regulations modify paragraph 5(2) and (4) of Schedule 6 to the Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Claims and Payments) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/380). Paragraph 5(2) contains a list of provisions under which the Secretary of State may make deductions from Universal Credit. The modifications made by these Regulations to paragraph 5(2) and (4) have the effect that deductions for child maintenance have priority over the other deductions listed in paragraph 5(2).
This instrument contains provisions necessary to give full effect to the 2025 benefits and pensions up-rating exercise.
View All Department for Work and Pensions Secondary Legislation

Petitions

e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.

If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.

If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).

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Petition Debates Contributed
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21 May 2025
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We call on the Government to fairly compensate WASPI women affected by the increases to their State Pension age and the associated failings in DWP communications.

View All Department for Work and Pensions Petitions

Departmental Select Committee

Work and Pensions Committee

Commons Select Committees are a formally established cross-party group of backbench MPs tasked with holding a Government department to account.

At any time there will be number of ongoing investigations into the work of the Department, or issues which fall within the oversight of the Department. Witnesses can be summoned from within the Government and outside to assist in these inquiries.

Select Committee findings are reported to the Commons, printed, and published on the Parliament website. The government then usually has 60 days to reply to the committee's recommendations.


11 Members of the Work and Pensions Committee
Debbie Abrahams Portrait
Debbie Abrahams (Labour - Oldham East and Saddleworth)
Work and Pensions Committee Member since 11th September 2024
David Pinto-Duschinsky Portrait
David Pinto-Duschinsky (Labour - Hendon)
Work and Pensions Committee Member since 21st October 2024
Amanda Hack Portrait
Amanda Hack (Labour - North West Leicestershire)
Work and Pensions Committee Member since 21st October 2024
Gill German Portrait
Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Work and Pensions Committee Member since 21st October 2024
Damien Egan Portrait
Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Work and Pensions Committee Member since 21st October 2024
Johanna Baxter Portrait
Johanna Baxter (Labour - Paisley and Renfrewshire South)
Work and Pensions Committee Member since 21st October 2024
John Milne Portrait
John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Work and Pensions Committee Member since 28th October 2024
Steve Darling Portrait
Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Work and Pensions Committee Member since 28th October 2024
Peter Bedford Portrait
Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Work and Pensions Committee Member since 28th October 2024
Frank McNally Portrait
Frank McNally (Labour - Coatbridge and Bellshill)
Work and Pensions Committee Member since 16th December 2024
Danny Kruger Portrait
Danny Kruger (Conservative - East Wiltshire)
Work and Pensions Committee Member since 17th March 2025
Work and Pensions Committee: Upcoming Events
Work and Pensions Committee - Oral evidence
Pensioner Poverty: challenges and mitigations
12 May 2025, 8:55 a.m.
At 9:00am: Oral evidence
Rhian Bowen-Davies, Older People's Commissioner for Wales
Victoria Lloyd - Chief Executive at Age Cymru
Miss Faye Patton - Head of Policy and Insights at Care and Repair Cymru

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Work and Pensions Committee - Oral evidence
Pensioner Poverty: challenges and mitigations
12 May 2025, 8:55 a.m.
At 9:00am: Oral evidence
Rhian Bowen-Davies, Older People's Commissioner for Wales
Victoria Lloyd - Chief Executive at Age Cymru
Faye Patton - Head of Policy and Insights at Care and Repair Cymru

View calendar - Save to Calendar
Work and Pensions Committee - Private Meeting
14 May 2025, 9 a.m.
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Work and Pensions Committee - Oral evidence
Pension Schemes Bill
14 May 2025, 9 a.m.
At 9:30am: Oral evidence
Jesse Griffiths - CEO at Financial Innovation Lab
William Wright - Managing Director at New Financial
Jackie Wells - Independent Pensions Researcher
At 10:15am: Oral evidence
Rachel Croft - Chair at Association of Professional Pension Trustees
Chris Curry - Director at Pensions Policy Institute
Yvonne Braun - Director of Policy, Long-Term Savings, Health and Protection at ABI
Joe Dabrowski - Deputy Director at Pension and Lifetime Savings Association

