Department for Work and Pensions

The Health Assessment Channels Trial, conducted by the department between May 2022 and March 2023, compared the monetary impact of each PIP assessment channel, focussing on initial claimants eligible for all channels (in-person, telephone or video). The trial found that the award rates of PIP claimants allocated an in-person assessment did not differ considerably from the proportion of claimants awarded PIP after being allocated a remote channel. We are working on publishing the full results of the trial in due course.

As part of the Functional Assessment Service (FAS) process, a paper-based assessment is always considered first. Where a paper-based review is not possible the claimant will be invited to an assessment.

Before sending an invitation, the assessment supplier considers whether a specific assessment channel is needed due to the claimant’s health or circumstances. Otherwise, claimants are offered the next available appointment, which can be changed if the claimant informs us that a reasonable adjustment is appropriate in their circumstances.

While suppliers recommend awards, the final decisions are made by case managers who may alter these recommendations.

We have also announced a wider review of the PIP assessment to make it fair and fit for purpose, which I am leading. We are bringing together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this. We will provide further details as plans progress. The review is expected to conclude in autumn 2026.

Updated analysis on the potential impact of Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill on levels of poverty will be published shortly.

The Government is committed to reducing the disability employment gap, which currently stands at 28 percentage points, as part of a clear ambition to raise the overall employment rate to 80%.

We announced in the recent 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 £1.9billion of new funding by the end of the decade.

We also recognise that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability which is why the Government has asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review of the role of UK employers in reducing health-related economic inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces.

DWP has strengthened its employer engagement strategy through a multi-faceted approach, involving early business input into the JCS design and a rolling programme of engagement events. Local employer engagement is driven by dedicated teams, sector-specific Recruitment Innovation Workshops, tailored recruitment support via account managers, increased use of digital tools and ongoing promotion of inclusive hiring practices for disabled people and those with health conditions.

DWP’s reforms have deepened employer involvement in employability programmes by embedding them into both design and delivery. The Strategic Relationship Team coordinates employer portfolios and ensures feedback shapes services. Work programmes are co-designed with employers to meet recruitment needs through training, work experience, and guaranteed interviews. Integration with the National Careers Service enhances local labour market alignment, while the Get Britain Working White Paper promotes local co-design of employment support with employers and authorities.

The new Crisis and Resilience Fund will be introduced from 1 April 2026. This represents the first ever multi-year settlement for locally delivered crisis support. This longer-term funding approach enables local authorities to provide preventative support to communities, and to support our ambition to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.

We will be working closely with local authorities and external stakeholders on the detailed design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund, including on how we monitor effectiveness of the scheme. We will issue further information on our planned approach in due course.

As more customers apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) the demand for our service is increasing. To allow us to meet this demand and provide an efficient service we continuously look at the resources we have and where we should focus our efforts to get the greatest value for money and deliver the best service to our customers. We review our overall resource supply twice yearly and take appropriate steps to ensure that staffing levels meet current demands

My Child Maintenance Case (MCMC) online service offers customers the ability to access and update information held on their case and request changes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. CMS has the ability to process simple changes through MCMC, automatically speeding up the time taken to make a change and greatly improving customer outcomes.

Through extensive modernisation to both telephony and digital channels, and by promoting self-service online, the CMS are ensuring customers have greater choice of how and when they contact us. Our service improvements allow customers to use the most appropriate and efficient contact method to quickly resolve their queries and reduce demand on our services.

Through efficient call routing, we have freed up resources to deliver a more responsive service and allow caseworkers more time to better assist customers who need to reach out to us via telephone. We have improved all forms of communication, including greater use of SMS and email as well as improving letter content. Furthermore, we have taken timely action to further train, support and redeploy resource within CMS to where it is needed most.

In the response to the consultation on proposed reforms to the CMS, the Government has set out plans to introduce a single service where all payments will be monitored, enabling the CMS to identify missed, late, or partial payments in real time. This will enable swift enforcement action to restore compliance and increase the amount of money reaching children.

