Baroness Lister of Burtersett

The continued provision of school food has an important role to play in breaking the unfair link between background and opportunity, which is why the department is considering the government’s school food offer as part of our work on child poverty.

The transitional protections policy on free school meals (FSM), put in place in 2018 during the roll out of Universal Credit (UC), ensures that households in receipt of FSM will retain their entitlement during UC migration.

Support for children to access FSM has additionally been considered as part of the Child Poverty Taskforce’s consideration of how to:

• Support households to increase their income, including considering social security reforms that support people into work and alleviate poverty.
• Help to bring down essential household costs, build savings and tackle problem debt.
• Alleviate the negative experience of living in poverty, including through supporting families and the role of public services.

As with all government programmes, the department will keep the approach to FSM under continued review.

The department does not collect information on the number of Child’s Rights Impact Assessments that have been prepared or published.

The department co-produced, with civil society, a Child’s Rights Impact Assessment template with guidance that has been shared with other departments.

We encourage the completion of assessments to ensure policy and legislation does not adversely affect children’s rights and wellbeing. Departments individually determine the use and publication of any assessment.

The department has conducted Child’s Rights Impact Assessments for all measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, analysing the impact on children of the policies and where particular groups of children and young people more likely to be affected than others. These documents are accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments.

The Child’s Rights Impact Assessment was published on 17 March 2025. This is attached and can be accessed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d7dd3ded6ca9014ba2a28e/Children_s_Wellbeing_and_Schools_Bill_child_s_rights_impact_assessment.pdf.

This assessment examines where children are directly impacted by the policies, and/or where there are particular groups of children and young people more likely to be affected than others.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is a key step towards delivering the government’s opportunity mission to break the link between young people’s background and their future success. It will put in place a package of support to drive high and rising standards throughout our education and care systems so that every child can achieve and thrive.

We are taking action to break the unfair link between background and success by rolling out free breakfast clubs in every primary school which will offer all children, regardless of their background, a settled start to the day, improving their attendance, behaviour and attainment. It will also help with the costs of living and mean many more pupils are fed and ready to learn at the start to the school day. This will be of particular benefit to the most disadvantaged families.

By providing parents with a free half hour breakfast club each morning, the department estimates this will save parents up to £450 a year in paid for before-school childcare. Being able to drop children off at school earlier may also offer parents greater opportunities in terms of the timing, nature, and location of employed roles open to them.

School libraries complement public libraries by giving pupils access to a range of books and other kinds of texts, both in and out of school. The national curriculum states that teachers are expected to encourage pupils to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. There are a number of strong links between reading for pleasure and attainment. For example, the 2021 progress in reading literacy study report found a 34 point difference in reading performance between pupils in England who ‘very much’ liked reading and pupils who ‘do not’ like reading. Additionally, the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment study found that enjoyment of reading links to pupils’ reading engagement, that reading engagement was strongly positively correlated with reading performance and that reading engagement mediated effects of gender or socio-economic status on performance. There is also a strong evidence base linking reading for pleasure to other positive effects, such as improved text comprehension and grammar, increased general knowledge and character development.

It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including whether to employ a qualified librarian. Headteachers have autonomy to decide how best to spend the core schools funding that is allocated to them by the department. The Autumn Budget 2024 announced an additional £2.3 billion for schools for the 2025/26 financial year compared to 2024/25, bringing the total core schools budget to almost £63.9 billion in 2025/26.

Given this autonomy, the department does not collect information on the number of school libraries or school librarians.

​The government’s reading framework offers non-statutory guidance for teachers and school leaders, including helpful guidance for schools on how to organise their school library, book corner or book stock to make reading accessible and attractive to readers.

The department’s budget for 2025/26 will be confirmed in due course, including the exact funding available for this type of support for children, young people and families during the holidays. The current spending review is for one year, and a multi-year spending review will take place later this year.

All children of compulsory school age in England, including migrant children, must receive a suitable full-time education. Any parent, including parents of migrant children, can, at any time, apply for a place for their child at any school through the relevant admission authority. Where a parent is struggling to secure a school place in-year, they can contact their local authority for support.