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Work and Pensions Committee: Previous Inquiries
Money and Pensions Service Pension stewardship and COP26 PIP and ESA Assessments DWP's response to the coronavirus outbreak Work of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Universal Credit: the wait for a first payment Plan for Jobs and employment support The sale and acquisition of BHS inquiry DWP’s preparations for changes in the world of work Protecting pension savers – five years on from the pension freedoms: Pension scams Progress with child maintenance reforms Update on auto-enrolment and a range of current pensions issues Fraud and error in the benefits system Employment and Support Allowance and Work Capability Assessments Progress with Personal Independence Payment implementation 2014 Employment support for disabled people: Access to Work One-off evidence session on pension reforms Benefit delivery inquiry Welfare to work inquiry Pension freedom guidance and advice inquiry Tax credit reforms inquiry Local welfare safety net inquiry In-work progression in Universal Credit inquiry Understanding the new State Pension inquiry Bereavement benefits inquiry Pre-appointment hearing for the Pensions Ombudsman Progress with automatic enrolment and pension reforms Financial scrutiny of the Department for Work and Pensions Benefit sanctions policy beyond the Oakley review Progress with disability and incapacity benefit reforms Universal Credit Work Programme: the experience of different user groups Youth unemployment and the Government’s Youth Contract EU Pensions Policy White Paper on Universal Credit Automatic enrolment in workplace pensions and National Employment Savings Trust Governance and best practice in workplace pensions Role of Jobcentre Plus in the reformed welfare system Support for housing costs in the reformed welfare system School holiday poverty inquiry The work of The Pensions Regulator inquiry Executive pensions inquiry Spending Review inquiry Support for the bereaved Universal Credit and Survival Sex: sex in exchange for meeting survival needs inquiry No DSS: discrimination against benefit claimants in the housing sector inquiry Benefit freeze Overpayments of Carer's Allowance Ongoing work on DWP priorities and performance inquiry Charging for pension transfer advice inquiry Pension auto-enrolment: update inquiry Universal Credit Project Assessment Reviews inquiry Carillion joint inquiry Assistive technology inquiry Pre-appointment scrutiny of the Chair of the Social Security Advisory Committee Defined benefit pensions white paper inquiry The future of the European Social Fund inquiry Two-child benefit limit inquiry Welfare safety net inquiry Benefit cap inquiry Pension costs and transparency inquiry Disability employment inquiry Concentrix and tax credits inquiry Child Maintenance Service inquiry Employment opportunities for young people inquiry Intergenerational fairness inquiry Pensions automatic enrolment inquiry Early drawing of state pension inquiry Recent pensions policy developments The Future of Jobcentre Plus inquiry Support for ex-offenders inquiry Disability employment gap inquiry Pension Protection Fund and Pensions Regulator inquiry Personal Independence Payment inquiry Citizen's income inquiry Victims of modern slavery inquiry DWP Annual Report and Accounts inquiry Self-employment and the gig economy inquiry Benefit cap inquiry Brexit and labour market policy inquiry Universal Credit update inquiry Universal Credit inquiry PIP and ESA Assessments inquiry Pension freedom and choice inquiry Defined benefit pension schemes Access to work cap on support grants inquiry Collective defined contribution pension schemes inquiry Support for carers inquiry The cost of living Children in poverty: Child Maintenance Service Defined benefit pensions with liability driven investments Benefit levels in the UK Defined benefit pension schemes Cost of living support payments Disability employment gap Health and Safety Executive Safeguarding vulnerable claimants Norton pension schemes and the Fraud Compensation Fund Statutory Sick Pay Disability employment Devolution of employment support Pensioner poverty – challenges and mitigations Get Britain Working – Reforming Jobcentres Get Britain Working: Pathways to Work Children in poverty: Measurement and targets Welfare policy in Northern Ireland Assistive technology Benefit cap Benefit sanctions Collective defined contribution pension schemes Defined benefit pensions white paper inquiry Disability employment The future of the European Social Fund inquiry Executive pensions Universal Credit Universal Credit - In-work progression Pension costs and transparency Spending Review Welfare safety net Charging for pension transfer advice Overpayments of Carer's Allowance Pension auto-enrolment: update No DSS: discrimination against benefit claimants in the housing sector Benefit freeze Support for the bereaved The work of The Pensions Regulator Motability Ongoing work on DWP priorities and performance Pension freedom and choice PIP and ESA Assessments School holiday poverty Support for carers Two-child benefit limit Universal Credit and Survival Sex

50 most recent Written Questions

(View all written questions)
Written Questions can be tabled by MPs and Lords to request specific information information on the work, policy and activities of a Government Department

23rd Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many working-age people are in receipt of the PIP daily living component at (a) regional, (b) constituency and (c) local authority level; whether those people receive the (i) standard and (ii) enhanced rate; and what proportion of those claims were awarded less than four points in all daily living activities.

Table 1 in the attached excel file contains data, at the regional level, of claimants in receipt of the Enhanced or Standard Daily Living award for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and the proportion of those claims which were awarded less than four points in all daily living activities.

Table 2 contains data, at the Parliamentary Constituency level, of claimants in receipt of the Enhanced or Standard Daily Living award for PIP and the proportion of those claims which were awarded less than four points in all daily living activities.

Table 3 contains data, at the Local Authority level, of claimants in receipt of the Enhanced or Standard Daily Living award for PIP and the proportion of those claims which were awarded less than four points in all daily living activities.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
23rd Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many working-age people are in receipt of the PIP daily living component at (a) regional, (b) constituency and (c) local authority level by primary health condition; and what proportion of those claims were awarded less than four points in all daily living activities.

Table 1 in the attached excel file contains data, at the regional level, of claimants in receipt of the Daily Living award for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) by primary health condition and the proportion of those claims which were awarded less than four points in all daily living activities.