We expect the reforms will make hidden non-compliance within Direct Pay visible, enabling the CMS to intervene earlier to ensure children receive the financial support they are entitled to. Families currently using Direct Pay can either move to a family-based arrangement (with additional support from CMS to do so) or opt into Collect and Pay if that is not appropriate or they require the added security of enforcement.

Where compliance cannot be achieved, the CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers that are designed to get money flowing quickly, prevent the build-up of arrears and ensure children get the financial support they deserve.

Reforms will introduce a single service where all payments will be monitored enabling the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to identify missed, late, or partial payments in real time. This will enable swift enforcement action to restore compliance and increase the amount of money reaching children.

We expect the reforms will make hidden non-compliance within Direct Pay visible, enabling the CMS to intervene earlier to ensure children receive the financial support they are entitled to.

There is no evidence to suggest that cases currently working well under Direct Pay will cease to function. These families can move to a family-based arrangement or opt into Collect and Pay if they require the added security of enforcement.

Where compliance cannot be achieved, the CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers that are designed to get money flowing quickly, prevent the build-up of arrears and ensure children get the financial support they deserve.

We are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers. The new Jobs and Careers Service will offer employment and careers support for all – not just those on benefits - who want support to find or progress in work.

Supporting our ‘Get Britian Working’ agenda, we have funded several measures to help unemployed people not in receipt of benefits to find employment:

• £115 million funding for 2025/26 for the Connect to Work programme, a voluntary, locally led Supported Employment programme in England and Wales, which will support disabled people, people with health conditions and those with complex barriers to employment.
• £125 million for 2025/26 to deliver 9 place-based economic inactivity trailblazers across England and Wales, of which £45 million is for NHS England Health Accelerators. Tailored to the needs of local areas, these trailblazers are testing different ways of reducing economic inactivity.
• Working with the Department for Education, £45 million for 2025/26 for our 8 Youth Guarantee trailblazers which are testing a cohesive education, training and employment support offer for young people aged 18-21.
• £34m funding for 2025/26 for WorkWell pilots for 15 areas to design and deliver integrated work and health support.
• Continuing with the Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies programme to provide people with common mental health conditions the support they need to enter, re-enter or return to work and improve mental health.

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)

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)

We do not hold separate average processing time data for (a) self-employed and (b) freelancer applications to Access to Work. These types of applications are included within the overall Access to Work processing time.

The current average processing time for access to work is 92.0 days from April 2025 to June 2025

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.

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:

• 87.6% of graduates are in employment – unchanged on 2023.
• 90.0% of postgraduates are in employment – up 0.6 percentage points on 2023.
• 68.0% of non-graduates are in employment – down 0.7 percentage points on 2023.

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:

• 67.9% of graduates were in high-skilled work – up 1.1 percentage points on the year.
• 79.0% of postgraduates were in high-skilled work – up 0.2 percentage points on the year.
• 23.7% of non-graduates were in high-skilled work – up 0.1 percentage points 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:

Labour demand volumes by Standard Occupation Classification (SOC 2020), UK - Office for National Statistics

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

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.

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.

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.

Please find the information requested in Table 1 below. We provide figures for 30^th 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 30^th April 2025.

Notes:

• Figures for England and Wales.
• Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10,000.
• Percentages have been rounded to the nearest percent.

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.

The data are not available to make an assessment on this basis.

The Department plans to complete migration of ESA claimants to UC by March 2026. As part of this ESA claimants will be migrated to the UC Health Element. To protect any claimants who have not migrated by April 2026 we intend to mirror as closely as possible the changes made in UC in the ESA rates. Changes to the “support component” and the two disability premia (severe and enhanced disability premium rates) will reflect changes to UC LCWRA rates for existing claimants. Including these commensurate measures aims to give fair treatment for all customers moving onto UC from income related ESA, regardless of their point of migration.

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.

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.

The Department does not centrally hold data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants’ previous occupation, so we are not able to determine which claimants are veterans.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is a priority for this Government. The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in autumn that will deliver fully funded measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.

The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

As a significant downpayment ahead of Strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1 billion a year (including Barnett impact), investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2 billion including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.

