Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the impact of benefit sanctions on (1) the mental health of claimants, (2) levels of household debt, and (3) food bank use.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We engage on an individual level with all of our claimants and are committed to tailoring support to their individual needs. This includes agreeing realistic and structured steps to encourage claimants into, or closer to, work, where appropriate. These conditionality requirements are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain appropriate for the claimant. This would include tailoring to reflect any mental health issues the claimant raised.
When considering whether a sanction is appropriate, a Decision Maker will take the claimant’s individual circumstances, including any health conditions or disabilities and any evidence of good reason, into account before deciding whether a sanction is warranted.
The Fair Repayment Rate (FRR) was implemented on 30 April 2025; this meant the overall deductions cap was reduced from 25% to 15% of a customer’s Universal Credit Standard Allowance. Approximately 1.2 million Universal Credit households with deductions will retain more of their award, on average, £420 a year or £35 per month.
Asked by: Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any potential abuses of the Motability Scheme, and what consideration they have given to reforms that might better target those in need.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is responsible for the disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP), that provides a passport to the Motability scheme.
The Department takes benefit fraud extremely seriously. Whilst Motability is independent of government, the Department meets with Motability regularly to discuss the scheme, including how it is taking action against any misuse.
The PIP mobility element is in scope of the Timms Review, which aims to ensure PIP is fair and fit for the future.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2025 to Question 83176 on Universal Credit, how many and what proportion of claims were made by people with the support of a paid interpreter; and what was the the total cost of (a) translation and (b) interpretation for supporting claimants in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not retain data on how many and what proportion of Universal Credit claims were made by people requiring the support of paid interpretation services. The breakdown of costs for translation and interpretation across all benefits including Universal Credit, from 2019/2020 to present is shown below. This data is not available prior to 2019.
| Translation Costs (including Pension Credit Customers) | Interpretation Costs |
2019/20 | £ 472,539 | £ 2,219,613 |
2020/21 | £ 398,270 | £ 3,537,872 |
2021/22 | £ 518,927 | £ 6,823,140 |
2022/23 | £ 641,747 | £ 5,668,822 |
2023/24 | £ 677,614 | £ 6,195,053 |
2024/25 | £ 919,390 | £ 8,676,773 |
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants were recorded in the last 12 months who were categorised as (1) refugees, (2) having pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, (3) having settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, (4) having indefinite leave to remain, and (5) having limited leave to remain.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To access Universal Credit a person must be British, Irish, have a right of abode, or have a valid UK immigration status that permits recourse to public funds as well as meeting all the other entitlement conditions. The Department recently published Universal Credit Immigration status and Nationality summary statistics through ODS tables on GOV.UK.
For statistical production purposes, immigration status data has been categorised into 8 groups (see attached document).
Taken from the published statistics, the following table shows the number of people on Universal Credit by immigration status for each month from August 2024 to July 2025. The additional breakdowns requested for the EU Settlement Scheme are not readily available and to provide them would incur disproportionate cost.