Paragraph 3.14 of the Schools Admissions Code requires every local authority to have a Fair Access Protocol in place. This ensures that vulnerable children, including refugees and asylum seekers, and those who are having difficulty securing a school place in-year, are allocated a school place as quickly as possible, minimising the time the child is out of school.

Guidance on school applications for foreign national children is available to schools, local authorities and parents. This guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/schools-admissions-applications-from-overseas-children.

As set out in the Kings Speech, in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, the department is planning to legislate on requiring all schools to cooperate with the local authority on school admissions and place planning matters, and to ensure admissions decisions account for the needs of communities.

Local authorities also have legal duties to ensure sufficient school places. The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities in providing additional school places. We carefully target funding at areas with need, based upon data supplied by local authorities themselves, reflecting their local knowledge of all the drivers of pupil numbers in their areas, such as birth rates, housing developments and inward andoutward migration both from within the UK and overseas.

Nearly £1.5 billion of Basic Need capital allocations have been confirmed to support local authorities to create school places needed over the current and following two academic years, up to and including the academic year starting in September 2026. Local authorities’ allocations are in the attachment and published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations.

The department’s Pupil Place Planning Advisor team also engages with councils on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, we support them to find solutions as quickly as possible. Where local authorities are failing in their duty, the government will intervene.

All children of compulsory school age in England, including migrant children, must receive a suitable full-time education. Any parent, including parents of migrant children, can, at any time, apply for a place for their child at any school through the relevant admission authority. Where a parent is struggling to secure a school place in-year, they can contact their local authority for support.

Paragraph 3.14 of the Schools Admissions Code requires every local authority to have a Fair Access Protocol in place. This ensures that vulnerable children, including refugees and asylum seekers, and those who are having difficulty securing a school place in-year, are allocated a school place as quickly as possible, minimising the time the child is out of school.

Guidance on school applications for foreign national children is available to schools, local authorities and parents. This guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/schools-admissions-applications-from-overseas-children.

As set out in the Kings Speech, in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, the department is planning to legislate on requiring all schools to cooperate with the local authority on school admissions and place planning matters, and to ensure admissions decisions account for the needs of communities.

Local authorities also have legal duties to ensure sufficient school places. The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities in providing additional school places. We carefully target funding at areas with need, based upon data supplied by local authorities themselves, reflecting their local knowledge of all the drivers of pupil numbers in their areas, such as birth rates, housing developments and inward andoutward migration both from within the UK and overseas.

Nearly £1.5 billion of Basic Need capital allocations have been confirmed to support local authorities to create school places needed over the current and following two academic years, up to and including the academic year starting in September 2026. Local authorities’ allocations are in the attachment and published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basic-need-allocations.

The department’s Pupil Place Planning Advisor team also engages with councils on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, we support them to find solutions as quickly as possible. Where local authorities are failing in their duty, the government will intervene.

Every child, regardless of their background or family circumstances, deserves the opportunity to progress and succeed in school and beyond. There is no place for hate or prejudice in our education system.

Under the Equality Act 2010, schools must not discriminate against a pupil in a number of respects because of a characteristic protected by the Act.

The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies, including maintained schools and academies, to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and other conduct prohibited by the Act; advance equality of opportunity for people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it; and foster good relations across all characteristics.

The department has published guidance for schools on how to comply with their duties under the Equality Act 2010, which is attached and can also be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equality-act-2010-advice-for-schools.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE. The Curriculum and Assessment Review will seek to deliver a curriculum that reflects the issues and diversities of our society, ensuring all children and young people benefit from a curriculum that represents them and their families. When the reforms coming out of the review are implemented, the department intends that all schools will be required to teach the core National Curriculum.

The review group has recently launched a call for evidence, setting out a number of key questions and themes where it would particularly welcome evidence and input.

The department respects the autonomy of schools and teachers in terms of what resources they choose to use or recommend to their individual pupils, based on individual need in their own educational context and circumstances.

School Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses must be designed so that trainee teachers can demonstrate that they meet all of the Teachers’ Standards at the end of their course.