Our commitments at the 2025 Spending Review come on top of the existing action we have taken which includes expanding free breakfast clubs, capping the number of branded school uniform items children are expected to wear, increasing the national minimum wage for those on the lowest incomes and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.

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.

Under the previous administration, DWP introduced a new food charity signposting slip to replace the one previously used, removing personal data to better comply with obligations, including GDPR responsibilities, and to improve our process. The new slip does not change our DWP policy, and our Jobcentres continue to provide customers with guidance to find additional support, including to emergency food support when appropriate.

The Government has listened and committed to making changes to the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill. We will take forward reforms to PIP in a different way through the Timms review, and only make changes to PIP eligibility, activities and descriptors once the review has completed. The aim of the review is to make sure it is fair and fit for the future in a changing world and helps support disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence.

As announced in the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’ statement on Welfare Reform on 30 June, we have increased the funding for employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions, investing an additional £300m over the next 3 years. This means our ‘Pathways to Work Guarantee’ is now an investment of £2.2 billion by 2030. This brings our total investment in employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions to £3.8 billion over this Parliament.

In addition to our Pathways to Work Guarantee announced in the Green Paper, our Access to Work Scheme provides practical support to help disabled people get into and stay in work.

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.

Employers are crucial in enhancing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to thrive in the workforce. All employers have a duty under the Equality Act 2010 to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ in the workplace where a disabled person would otherwise be put at a substantial disadvantage compared with their colleagues. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is responsible for enforcing the Equality Act and providing guidance on reasonable adjustments.

The Disability Confident Scheme encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces and to support disabled people to get work and get on in work. The scheme covers all disabilities, including hidden disabilities.

In addition, DWP has a digital information service for employers, (www.support-with-employee-health-and-disability.dwp.gov.uk), which provides tailored guidance to businesses to support employees to remain in work. This includes guidance on health disclosures and having conversations about health, plus guidance on legal obligations, including statutory sick pay and making reasonable adjustments.

In October 2024 we launched our WorkWell service, which is piloting locally designed and delivered work and health support to meet the needs of local populations in 15 areas in England. Local partnerships of Integrated Care Boards, local authorities / Mayoral Combined Authorities and Jobcentre Plus will support disabled people and people with health conditions who are in or out of work to help them access the range of support they need to be able to work. WorkWell pilots will provide up to 56,000 people with the opportunity to work with a multidisciplinary team combining health and work professions to build a personalised action plan addressing a person’s health related barriers to work.

Throughout 2025 our new, locally-led, voluntary Supported Employment programme Connect to Work is opening across England and Wales. It will provide specialist employment support to over 300,000 disabled people, people with health conditions and those with complex barriers to employment over the five-year duration of the programme.

In recognition of the key role employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent review, considering how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy workplaces, and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence. Sir Charlie will deliver his final report in the autumn.

Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care.

We are delivering the biggest investment in support for disabled people and people with health conditions in at least a generation. We announced in the recent 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. This is backed up by £2.2bn over four years, including £200m in 2026/27 when our benefit changes begin to take effect and as announced in the statement on Welfare Reform (30 June) by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, an additional £300m over the next three years. This brings our total investment in employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions to £3.8 billion over this Parliament.

Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024, will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. In recognition of the key role employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent review, considering how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy workplaces, and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence. Sir Charlie will deliver his final report in the autumn. Employers are crucial in enhancing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to thrive in the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, a digital information service for employers and the Disability Confident scheme.

The Ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce is co-chaired by the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Education. It has met nine times to discuss the critical issues that drive child poverty. One such meeting in January focused on the role of local services in reducing poverty, including family hubs.

The Taskforce will continue to explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term action across government to reduce child poverty, including family hubs.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of every child, including those in Fylde constituency. The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in autumn that will deliver fully funded measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.

The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.

As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1bn a year (including Barnett impact), investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap.

These commitments come on top of the existing action we have taken which includes expanding free breakfast clubs, capping the number of branded school uniform items children are expected to wear, increasing the national minimum wage for those on the lowest incomes and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.