Table 2 contains data, at the Parliamentary Constituency level, of claimants in receipt of the Daily Living award for PIP by primary health condition and the proportion of those claims which were awarded less than four points in all daily living activities.

Table 3 contains data, at the Local Authority level, of claimants in receipt of the Daily Living award for PIP by primary health condition and the proportion of those claims which were awarded less than four points in all daily living activities.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
25th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's reports entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, and Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms - Impacts, published on 26 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the impact of changes to welfare benefits on people claiming (a) Housing Benefit and (b) the housing costs element of Universal Credit.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper has been published here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab).

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Note:

  • There will be no immediate changes. Changes to PIP eligibility and rebalancing of UC aren’t coming into effect immediately. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from April 2026 for UC and November 2026 for PIP, subject to parliamentary approval.
  • PIP changes will only apply at the next award review after November 2026. The average award review period is about three years. At the award review, claimants will be seen by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on individual needs and circumstances.
  • We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. PIP is not based on condition diagnosis but on functional disability as the result of one or more conditions, and is awarded as a contribution to the additional costs which result.
  • We also intend to launch a wider review of the PIP assessment which I will lead, and we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.
Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
25th Apr 2025
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 12 April (HL6549), what training or guidance is given to Personal Independence Payment assessors to ensure that fluctuating or invisible conditions, such as myasthenia gravis, are properly evaluated under the mobility descriptor including the reliability criteria, that is being able to carry out an activity safely, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) provides support based on the needs arising from a health condition or disability, and a functional assessment is an important part of PIP.

The Department recognises the importance of ensuring health professionals (HPs) have sufficient experience, skills, and training to undertake assessments. DWP has set out very clear rules on HP competency, both in guidance and in regulations.

All HPs receive comprehensive training in disability analysis, including how to assess the impacts of medical conditions on people’s day-to-day activities, as well as awareness training in a range of conditions, symptoms and disabilities. The principles of assessing claimants on their ability to carry out an activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a reasonable time period are a core part of the HP training and guidance materials. Our assessment suppliers are required to demonstrate that their HPs meet all our requirements before they are approved to carry out assessments on behalf of DWP, and all HP core training and guidance material undergoes both clinical and policy quality assurance.

The Personal Independence Payment Assessment Guide (PIPAG) provides guidance for assessment suppliers and HPs carrying out PIP assessments on applying the criteria set out in legislation. This includes sections on “Time periods, fluctuations and descriptor choices” and “Reliability”, which cover assessing the impacts of health conditions and impairments which can fluctuate over time in line with the reliability criteria.

Baroness Sherlock
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
6th May 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of Personal Independence Payments assessments for people with (i) moderate and (ii) fluctuating health conditions.

The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment looks at how a long-term health condition or disability impacts on daily life across 12 activities, taking into account fluctuations over a 12-month period. The activities are grouped into two components, daily living and mobility, and within each activity a descriptor must be chosen to score an individual depending on whether an individual can complete the activity, the manner in which they do it, and whether they can complete each activity safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time period.

The assessment is designed to reflect the impact of variations in an individual's needs for all health conditions, not only those which more typically fluctuate. Health conditions may be physical, sensory, mental, intellectual or cognitive, or any combination of these, and the assessment is designed to take a comprehensive approach to disability, reflecting the needs arising from the full range of impairments.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
23rd Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in South Ribble constituency are in receipt of Personal Independence Payment (PIP); how those payments are broken down between the (a) daily living and (b) mobility component; and how many of those people did not score a four or above on the assessment criteria.

As of January 2025, there are 5,340 people currently in receipt of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in the South Ribble Parliamentary Constituency. Of these claimants, 2,530 scored fewer than 4 points in the 10 Daily Living activities. The breakdown of award rates for Daily Living and Mobility can be found in Table 1 below.

The assessment of the Office for Budget Responsibility, published at the Spring Statement, is that most of the current claimants of PIP Daily Living who did not score four points in any of the activities at their last assessment will, nevertheless, because of behaviour changes, be awarded PIP Daily Living again after the proposed eligibility changes take effect.

There will be no immediate changes. We want to reassure anyone concerned that the changes to PIP eligibility and rebalancing of UC aren’t coming into effect immediately. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from April 2026 for UC and November 2026 for PIP, subject to parliamentary approval.

We will also guarantee that for those on UC, individuals with the most severe, life-long conditions, which mean a person cannot and will never work, will not need to be reassessed in future.

Our intention is that the PIP changes will apply to new claims and award reviews from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval. If you are getting PIP now and could be affected by the changes we plan to make to eligibility, the changes will only apply at your next award review. The average award review is about three years. At your next review, you will be seen by a trained assessor or healthcare professional, and assessed on your individual needs and circumstance.

For those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, we are consulting on how best to support this group, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. PIP is not based on your condition, it is based on the functional disability as the result of one or more conditions and it is the additional costs of sum of that disability that PIP is awarded for.

We also intend to launch a wider review of the PIP assessment led by the Minister for Social Security and Disability, and we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.

