Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to safeguard members' benefits when a sponsoring employer seeks to extract pension scheme surpluses.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Currently, some Defined Benefit schemes can already consider releasing their surplus under existing rules. The Pension Schemes Bill will provide more flexibility for trustees of these and other well-funded schemes to safely share some surplus with employers and members. This is underpinned with strict funding safeguards to ensure members’ pensions are protected.
Scheme trustees are required to act in the interest of scheme beneficiaries and will be responsible for agreeing to any decisions on surplus release. Schemes will also need to meet a minimum funding level and require actuarial certification before the release of any surplus. Further, our scheme funding regulations, overseen by the Pensions Regulator, require that trustees maintain a strong funding position so they can pay members’ future pensions when they fall due, including planning for future volatility.
Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to give pension scheme trustees the authority to award discretionary increases to those already claiming a pension.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Discretionary indexation is over and above the statutory requirements. This discretion is usually exercised by the trustees with the agreement of the sponsoring employer. Some schemes have previously paid discretionary increases on a regular basis. However, these increases are not part of the pension package promised.
The precise design of pension benefits is a matter for employers and trustees and is not covered in the Department for Work and Pensions legislation. Pension scheme rules are many and varied and must remain a matter for employers and scheme trustees to decide.
The Pension Schemes Bill makes changes so that more trustees of well-funded schemes have the flexibility to share their scheme surplus with employers, subject to strict funding safeguards for members. Scheme trustees are required to act in the interest of scheme beneficiaries, and working with sponsoring employers, will be responsible for decisions on the release of surplus. Together they will agree how members can benefit from any release of surplus, which could include discretionary benefit increases.
The Pensions Regulator already expects that trustees be aware of members who would benefit from any decision to award a discretionary increase and whether the scheme has a history of making such awards.
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, how many and what proportion of PIP claims were under review as of 27 June 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Please find the information requested in Table 1 below. We provide figures for 30th April 2025 in line with latest official published statistics Personal Independence Payment statistics to April 2025.
Table 1. Volume of cases and proportion of April 2025 caseload under review on 30th April 2025.
Type of review | Volume of cases under review on 30th April 2025 | Proportion of April 2025 caseload |
Award Review | 380,000 | 10% |
Change of Circumstances | 40,000 | 1% |
All Reviews | 420,000 | 11% |
Notes:
Whilst the regular review cycle of PIP claims means there will always be a substantial amount in progress at any given time, work is under way to reduce the level of work outstanding within the system. Operational capacity is managed to ensure an appropriate balance between the processing of New Claims to PIP, planned Award Reviews, and Unplanned (Change of Circumstance) Reviews.
Where this approach leads to delays in processing Planned Award Reviews, claims are extended where necessary to prevent expiry. Should customers circumstances change whilst awaiting a Planned Review, a Change of Circumstances Review can be requested and will be processed without delay.
Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of replacing the Work and Health programme that last took applicants in September 2024.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The decision to end the Work and Health Programme was made by the previous Administration.
The Government is committed to reducing the disability employment gap. We have a clear ambition to raise the overall employment rate to 80%. We are delivering the biggest employment support package for disabled people and people with health conditions in more than a generation as part of our Pathways to Work Guarantee, which will provide work, health and skills support for disabled people and those with health conditions claiming out of work benefits. The Pathways to Work Guarantee is backed by £1 billion a year of new, additional funding by 2030 and a total of £2.2 billion over four years.
Separate to this, our new, voluntary, locally led, Supported Employment programme, Connect to Work, is rolling out across England and Wales. Over the five-year duration of the programme, it will provide specialist employment support to over 300,000 disabled people, people with health conditions and those with complex barriers to employment.
This is on top of our Jobcentre core offer, which includes the extended Restart Scheme, Disability Employment Advisers and 1000 Pathways to Work Advisers providing additional work coach support for disabled benefit recipients and those with work-limiting health conditions.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of graduate-level jobs currently available, and whether the increased use of artificial intelligence is affecting those employment opportunities.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data from the Department for Education (Graduate labour market statistics, Calendar year 2024 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK) shows that graduates aged 16-64 years old in 2024 in England continue to have high employment rates, which exceed the employment rates of non-graduates:
Graduates are also more likely than non-graduates to be in high-skilled work than non-graduates and the proportion of working-age graduates in high-skilled work has increased on the year:
This data also refers to people who are aged 16-64 years old in England in 2024. High-skilled employment is defined as being in Standard Occupational Classification 2020 major occupation groups 1-3.
