Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 29 April 2025, Official Report, col 236, how many sickfluencers have been prosecuted under the (a) Fraud Act 2006 and (b) Serious Crime Act 2007.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the honourable member to the answer given to PQ 50195 on 12 May 2025.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that people claiming Personal Independence Payments with chronic health conditions are not subject to reviews unless there is evidence of significant change in their circumstances.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Reviews are an important feature of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) ensuring the
support continues to meet the individual’s needs, as circumstances can change over time, and to make sure the correct level of support is being provided.
People who receive the highest level of PIP and whose needs will not improve receive an ongoing PIP award with a light touch review at the 10-year point. The light touch review is
intended to maintain a minimal level of contact with claimants to ensure nothing has changed and that we hold up to date information such as contact details.
In the Pathways to Work Green Paper published on 18 March, we announced that we are considering ways to improve communication with people receiving these ongoing awards in PIP to ensure they provide the right reassurance for people whose conditions are unlikely to change and who are likely to remain on disability benefits for life that they will not be required to undergo regular award reviews.
We have also launched a review of the PIP assessment, which I am leading. During this first phase of the review, I am speaking to stakeholders to gather views on how best to approach the review. We will then publish the Terms of Reference in due course.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of enabling people to verify their (a) income and (b) identity online through secure access to their benefit data.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All claimants must answer security questions to confirm they are who they say they are, to protect their information and prevent fraud. When a claimant creates a UC account, they must complete security questions. When a claimant signs into their account, they will need to complete their security questions, answering exactly as they initially entered them.
If the claimant phones us, we will ask them their security questions.
The UC application process is different for each claimant, including those from remote and island communities. When applying for UC, a claimant must confirm their identity by using the on-line service, as part of the claim process. Where a claimant has not attempted online verification, or has attempted and failed, then they will be asked to attend a face-to-face interview (F2F). This is to ensure the claimant is who they say they are, and to prevent fraud.
If a claimant is having a problem verifying their identity online and has not been able to do this, the Jobcentre will call and book an appointment to verify the claimant’s identity. Appointments may be by phone, or face-to-face in our Jobcentres.
Further information about verifying identify can be found on Understanding Universal Credit - How to claim.
Asked by: Baroness Coffey (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the official statistics Child Maintenance Service statistics: data to December 2024, published 25 March, how many of the 68,000 paying parents who paid no maintenance via the Collect and Pay service in the last quarter of 2024 are undergoing an enforcement process; and how many of those have (1) agreed a repayment plan, (2) had deductions from earning applied, (3) had deductions from benefits applied, (4) had a request for deductions from earnings applied, (5) had a deduction order from a bank account or saving account applied, (6) had assets seized, (7) had passports seized, (8) had driving licences seized, (9) had criminal charged laid, and (10) had other enforcement action taken.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) has a wide range of enforcement powers and is committed to using these fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families to tackle non-paying Collect and Pay cases and challenge non-compliant behaviours. CMS will always attempt to secure alternative methods of payments to gain improved compliance in cases where this fails.
The CMS Collect and Pay service with ‘nil compliance’, i.e. those who paid no maintenance, in the quarter ending December 2024, is published on Stat-Xplore and shown in the table below.
Method of payment for Paying Parents using the CMS Collect and Pay service with ‘nil compliance’, October to December 2024
Method of Payment | No of Paying Parents with nil compliance |
No Collect & Pay Liability | .. |
Bank Head Office Collection Account | .. |
Direct Debit | 751 |
Deduction from Earnings Order | 8,410 |
Deduction from Earnings Request | 58 |
Deduction from Benefits | 24,471 |
Standing Order (Default) | 30,834 |
Payment Offset | 9 |
Unspecified | 92 |
Standing Order (Voluntary) | 3,051 |
Not available | .. |
Total | 67,673 |
Source: Stat-Xplore
Quarterly enforcement statistics are regularly published in the CMS National Tables, however it is not possible to link these statistics to the published compliance statistics within the disproportionate cost limit.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential (a) economic and (b) social impact of enabling Universal Credit recipients to share their benefit data with consent with regulated third parties.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Customers can choose to share their information with third parties, including Universal Credit statements.
As a modern digital service Universal Credit is iterated all the time. We are always looking to make improvements to the design and build. Universal Credit undertake user research with customers and stakeholders to gain feedback on their experiences and suggestions for improvements. We always take into consideration the users of the service, including individual impacts as well as any wider implications which involve customers and their data.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the cost to the NHS as a result of the changes to PIP in the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No formal assessment has been made.
We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including how to make sure health and care needs are met, and we are working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care on this.
At the heart of our reforms is a drive to protect the most vulnerable while ensuring disabled people and people with health conditions are given equal chances and choices to get jobs and stay in work. Through these reforms, we will be investing an extra £1bn a year in employment support by the end of the decade, in addition to work we have already begun. We know from evaluations and analysis that the department has published that good work is good for people’s mental and physical health, and that giving people support to get jobs provides an overall saving to the Exchequer and to society, including by reducing the costs and pressures on the NHS.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many compensation payments the Child Maintenance Service has made to parents following complaints from (a) parents and (b) MPs in relation to the service received by those parents in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.