Table 1: the volume of claimants in the South Ribble constituency split by award rate for Daily Living and Mobility components of PIP

Daily Living

Mobility

Enhanced

Standard

Nil

Total

Enhanced

1,940

580

250

2,780

Standard

670

800

870

2,340

Nil

100

130

-

230

Total

2,710

1,520

1,120

5,340

Note:

  • Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10
Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people living in Iceland claimed Personal Independence Payments in each year since 2020.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. This is because we only centrally record if a PIP claimant is abroad, not the individual country.

The total number of PIP claimants living abroad can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. You can use the ‘Geography’ and ‘Month’ filters to restrict to claimants living abroad from 2020. You will need to expand ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’, ‘DWP policy ownership’ and then select ‘Abroad’.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is also available here: Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide - GOV.UK.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people living in Norway claimed Personal Independence Payments in each year since 2020.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. This is because we only centrally record if a PIP claimant is abroad, not the individual country.

The total number of PIP claimants living abroad can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. You can use the ‘Geography’ and ‘Month’ filters to restrict to claimants living abroad from 2020. You will need to expand ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’, ‘DWP policy ownership’ and then select ‘Abroad’.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is also available here: Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide - GOV.UK.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people living in Liechtenstein claimed Personal Independence Payment in each year since 2020.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. This is because we only centrally record if a PIP claimant is abroad, not the individual country.

The total number of PIP claimants living abroad can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. You can use the ‘Geography’ and ‘Month’ filters to restrict to claimants living abroad from 2020. You will need to expand ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’, ‘DWP policy ownership’ and then select ‘Abroad’.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is also available here: Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide - GOV.UK.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
2nd May 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure the consultation events on the Pathway to Work are accessible to people with disabilities.

This government strongly values the input of disabled people and representative organisations, and that is why we have brought forward this Green Paper and opened a public consultation. The consultation welcomes all views, and we hope that a wide range of voices will respond before it closes on the 30 June 2025.

We have published a full suite of accessible versions of the Green Paper to ensure that everyone can engage. Our schedule of virtual and in-person public consultation events across the country will further facilitate input and help us to hear from disabled people and stakeholders directly. The events accommodate any reasonable adjustments for individuals who wish to attend, including re-imbursing travel costs and arranging accessible venues and accessibility requirements such as BSL interpreters or stenographers for attendees.

We are continuing to facilitate other ways to involve stakeholders and disabled people in our reforms. In addition to the consultation itself, we will establish ‘collaboration committees’ that bring groups, including disabled people and other experts, together for specific work areas. Our wider review of the PIP assessment, led by myself, will also bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
2nd May 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to (a) directly invite the views of disabled people and (b) directly engage with stakeholder groups on the Pathway to Work proposals.

This government strongly values the input of disabled people and representative organisations, and that is why we have brought forward this Green Paper and opened a public consultation. The consultation welcomes all views, and we hope that a wide range of voices will respond before it closes on the 30 June 2025.

We have published a full suite of accessible versions of the Green Paper to ensure that everyone can engage. Our schedule of virtual and in-person public consultation events across the country will further facilitate input and help us to hear from disabled people and stakeholders directly. The events accommodate any reasonable adjustments for individuals who wish to attend, including re-imbursing travel costs and arranging accessible venues and accessibility requirements such as BSL interpreters or stenographers for attendees.

We are continuing to facilitate other ways to involve stakeholders and disabled people in our reforms. In addition to the consultation itself, we will establish ‘collaboration committees’ that bring groups, including disabled people and other experts, together for specific work areas. Our wider review of the PIP assessment, led by myself, will also bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed cut to (a) the Universal Credit health element and (b) PIP on survivors of domestic abuse.

The information required to make such an assessment is not readily available. This is because to identify survivors of domestic abuse would require manual processing of claimant information, and the information would only be available where it is included in departmental records.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many adults living in temporary accommodation receive the Shared Accommodation Rate of Local Housing Allowance.

The shared accommodation rate does not apply in temporary accommodation.

Temporary Accommodation is defined as housing that a claimant has been placed in by a local authority or housing association to meet the local authority’s statutory homelessness duty or to prevent homelessness.

Costs for housing support to those in private rental accommodation are subject to the Local Housing Allowance. The Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR) applies to Housing Benefit or Universal Credit claimants who are under 35 years of age, living on their own, and renting privately.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support veterans who were advised to claim Personal Independence Payment instead of Armed Forces Independence Payment.

Veterans are able to access the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS), which provides compensation for injury or illness caused or made worse by Service on or after 6 April 2005. For serious injuries and illness, the AFCS provides a tax-free index-linked income stream known as the Guaranteed Income Payment (GIP). The Armed Forces Independence Payment (AFIP) is an additional allowance which provides financial support for eligible service personnel and veterans who have an AFCS GIP. It is an alternative to PIP (and other disability benefits), based on separate eligibility criteria, but paid at the same rate as the combined enhanced daily living and mobility components. The eligibility criteria for AFIP is not due to change.