Part Two of the Teachers’ Standards covers personal and professional conduct and specifically includes "not undermining fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs".

The Equality Act 2010 requires accredited ITT providers to ensure that they are not discriminating against applicants on the basis of any protected characteristics.

The government is determined that the higher education (HE) funding system should deliver for the economy, for universities and for students and will look carefully at all options and come forward with proposals.

Funding plans for the HE sector will be set out at the relevant fiscal event, in line with the approach to public spending commitments across government. ​​

All HE providers registered with the Office for Students (OfS), that intend to charge higher fees, must have an Access and Participation Plan (APP) approved by the OfS. These need to set out the underrepresented groups they will support and the ways that they will do so. Interventions can include tutoring disadvantaged students in the local area, but also activities such as academy sponsorship, outreach, summer schools and student bursaries. HE providers are expected to evaluate their interventions to demonstrate effectiveness.

In the “Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reform – impacts” document, the Department estimated that, in 2029/30, 150,000 claimants receiving Carer’s benefits would be affected by the change.

Of these 150,000 we estimate that;

• 107,000 would otherwise be receiving a Carer’s Allowance payment. This accounts for around 10% of the forecast 2029/30 Carer’s Allowance in-payment caseload.
• 96,000 would have been receiving UC Carer’s element. This accounts for around 9% of the forecast 2029/30 UC Carer’s element caseload.
• Included in these figures are 55,000 who would have received both Carer’s Allowance and the UC Carer’s element, the net effect for these claimants would be a reduction in benefit equivalent to the UC Carer’s element.

The current Green Paper consultation is considering whether transitional help should be provided to carers affected.

Notes:

a) Figures are based on modelling of the impact of requiring 4 points to be scored in at least one daily living activity.

b) Figures assume some behavioural impacts as a result of the PIP policy change.

c) Figures are based on carer’s benefits’ prevalence for the full PIP population, and are not specific to carers of people affected by the change in PIP criteria.

d) Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

e) Figures are subject to change as forecasts are updated in light of more recent information, and further analysis is undertaken.

In the Pathways to Work Impact assessment, the Department estimated that by 29/30 around 370,000 PIP claimants currently on PIP at policy implementation would be affected, after behavioural responses were taken into account. Of these, the Department estimates that around 270,000 will already be on PIP in March 2025 and 100,000 of these would be expected to inflow onto PIP between April 2025 and October 2026. 320,000 of these claimants affected are expected to otherwise, in the absence of the change to criteria, be in receipt of the standard rate of the daily living component of PIP, while 60,000 are expected to otherwise be in receipt of the enhanced rate.

No estimate has yet been made about numbers of current claimants who would now become subject to the benefit cap; in total for all current and future claimants affected by the measure, an estimated 2,000 will be subject to the benefit cap in 2029/30. No estimate has yet been made of the numbers of claimants who will become subject to the shared accommodation rate of Local Housing Allowance.

Note:

a) Figures are based on modelling of the impact of requiring 4 points to be scored in at least one daily living activity.

b) Figures are rounded to the nearest ten thousand, benefit cap figure is rounded to the thousand.

The estimated cash amounts of the standard allowance in 2029-30 are presented in the table below. These cash amounts are minimum estimates based on Spring Statement 2025 Consumer Price Index forecasts and are subject to change with new forecasts.

The figures should therefore be treated with caution.

Notes:

Amounts are rounded to the nearest £

The support conversation will enable individuals to set out their aspirations, needs and goals, understand what early support might be available to them and be signposted towards it. Given the importance of the support conversation in ensuring individuals understand the help available to them, we are considering making participation a requirement. However, we are consulting on how we should design and deliver it, and, if mandated, who should be exempted, so that it is welcomed by individuals and is effective.

We are seeking views through the Green Paper on what those exemptions should be.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

There are an estimated 2.0 million disabled people of working age who are in receipt of a means-tested benefit but not receipt of personal independence payment or an equivalent disability benefit, and an estimated 0.7 million of pension age.