As announced in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers advice.

We are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access good, meaningful work, and support them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers. The new service will be available for anyone who wants to look for work, to increase their earnings or to change their career or retrain. It will be responsive to local employers, inclusive for all customers and will work closely in partnership with local services to tackle the challenges associated with local labour markets.

In Fylde, our Jobcentre teams work closely with the Local Authority as well as local employers and partners to offer a range of employment opportunities for our customers. Tailored support is available for different customer groups to offer the right support needed. An example is referring our younger customers to Fylde Focus which gives 16-24 year olds a bespoke one to one service to improve their employability skills. Across Lancashire, including Fylde, our Work Coaches utilise their appointments to identify the right provision for our customers. Employer Advisers and Disability Employment Advisers engage with employers and partners to bring our Jobcentres Sector-based Work Academy Programmes, 50+ MOT’s, Job Fairs, employability building courses and more. An example is a recent employability event which took place in St Annes, which helped individuals look at taking the first or next step in their career and employment journey. The event offered tailored careers advice, CV/interview support and access to local training and job opportunities.

We are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new Jobs and Careers Service across Great Britain that will transform our ability to support people into good, meaningful work, and to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers. This will be a universal service which all people – not just benefit recipients or those out of work – will be able to engage with.

In England, these reforms will include bringing together Jobcentre Plus with the National Careers Service. The new service will have an increased focus on supporting progression and good work through aligning employment support more closely with skills and careers advice. In Scotland and Wales, we will work closely with the Devolved Governments to ensure the new service works effectively with the devolved careers and skills services.

We are in the early stages of designing the new service, working closely with Department for Education and more details will be shared in due course.

The Department for Work and Pensions have no plans to review the guidance on the application process for this iteration of the Household Support Fund, having reviewed and updated the guidance to launch the scheme on 1 April 2025.

Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination that the Department for Work and Pensions have set out for The Fund. Every Local Authority must operate part of their scheme on an application basis, to allow the opportunity for individuals struggling with the cost of essentials to ask for further support.

We are delivering the biggest investment in employment support for disabled people and people with health conditions in at least a generation. We announced in the recent 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. As announced in the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’ statement on Welfare Reform, on 30 June, we are investing an additional £300m over the next 3 years. This means, our ‘Pathways to Work Guarantee’ is now backed by an investment of £2.2 billion by 2030. This brings our total investment in employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions to £3.8 billion over this Parliament.

Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024, will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. In recognition of the key role employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent review, considering how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy workplaces, and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence. Sir Charlie will deliver his final report in the autumn. Employers are crucial in enhancing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to thrive in the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, a digital information service for employers and the Disability Confident scheme.

In Lincolnshire, our Jobcentre Employer and Partnership Teams work with a range of employers and partners to enhance the skills and employment support available locally. An example of this includes working closely with South and East Lincolnshire Council on the commissioning of skills and employment support programmes using Shared Prosperity Funding.

Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care.

We are delivering the biggest investment in employment support for disabled people and people with health conditions in at least a generation. We announced in the recent 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. As announced in the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’ statement on Welfare Reform on 30 June we are investing an additional £300m over the next 3 years. This means ‘Pathways to Work Guarantee’ is now an investment of£2.2 billion by 2030. This brings our total investment in employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions to £3.8 billion over this Parliament.

Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024, will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. In recognition of the key role employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent review, considering how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy workplaces, and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence. Sir Charlie will deliver his final report in the autumn. Employers are crucial in enhancing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to thrive in the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, a digital information service for employers and the Disability Confident scheme.

Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the 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.

In relation to Universal Credit changes, existing claimants at the point of change in April 2026 will continue to receive at least the same amount of benefit as under the current rules, if there are no changes in their circumstances. For future claimants we are not able to assess the impact of the changes at this level as the readily available data on health conditions is not sufficiently detailed.

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.

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.

Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Universal Basic Income is not being considered as an alternative social security system by the Department for Work and Pensions.