If a veteran is advised to claim PIP rather than AFIP, it is most likely due to the fact that they would not be eligible for AFIP. If the long-term condition or disability is not service-related or if the GIP is below 50% of the veteran's salary, then PIP would be considered rather than AFIP.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of proposed changes to disability benefit on demand for NHS services.

No assessment has yet been made.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab).

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the rate of clawback on Universal Credit on people employed with (a) irregular and (b) low incomes.

The government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to drive up opportunity and drive down poverty across the UK. As announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Budget, a new Fair Repayment Rate has now been introduced from 30 April 2025, reducing the Universal Credit (UC) overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of a customer’s UC standard allowance. This measure will help approximately 1.2 million of the poorest households benefit by an average of £420 a year.

The Department has also committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to, to make work pay and tackle poverty.

A key part of UC’s core design is that it supports customers with their finances. As part of our work to review UC, we are working with expert stakeholders to understand the impacts and causes as well as considering the ways in which we can better support customers who experience irregular or fluctuating household income.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the four-point minimum eligibility threshold on the ability of people with (a) fluctuating illnesses and (b) Myalgic Encephalomyelitis to claim PIP.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab).

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of its proposed changes to disability benefits on demand for local authority social care services.

No assessment has been made.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab).

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of its proposed disability benefit changes on rates of homelessness.

No assessment has been made.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab).

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of its proposed disability benefit changes on children's educational attainment.

No assessment has been made.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab).

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
30th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of enabling local authorities access to up-to-date Universal Credit claimant data for all claimants in their area.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recognises the benefits of further Universal Credit data sharing with Local Authorities to support vulnerable citizens.

DWP is working on a project to do exactly this, and aims to have delivered a test version to a small group of LAs by Spring 2026. Subject to this test being successful, we will roll this out to all LAs during the rest of 2026.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the proposed changes to disability benefits set out in the (a) Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025 and (b) report entitled Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms - Impacts, published on 26 March 2025 on demand for (i) NHS and (ii) adult social-care services.

No assessment has been made.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab).

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
30th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing people who accumulate points across multiple Personal Independence Payment activities, but do not score four points in any single activity, to retain their entitlement.

PIP is an important, non-means tested benefit for disabled people and people with health conditions – regardless of whether they are in or out of work. However, the rate of increases in claims and expenditure is not sustainable and has outstripped the growth in disability prevalence. Changes are needed that will control the spend on the welfare bill, while continuing to support those people with higher needs relating to their long-term health condition or disability.

In our Pathways to Work Green Paper we announced that we will introduce a new eligibility requirement to ensure that only those who score a minimum of four points in at least one daily living activity will be eligible for the daily living component of PIP. This requirement will need to be met in addition to the existing PIP eligibility criteria.

This will focus PIP more on those with the greatest needs, who are unable to complete activities at all, or who require more help from others to complete them. This means that people who have lower needs only in the daily living activities (scoring three or less for each activity) will no longer be eligible for the daily living component of PIP.

Our intention is that this change will apply to new claims and award reviews from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
2nd May 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when a person who reached state pension age before 2016 would become entitled to their basic state pension.

The basic State Pension was available for those who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016.

Men were eligible for basic State Pension at age 65. Women born prior to 6 April 1950 were eligible for the basic State Pension at age 60.

Following changes to the State Pension age due to the Pensions Act 1995, women born from 6 April 1950 to 5 April 1953 were eligible for the basic State Pension on a phased basis between 6 May 2010 and 6 March 2016. They had a State Pension age of between 60 years and one day and 63 years.

Details can be found in Table 1 here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f02e640f0b62305b84929/spa-timetable.pdf

Torsten Bell
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
28th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to apply for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal from the Upper Tribunal judgement Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v MJ [2025] UKUT 035 (AAC).

In relation to the recent judgment in Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v MJ [2025] UKUT 035 (AAC), the Secretary of State will not be seeking permission to appeal the outcome.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people who receive notifications of their Personal Independence Payment award being reviewed before the implementation of the proposed changes to the eligibility criteria will be assessed in relation to the existing criteria if that review is not completed until after their implementation.

We have committed to introduce a new requirement that, in addition to the existing eligibility criteria, claimants must score a minimum of four points in at least one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment. There will be no immediate changes. Our intention is that the changes will apply to new claims and award reviews that are undertaken from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval.

For those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, we are consulting on how best to support this group, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's planned timeline is for the (a) launch and (b) operational availability of non-government pensions dashboards.

Private sector (non-government) dashboards will be launched when the Secretary of State is satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem is ready to support widespread use by the general public, following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority. Insights gained from the launch and operation of the MoneyHelper will help inform this.

The Secretary of State will announce the date for the public availability of private sector dashboards at least six months in advance, in line with the Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022.

Torsten Bell
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential implications for her policies of the report by Amnesty International entitled Social Insecurity Report, published on 25 April 2025.

The UK Government takes its international obligations seriously and values the insights provided by Amnesty International and notes their recommendations.