Total number of people on Universal Credit by Immigration status each month from August 2024 to July 2025, Great Britain
Immigration status by month | CTA - UK, Ireland, Right of Abode | EU Settlement Scheme | Humanitarian | Refugee | Indefinite Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) | Limited Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) including Family Reunion | Other | No immigration status recorded on digital systems |
Jul-25 | 6,702,864 | 770,213 | 54,259 | 120,040 | 213,666 | 75,471 | 33,387 | 31,340 |
Jun-25 | 6,567,506 | 764,429 | 53,810 | 117,623 | 210,513 | 74,694 | 32,998 | 29,912 |
May-25 | 6,457,433 | 763,687 | 78,323 | 90,709 | 208,348 | 74,322 | 32,880 | 30,789 |
Apr-25 | 6,400,356 | 765,451 | 78,780 | 90,217 | 204,378 | 75,506 | 33,300 | 31,468 |
Mar-25 | 6,321,762 | 764,489 | 76,418 | 91,350 | 198,973 | 76,960 | 32,829 | 32,315 |
Feb-25 | 6,249,383 | 762,478 | 75,466 | 90,619 | 194,303 | 76,918 | 32,866 | 33,054 |
Jan-25 | 6,138,815 | 757,768 | 68,526 | 95,882 | 187,556 | 77,237 | 31,908 | 34,060 |
Dec-24 | 6,104,580 | 759,179 | 53,291 | 112,472 | 179,482 | 79,539 | 32,141 | 34,792 |
Nov-24 | 6,034,441 | 755,941 | 52,210 | 113,186 | 165,869 | 86,973 | 31,783 | 35,770 |
Oct-24 | 5,935,808 | 748,299 | 51,214 | 110,816 | 160,615 | 89,054 | 30,840 | 37,059 |
Sep-24 | 5,862,022 | 739,155 | 51,132 | 110,535 | 159,504 | 88,326 | 29,957 | 38,184 |
Aug-24 | 5,760,130 | 734,637 | 51,309 | 110,834 | 155,939 | 87,182 | 29,451 | 39,332 |
Source: Universal Credit Immigration status and nationality summary statistics
Notes
Asked by: Lord Godson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants were recorded in non-UK immigration status groups in each year since 2019.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To access Universal Credit a person must be British, Irish, have a right of abode, or have a valid UK immigration status that permits recourse to public funds as well as meeting all the other entitlement conditions. The Department recently published Universal Credit Immigration status and Nationality summary statistics through ODS tables on GOV.UK.
For statistical production purposes, immigration status data has been categorised into 8 groups (further details provided in Table Guidance in the attached document).
Taken from the published statistics, the following table shows the number of people on Universal Credit by immigration status for each April from 2022 to 2025. Data is not held prior to April 2022.
Total number of people on Universal Credit by Immigration status for April 2022 to April 2025, Great Britain
Immigration status by month | CTA – UK, Ireland, Right of Abode | EU Settlement Scheme | Humanitarian | Refugee | Indefinite Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) | Limited Leave to Remain (not EU Settlement Scheme) including Family Reunion | Other | No immigration status recorded on digital systems |
Apr-25 | 6,400,356 | 765,451 | 78,780 | 90,217 | 204,378 | 75,506 | 33,300 | 31,468 |
Apr-24 | 5,519,088 | 720,365 | 49,817 | 107,486 | 142,884 | 84,558 | 27,134 | 25,894 |
Apr-23 | 4,859,348 | 671,620 | 47,020 | 75,372 | 113,548 | 77,363 | 16,590 | 35,846 |
Apr-22 | 4,611,046 | 644,847 | 3,221 | 64,423 | 95,612 | 68,883 | 6,484 | 51,600 |
Source: Universal Credit Immigration status and nationality summary statistics
Notes
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to increase the availability of the test digital service for applicants for (a) the Personal Independence Payment and (b) other benefits in (i) Horsham constituency and (ii) other areas.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are enabling customers to complete parts of their application online, as announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper. We are also planning to increase the number of face-to-face assessments.
We are transforming the way in which DWP delivers services, including the provision of online and self-serve options, while protecting and improving other channels.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent assessment they have made of the effectiveness of benefit sanctions in supporting claimants into sustained employment.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions published a draft report on the Impact of Benefit Sanctions on Employment Outcomes, on the 6th April 2023.
The draft report is available on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-impact-of-benefit-sanctions-on-employment-outcomes-draft-report
And can also be found in the attached document.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 encourage self-employed workers to pay into private pension funds.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The proportion of the self-employed who are saving into a pension has fallen significantly from almost 50% in the late 1990s to less than 20% at present. While self-employed workers are not eligible for Automatic Enrolment, the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) must accept individuals who are self-employed, meeting certain conditions, who wish to join a pension scheme.
The Department is currently working with Nest Insight and partners to test potential solutions. The Pensions Commission will also explore steps to improve pension outcomes, especially for those at the greatest risk of undersaving, such as self-employed workers.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were employed by the (a) Pensions Regulator and (b) Health and Safety Executive in each year since 2005.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Pensions Regulator and Health and Safety Executive are directly accountable to Parliament. The information requested is published in their respective annual report and accounts, which are laid before the House of Commons and publicly available.
Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of women born in the 1950s who have died since 21 March 2024.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) and National Records Scotland (NRS) publish annual data on deaths by sex and age group on their websites.