Source: These figures are modelled estimates from DWP’s Policy Simulation Model (PSM), and therefore should not be treated as official statistics.

The PSM is tax/benefit static microsimulation model used widely throughout DWP and across Government to assess the impact of welfare policy. The PSM is based on a three-year pooled sample of the Family Resources Survey (FRS 19-20, 21-22 and 22-23). It is therefore subject to potential sampling error and respondent error. This is projected forwards to 2025/26 based on multiple assumptions about incomes for all households. The PSM corrects benefit under-reporting in the FRS by aligning the sample weights to benefit forecasts. The PSM is also calibrated to population data from the ONS and incorporates the OBRs economic forecast. The model does not yet take account of Spring Statement 2025 policy measures.

Notes:
1. Disability is defined as the Equality Act 2010 core definition, self-reported by survey respondents who report that they have a long-term physical or mental health condition, lasting or expected to last at least 12 months, that limits their daily activities either ‘a little’ or ‘a lot’.

2. Means-tested benefits includes any of the following: Universal Credit (UC), Income Support (IS), Employment Support Allowance (ESA), Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Working Tax Credit (WTC), Child Tax Credit (CTC), Housing Benefit (HB, or Northern Ireland equivalent), Council Tax Rebate (CTR, or Northern Ireland equivalent), or Pension Credit (PC).

3. Receipt of Personal Independence Payment includes other broadly equivalent disability benefits: Disability Living allowance (DLA) and Attendance Allowance (AA). Eligibility for these benefits is based on different criteria from the legal definition of disability (see Note 1). The PSM does not estimate eligibility for disability benefits, relying on those who have reported it in the FRS.

4. Estimates relate to 2025/26 and are rounded to the nearest 0.1 million people.

The announced increase in the standard allowance will see an above inflation increase in every year from 2026/27 to the end of Parliament.

The proposed increases are inflation (measured by CPI), plus: 2.3% in 2026/27, 3.1% in 2027/28, 4.0% in 2028/29 and 4.8% in 2029/30.

As such, in each year, the rates will be what they would have been under CPI uprating and then increased by the relevant percentage figure.

In October 2024, 720,000 couples were in payment for Universal Credit and had earnings reported in that month.

Note: The figure above is from Universal Credit administrative data from October 2024 and subject to retrospective changes. The volumes are of people who were in payment of UC in October 2024 and those with a positive earnings record. The figure has been rounded to 2 significant figures. Those with missing values have been excluded from the figure above. We have defined single status and couple status according to their standard allowance amount.

Table below provides the breakdown of the number of lead carers in couples with children receiving Universal Credit by gender of the lead carer and whether the couple has no earners, one earner or two earners.

Note: the data above is from Universal Credit administrative data from October 2024 and subject to retrospective changes. The volumes are of people who were in payment of UC in October 2024. The figures have been rounded to 2 significant figures. We have defined single status and couple status according to their standard allowance amount. 2-3% of households did not have a match between Universal Credit data and the Lead Carer data - those with missing values have been excluded from the figures above.

The table below provides the breakdown of the number of couples receiving Universal Credit where the calculation of earnings includes a work allowance by whether the couple has one earner or two earners.

The table below provides the breakdown of the number of couples receiving Universal Credit where the calculation of earnings includes a work allowance by the gender of the lead carer where the couple has children.

Note: the data above is from Universal Credit administrative data from October 2024 and subject to retrospective changes. The volumes are of people who were in payment of UC in October 2024 and those with a positive earnings record. The figures have been rounded to 2 significant figures. We have defined single status and couple status according to their standard allowance amount. 2-3% of households did not have a match between Universal Credit data and the Lead Carer data - those with missing values have been excluded from the figure above.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The table below provides the number of Universal Credit claimants in October 2024 where the calculation of earnings includes a work allowance, broken down by gender of claimant, whether it is a single or joint claim, and whether the claimant has children or not.

Note: the data in the table above is from Universal Credit administrative data from October 2024 and subject to retrospective changes. The volumes are of people who were in payment of UC in October 2024 and those with positive earnings recorded in their award calculation. The figures have been rounded to 2 significant figures. Those with missing values have been excluded from the figures above. We have defined single status and couple status according to their standard allowance amount.