The UK Government is committed to tackling poverty across the UK. Good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach. The proposals in our plan for Making Work Pay and our Get Britain Working White Paper and our urgent work to bring forward our Child Poverty Strategy reflect our commitment to delivering lasting change.

Alongside this as announced in our Pathways to Work Green Paper we will establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work.

Alison McGovern
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help (a) increase awareness of and (b) mitigate the health risks faced by night workers.

Reducing ill health at work is an important area of focus for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as outlined in their strategic objectives. One of the ways this is achieved is supporting employers to protect their workers’ health and keep them in the workforce. Having considered the impact of shift work on health and safety, HSE has published free guidance for employers to support them in managing the risk (Managing shift work [HSG 256]).

Under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 all employers have a duty, so far as it is reasonably practicable, to protect the health, safety, and welfare at work of all their employees. Specifically, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess health and safety risks to employees and to put in place arrangements to control those risks. Therefore, if an employer assesses night work as a risk they should introduce control measures including those outlined in the guidance.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the two child limit on survivors of domestic abuse.

No such assessment has been made.

DWP is fully committed to the prevention of abuse and ensuring that victims/survivors get the support they need when they need it. Supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse can help bring down barriers to help citizens towards work.

DWP Jobcentres are a safe space with domestic abuse trained Work Coaches who provide support to victims/survivors of domestic abuse, for example assisting with new Universal Credit claims, work-related easements, special provisions for temporary accommodation, same day advances, and signposting to expert third-party services.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the limited capability for work and work related activity element of Universal Credit on disabled people in residential care aged under 22.

The Department has not yet made such an assessment and does not hold the requested information. We will consider the impacts of our changes for groups which may be affected as part of our wider consideration of responses to the consultation as we develop detailed proposals for change. Following the consultation, we will bring forward a White Paper in autumn 2025 to set out our full proposals.

We are clear in the Green Paper that the social security system will always be there for those who cannot work. As part of making changes to the payment rates in Universal Credit, we will aim to guarantee that those with the most severe, lifelong conditions who will never be able to work have their incomes protected.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of disabled people in specialist education colleges who could be affected by the proposal to change the eligibility criteria for the (a) Limited Capability for Work and (b) Work-Related Activity group to people aged 22 and over.

The Department has not yet made such an assessment and does not hold the requested information. We will consider the impacts of our changes for groups which may be affected as part of our wider consideration of responses to the consultation as we develop detailed proposals for change. Following the consultation, we will bring forward a White Paper in autumn 2025 to set out our full proposals.

We are clear in the Green Paper that the social security system will always be there for those who cannot work. As part of making changes to the payment rates in Universal Credit, we will aim to guarantee that those with the most severe, lifelong conditions who will never be able to work have their incomes protected.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
28th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of restricting eligibility for Winter Fuel Payments on levels of pensioner poverty in rural areas.

The last Labour Government lifted over one million pensioners out of poverty, and this Government – despite having to make the tough decisions to deal with our dire inheritance remains absolutely committed to supporting pensioners and giving them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement.

Winter Fuel Payments will continue to be paid to pensioner households with someone receiving Pension Credit or other qualifying means-tested benefits or tax credits. They will continue to be worth £200 for eligible households, or £300 for eligible households with someone aged 80 or over.

The latest Pension Credit applications and awards statistics were published on 27 February and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pension-credit-applications-and-awards-february-2025/pension-credit-applications-and-awards-february-2025

The statistics show that the Department received 235,000 Pension Credit applications in the 30 weeks since the Winter Fuel Payment announcement – an 81% increase on the comparable period in 2023/24 and made 117,800 new Pension Credit awards – a 64% increase or 45,800 extra awards on the comparable period in 2023/24.

We are honouring our commitment to the Triple Lock. In April, the basic and new State Pensions increased by 4.1% and some 12 million pensioners will see an increase of up to £470 over this financial year. Our commitment to the Triple Lock also means that spending on State Pensions is forecast to rise by around £31 billion over this Parliament.

And while the State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people, other help is also available for low-income pensioners. This includes Cold Weather Payments in England & Wales; help with energy bills via the Warm Home Discount scheme as well as the Household Support Fund in England which we extended for a further year with funding of £742 million, with corresponding funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula.

Torsten Bell
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
28th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's consultation Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, updated 7 April 2025, whether she plans to amend eligibility to (a) disability premiums and (b) other passported benefits in Scotland.

The Pathways to Work Green Paper, published in March 2025, sets out our plans to reform health and disability benefits and employment support and opened a consultation on certain reforms. The consultation extends to Scotland, but the proposals will only apply to UK Government’s areas of responsibility. DWP Ministers are engaging with Scottish Government throughout the consultation period and beyond.

The interactions of the reformed system, in particular the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment and the introduction of a PIP passporting model and the implications for Devolved Governments, will need to be fully considered before being implemented. This will be particularly important in Scotland as PIP is devolved and has been replaced by Adult Disability Payment, so we will carefully consider how entitlement to the UC health element will be determined for people in Scotland.

