Asked by: Lord Sikka (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the impact assessment of the Spring Statement's announcement of health and disability benefit reforms, which estimates an additional 250,000 people will be in relative poverty after housing costs in 2029–30, what assessment they have made of the likely increase in homelessness.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made. The figure quoted does not take account of additional employment arising from the enhancements to employment support announced in the Green Paper, about which the Office for Budget Responsibility has announced that it will produce an impact assessment in the autumn. It also does not take account of any measures to be announced in the forthcoming Child Poverty strategy.
Further information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, in addition to the information 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.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to remove the two-child benefit limit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government has been clear that all our policies are costed and fully funded, and we will only make commitments we know we can keep.
Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy which will deliver lasting change.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraphs 139 and 140 of her Department's publication entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what evidence base was used to determined that claimants who score a minimum of four points in at least one daily living activity have higher needs.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
PIP provides a contribution to extra costs, but, over recent years, claims have increased significantly, outstripping the growth in disability prevalence. Changes are needed to put benefit spending on a sustainable footing so it can be there for people who need it in the future, while continuing to support those people with higher needs relating to their long-term health condition or disability.
Some people get PIP from scoring 1, 2 or 3 points, arising from needs which could individually be managed with small interventions or the addition of an aid or appliance. Focusing PIP on those with a higher level of functional need in at least one activity - people who are unable to complete activities at all, or who require more help from others to complete them – will ensure that PIP is sustainable now and into the future.
Our intention is that the changes will apply to new claims and award reviews from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval. For those already on PIP, the changes to PIP eligibility will only apply at their next award review. We are also consulting on how best to support those who lose entitlement due to the reforms, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met.
Alongside the introduction of this new requirement, in the Green Paper, we promised to review the PIP assessment by working with disabled people, disabled people’s organisations, and other experts. As announced by the Secretary of State in the House of Commons on 12 April, we have started the first phase of the review. I will be meeting with stakeholders to develop the scope and terms of reference of the review and will keep the House updated as this work progresses.
On decision making more broadly, we ensure a high standard is maintained for PIP assessments through having an Independent Audit function that continually monitors the performance of assessment providers. At the decision-making stage, we have a multi-tiered Quality Assurance Framework to ensure decisions are legal and payments are accurate.
Asked by: Baroness Finn (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of successful claims for (1) personal independence payment, and (2) universal credit with a limited capability for work and work-related activity payment, were made without any supporting medical evidence in the most recent 12-month period, broken down by (a) age cohort, (b) primary medical condition category, and (c) assessment modality.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The Department does not hold data centrally on whether any supporting medical evidence was provided for a claimant’s application. Obtaining such data would require a manual search of individual records.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
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 adequacy of waiting times for cases to be allocated to a Resolution Specialist at The Pensions Ombudsman.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Pension Ombudsman (TPO) has experienced a significant increase in complaints over the past several years, and this trend is continuing. This has impacted on waiting times for cases to be allocated to a resolution specialist. In response to this pressure, TPO has implemented an Operating Model Review (OMR) programme.
DWP are working closely with TPO to rigorously monitor the impact the OMR is having on waiting times and case allocation to resolution specialists.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 22 April 2025 to Question 44809 on Local Housing Allowance: Wales, what (a) metrics, (b) data points and (c) analysis were used to determine the impacts of Local Housing Allowance rates referenced his Answer; and whether the effect on the number of households becoming homeless was factored into that analysis.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The impacts referenced in the previous answer were determined using a wide variety of metrics, data and analysis. These included:
As covered in the previous answer, the causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and interact dynamically. This makes it very difficult to isolate the relative importance of individual factors such as individual benefit rates. But interactions with key measures such as Temporary Accommodation were considered with input from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
At Autumn Budget the Government prioritised a downpayment on poverty, by introducing a Fair Payment Rate for Universal Credit (UC) customers with deductions to retain more of their benefit award. We have invested £1bn in extending the Household Support Fund and maintaining Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) at current levels (including Barnett impacts) for 2025/26.
We continue to work across Government on the development of the Homelessness and Rough \Sleeping strategy in England. Housing and homelessness policy is devolved to Wales.
Any future decisions on LHA policy will be taken in the context of the Government’s missions, goals on housing and the fiscal context.
DHPs are available from local authorities and can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of cuts to (a) Personal Independence Payments and (b) the health top-up in Universal Credit on people with (i) moderate and (ii) fluctuating conditions.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made on the impacts of the reforms on claimants with particular health conditions.
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).
The Pathways to Work Green Paper sets out a number of planned improvements to the assessment process for Personal Independence Payment. Our aim is to improve the quality of decision making, including for those whose conditions are fluctuating.
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, what estimate she has made of the number of people that will receive additional (a) employment, (b) health and (c) skills support through funding announced in the Spring Statement 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would 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, backed up by £1 billion of new funding. This investment will build on existing support from WorkWell, Connect to Work and the Get Britain Working trailblazers.
As the Green Paper notes, we are keen to engage widely on the design of this guarantee and the components needed to deliver it. To get this right, we will be seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders including devolved governments, local health systems, local government and Mayoral Strategic Authorities, private and voluntary sector organisations in the private, voluntary and charitable sectors, employers and potential users. We will confirm further details about the support offer and how many people will receive support in due course after we have completed our consultation process.
We will be developing more detailed assessments of the potential impacts of the employment measures proposed in the Green Paper as these are developed in detail. The Office for Budget Responsibility has also stated that it intends to assess the labour supply impacts of the Green Paper measures in their Autumn forecast.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to help tackle underpayments of the State Pensions in the last five years.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department has undertaken a range of steps over the past 5 years to address underpayments of State Pension. Details about this activity can be found online via the following link: State Pension underpayments: progress on cases - GOV.UK
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she plans to take to ensure that pensioners who are earning below £11,400 are able to obtain winter fuel allowance.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Pension Credit provides extra money to help with living costs for people over State Pension age and on a low income. The Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit tops up a person’s other income and also prompts recipients to receive a Winter Fuel Payment to a minimum of £227.10 per week for a single person and £346.60 per week for couples with extra amounts paid in respect of severe disability, caring responsibilities and certain housing costs. We want to ensure as many people as possible who are entitled to this support receive it, which is why the Government has taken action to maximise the take-up of Pension Credit by undertaking the biggest ever awareness campaign. This has included promoting Pension Credit on television, radio, social media as well as directly contacting pensioners who we think could be eligible alongside working with stakeholders and partners.
The latest Pension Credit applications and awards statistics were published on 27 February. Details can be found at: Pension Credit applications and awards: February 2025 - GOV.UK.
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.