The Office for National Statistics publish data on labour demand by occupation and how it is changing over time, which can be found here:
Textkernel new online job adverts - Office for National Statistics
No current assessment has been made on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on graduate job opportunities.
The Department for Education has published research on the potential impact of AI on different occupations:
GOV.UK Impact of AI on UK jobs and training
Asked by: Natasha Irons (Labour - Croydon East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2025 to Question 61354 on Personal Independence Payment, if she will set out the methodology used to estimate the number of claimants who would be subject to the benefits cap.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As I made clear in my statement to the House, Hansard, 1 July, col 219, any changes to PIP eligibility will come after a comprehensive review of the benefit, which I am leading, and which will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, so a wide range of views and voices are heard. This review aims to ensure that the PIP assessment is fair and fit for the future. The review is expected to conclude in autumn 2026.
For the previous proposals’ impact on the benefit cap, administrative datasets from August 2024 showing the number of households exempt from the benefit cap as a result of PIP receipt were used to estimate the proportion of households that would become affected by the benefit cap if they lost their entitlement to PIP. This was then applied to the estimated volume of PIP claimants that would be affected by the 4-point policy that do not receive the Mobility component of PIP. Implicit in this assumption was that exemptions from the benefit cap are equally likely among those not having a 4-point score as those who have one.
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many times since 2020 the Pension Protection Fund has had to replace an external fund manager for reasons of performance, governance failure, or credit downgrade and what the financial and administrative cost of each replacement was to the Fund.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The day-to-day fund management of Pension Protection Fund (PPF) assets is performed both by the Chief Investment Officer (with authority to delegate to an in-house team of investment professionals) and by reputable external professional fund managers (each of which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority or a similar local regulatory authority as required).
At any point in time, PPF will have approximately 70-80 external fund managers working on its behalf, across 140 different strategies within 15 separate asset classes.
Since 2020, PPF has changed 10 external managers on performance grounds. PPF has not replaced any managers on grounds of governance failure or credit downgrade.
The administration cost of changing a manager varies between strategies. However, PPF works to a budget of approximately £30,000 per change of manager.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that armed forces veterans with service-related health conditions are appropriately identified for additional support under the proposed changes to the Universal Credit health element.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is carefully considering the implications for veterans and their families in the welfare Green Paper consultation, and is actively engaging with Armed Forces groups to ensure that veterans with service-related health conditions are appropriately identified and supported under the proposed changes to the Universal Credit (UC) health element.
As part of welfare reform, the DWP has committed to a dedicated consultation process with Armed Forces stakeholders. This includes direct meetings with service charities and veterans' organizations to assess the potential impact of the changes, particularly on Early Service Leavers and those medically discharged from service
Additionally, the DWP continues to support veterans through the Armed Forces Champions network within Jobcentre Plus. These champions are trained to understand the unique challenges faced by the Armed Forces community and help ensure that veterans receive tailored support, including assistance with benefit claims and employment services
The department also utilises service medical board evidence to streamline the assessment process for veterans applying for Universal Credit, reducing the need for face-to-face assessments where appropriate.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 the proposed restriction on the health element of universal credit to those aged 22 years and over on care leavers younger than 22.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the impact of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill on care leavers. However, we recognise the challenges care leavers may face in transitioning to independent living and navigating the welfare system, and we remain committed to supporting them, as with all vulnerable groups.
The Department’s care leaver offer includes access to the higher one-bedroom Local Housing Allowance rate up to the age of 25, and tailored support through Jobcentre Plus. This support is kept under regular review.
As part of the Pathways to Work Green Paper consultation, we invited views on proposals to raise the age at which individuals can access the Universal Credit health element to 22. The consultation closed last Monday.
We continue to engage with stakeholders and welcome views on how best to ensure care leavers are supported through future reforms to Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment.
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, with reference to her letter on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill, dated 26 June 2025, whether the exemption from reassessment for existing Personal Independence Payment claimants will apply to people whose claim is under review.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As I set out in the House of Commons on 1 July 2025, this Government has listened to the concerns raised by Members from across the House regarding the proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Clause 5 of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill would have amended the legal framework underpinning PIP assessments, specifically by changing the eligibility criteria through adjustments to the activities and descriptors used to determine entitlement.
In light of the concerns raised, I confirmed during the debate that we are going to remove clause 5 from the Bill in Committee.
(Hansard, 1 July, col 219)