DWP currently treats Scottish Government’s disability benefits in the same way as the equivalent DWP benefits for the purposes of reserved premia and additions. Whilst this will be kept under review, it will in any event be necessary for the UK Government to ensure that people in Scotland are not disadvantaged in the reserved benefit system compared with people in England and Wales.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
28th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with her counterpart in the Scottish government on the proposed changes to eligibility for the Personal Independence Payment.

The Pathways to Work Green Paper, published in March 2025, sets out our plans to reform health and disability benefits and employment support and opened a consultation on certain reforms. The consultation extends to Scotland, but the proposals will only apply to UK Government’s areas of responsibility. DWP Ministers are engaging with Scottish Government throughout the consultation period and beyond.

The interactions of the reformed system, in particular the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment and the introduction of a PIP passporting model and the implications for Devolved Governments, will need to be fully considered before being implemented. This will be particularly important in Scotland as PIP is devolved and has been replaced by Adult Disability Payment, so we will carefully consider how entitlement to the UC health element will be determined for people in Scotland.

DWP currently treats Scottish Government’s disability benefits in the same way as the equivalent DWP benefits for the purposes of reserved premia and additions. Whilst this will be kept under review, it will in any event be necessary for the UK Government to ensure that people in Scotland are not disadvantaged in the reserved benefit system compared with people in England and Wales.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
28th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, how Scottish claimants would access the health element of Universal Credit, in the context of the planned use of the single Personal Independence Payment assessment for this purpose.

The Pathways to Work Green Paper, published in March 2025, sets out our plans to reform health and disability benefits and employment support and opened a consultation on certain reforms. The consultation extends to Scotland, but the proposals will only apply to UK Government’s areas of responsibility. DWP Ministers are engaging with Scottish Government throughout the consultation period and beyond.

The interactions of the reformed system, in particular the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment and the introduction of a PIP passporting model and the implications for Devolved Governments, will need to be fully considered before being implemented. This will be particularly important in Scotland as PIP is devolved and has been replaced by Adult Disability Payment, so we will carefully consider how entitlement to the UC health element will be determined for people in Scotland.

DWP currently treats Scottish Government’s disability benefits in the same way as the equivalent DWP benefits for the purposes of reserved premia and additions. Whilst this will be kept under review, it will in any event be necessary for the UK Government to ensure that people in Scotland are not disadvantaged in the reserved benefit system compared with people in England and Wales.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
28th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people resident in the European Economic Area claimed New Style Job Seekers Allowance in the last three years.

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

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
28th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people resident in Switzerland claimed New Style Jobseeker's Allowance in the last three years.

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

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
28th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people living in the EU claimed Personal Independence Payment in each year since 2020.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. This is because we only centrally record if a PIP claimant is abroad, not the individual country.

For eligibility to PIP, you can be abroad for up to 13 weeks without your PIP claim being affected. This is 26 weeks if you are going abroad for medically necessary treatment. We have no current plans to change the eligibility rules.

The total number of PIP claimants living abroad can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. You can use the ‘Geography’ and ‘Month’ filters to restrict to claimants living abroad from 2020. You will need to expand ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’, ‘DWP policy ownership’ and then select ‘Abroad’.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is also available here: Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide - GOV.UK.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
28th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people living in Switzerland received Personal Independence Payments in each year since 2020.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. This is because we only centrally record if a PIP claimant is abroad, not the individual country.

For eligibility to PIP, you can be abroad for up to 13 weeks without your PIP claim being affected. This is 26 weeks if you are going abroad for medically necessary treatment. We have no current plans to change the eligibility rules.

The total number of PIP claimants living abroad can be found on Stat Xplore. The requested data can be found in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ dataset. You can use the ‘Geography’ and ‘Month’ filters to restrict to claimants living abroad from 2020. You will need to expand ‘National – Regional – LA – OAs’, ‘DWP policy ownership’ and then select ‘Abroad’.

You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore is also available here: Personal Independence Payment data on Stat-Xplore: user guide - GOV.UK.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
28th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help long-term unemployed back into work.

The Get Britain Working White Paper set out the biggest reforms to employment support for a generation to support our ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate.

The Department for Work and Pensions will shift from being a department for employment support and welfare to being a department for work. This means a new, locally led system of work and health support being available for those who are unemployed, bringing together existing locally delivered employment support as a single coherent offer that is part of areas’ local growth plans.

In the Autumn 2024 Budget, £240 million funding for the White Paper measures was announced. This funding is helping us deliver and build on labour market reforms to Get Britain Working. The funding included:

  • £55m funding for both the digital development of the new public employment and careers service and the tests and trials for its development.

  • £170m for 16 trailblazers, 8 testing delivery of the Youth Guarantee in areas across England and 8 to tackle economic inactivity through increased engagement and tailored approaches in England and Wales.

  • An additional £15m to support trailblazers and development of local GBW plans.

These measures complement contracted employment support for the long-term unemployed.

Alison McGovern
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
28th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of mechanisms for transferring pensions.

The Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Conditions for Transfers) Regulations 2021 were introduced to protect pension savers against the threat of scams by enabling trustees to pause or halt a transfer in certain circumstances.

DWP conducted a year long review of the regulations in 2022, as agreed with the Work and Pensions Select Committee.

The review concluded that the measures had been largely successful in delivering the policy intent, approximately 2000 potentially fraudulent transfers were blocked during the period considered and industry participants confirmed that there remained an ongoing need for the enhanced protection the regulations provide.

However, whilst feedback concerning the protections was positive, findings of the review also suggested that the practical application of some parts of the regulations may have caused administrative issues in certain areas.

DWP officials are conducting work with other government departments and industry representatives to consider if changes could be made to improve the transfer process whilst ensuring that appropriate protections remain in place.

Torsten Bell
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
1st May 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 43065 on Pension Credit, if she will make an assessment of the accuracy of her Department’s impact assessment on the decision to remove the winter fuel payment.

In line with the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty, an Equality Analysis was produced and considered as part of the ministerial decision-making process. This was published on 13 September and is available online: Equality Impact Assessments produced for targeting Winter Fuel Payment - GOV.UK . The Department will continue to monitor outcomes for pensioners.

Torsten Bell
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
28th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department is taking steps to amend regulations on mechanisms for transferring pensions between scheme providers.

Following commitments made in response to the review, DWP has conducted extensive work with the FCA, HMT, The Pensions Regulator and the pensions industry to consider if the practical application of the transfer regulations could be improved, whilst retaining appropriate levels of protection for pension scheme members.

DWP Officials continue to develop this work and we will look to formally share the outcome as soon as is practical.

Torsten Bell
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
30th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the forthcoming Pensions Schemes Bill on the ability of Pension Scheme Administrators to support the the transfer of defined benefit pension schemes to insurance providers.

An Impact Assessment will be published alongside the Pension Schemes Bill.

Torsten Bell
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
23rd Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the the potential merits of writing off historical Carer’s Allowance overpayments in cases involving small or inadvertent breaches of the earnings limit.

The Government inherited a system where busy carers, already struggling under a huge weight of responsibility, have been left having to repay large sums of overpaid Carer’s Allowance (CA) – sometimes worth thousands of pounds.

We needed to understand exactly what had gone wrong so we could set out our plan to put things right. That is why we launched an Independent Review of earnings-related overpayments of CA. The review is investigating how overpayments of CA have occurred; what can best be done to support those who have accrued them; and how to reduce the risk of these problems occurring in future. It is anticipated that the Independent Review will arrive at its conclusions this summer. We will, of course, carefully consider the findings of the review and its recommendations. Both the report from the Independent Review and the Government’s response will be published.

We have been clear (including in the Terms of Reference) that the review is not a substitute for legal proceedings (Mandatory Reconsiderations/Appeals) and the existence of the review does not prejudice any business-as-usual activity by DWP. It would not be appropriate to speculate on the findings of the review or any potential outcomes.

Where overpayments do occur, the Department has a duty to the taxpayer to protect public funds and to ask for money to be paid back. We remain committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and will always look to negotiate sustainable and affordable repayment plans.

Andrew Western
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of freezing Local Housing Allowance on future levels of homelessness.

The causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and often complex; they interact dynamically making it very difficult to isolate the relative importance of individual factors. We work closely with other departments, including MHCLG, to ensure the impacts of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) on homelessness are considered.

This included consideration in last year’s Autumn Budget not to increase LHA rates for 2025/26. Rental data, the impacts of LHA rates, rate increases in April 2024, and the wider fiscal context were all considered. The April 2024 one-year LHA increase cost an additional £1.2bn in 2024/25 and approximately £7bn over 5 years.

We continue to work across Government on the development of the Homelessness and Rough-sleeping strategy. Any future decisions on LHA policy will be taken in the context of the Government’s missions, goals on housing and the fiscal context.

For those who need further support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. DHPs can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
29th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 13 December 2023 to Question 5974 on Universal Credit: Children, what recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of deductions from Universal Credit payments on trends in the level of (a) relative and (b) absolute child poverty.

Estimating the impact of deductions on trends in poverty is complex as stopping deductions would result in a build-up of arrears of the range of debts a customer has and stop vital obligations such as child maintenance being paid.

The government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to drive up opportunity and drive down poverty across the UK. As announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Budget, a new Fair Repayment Rate has now been introduced from 30 April 2025, reducing the Universal Credit (UC) overall deductions cap from 25% to 15% of a customer’s UC standard allowance. This measure will help approximately 1.2 million of the poorest households benefit by an average of £420 a year.

Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
25th Apr 2025
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to reduce the time taken to process voluntary National Insurance contributions for people who contacted her Department before 5 April 2025.

The Department has doubled the number of people supporting this important activity and is pursuing digital routes to support processing Voluntary National Insurance Contributions.

Torsten Bell
Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)