The table below provides the number of Universal Credit claimants who receive the lower rate of standard allowance due to being below the age of 25. The data is for October 2024 and broken down by gender of claimant, whether it is a single or joint claim, and whether the claimant has children or not

Note: the data in the table above is from Universal Credit administrative data from October 2024 and subject to retrospective changes. The volumes are of people who were in payment of UC in October 2024. The figures have been rounded to 2 significant figures. Those with missing values have been excluded from the figure above. We have defined single status and couple status according to their standard allowance amount.

There have been no further publications since 2019 on the gender of the bank account holder for UC.

A flag was developed to identify lead carers in our administrative data in July 2023, to enable us to monitor the rollout of the 2023 changes to lead carer conditionality. Based on data from October 2024, there were around 825,000 lead carers in receipt of UC with a couple claim: 87% are female, 13% are male. The tables below provide a breakdown of some further characteristics:

Characteristics of lead carers who are part of a couple claim on Universal Credit, October 2024

Note: totals may not sum to 100% due to rounding. These figures are from DWP administrative data.

We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do. We have begun this work with the announcement of the Fair Repayment Rate in the Budget and we will continue to work with stakeholders closely as the review progresses. We will regularly update Parliament on progress.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of benefits and State Pensions, based on a review of trends in prices and earnings growth in the preceding year. The Secretary of State announced her decisions to Parliament on 30 October.

The basic and new state pensions, and the standard minimum guarantee in pension credit, will be increased by 4.1%, in line with the increase in average weekly earnings in the year to May-July 2024. Other state pension and benefit rates covered by the statutory review will be increased by 1.7%, in line with the increase in the consumer prices index in the year to September 2024. The full list of proposed State Pension and benefit rates for 2025/26 will be published in November.

This increases expenditure on state pensions and benefits by £6.9 billion in 2025/26 compared with not uprating in 25/26, of which, £4.7 billion will be from state pensions and pensioner benefits, £0.9 billion from disability and carers benefits, and £1.2 billion from working-age benefits.

Statistics on the number and type of families and individuals in families benefitting from the uprating of benefits, were also made available on 30 October. Further detail can be found here Benefit uprating: estimated number and type of families and individuals in families benefitting from the uprating of benefits in financial year 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

No estimate has been made of what the total cost for all types of benefits available to working age adults and children would be for each 0.1 per cent increment increase in April 2025.

In the latest year [2022-23] of the Family Resources Survey approximately 11% of adults were black or minority ethnic individuals. This sample is large enough to provide income and poverty data breakdowns by ethnicity.

The Family Resources Survey sample is drawn by address with stratification of postcode areas by economic standing, such that the achieved sample is representative by economic status. The FRS sample is not drawn by any family characteristic, protected or otherwise, because only the address is known at the point of draw; the address’ occupants are unknown until the later stage of interview. Thus, there is no direct mechanism to alter the issued sample to increase the number of black or minority ethnic families.

We already publish accredited official statistics, including poverty data broken down by ethnicity, in the annual Family Resources Survey-based Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab).

In addition, we use the Family Resources Survey data to publish additional low income data by ethnicity in the Ethnicity Facts and Figures portal - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk_ (opens in new tab).

Statistics on the ethnic group of those who have received a Universal Credit (UC) adverse sanction decision from April 2023 to April 2024, are available in section 4.2 of the latest release of the Benefit Sanction Statistics publication and in table 7.1 on the latest data tables on the GOV.UK website.

However, these statistics are descriptive and as such do not facilitate consideration of disparities. To measure any disparities would require analysis of the sanction rate, which is calculated by dividing the number of claimants undergoing a sanction by the number of UC claimants who are in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, at a point in time.

The level of ethnicity declarations for those claimants included within the sanction rate measure, which would be needed to assess any disparities, has not reached the minimum level of 70% in any month. The Department will continue to monitor the level of ethnicity declarations in relation to the sanction rate with the goal of publishing statistics on sanction rate and ethnicity once the 70% threshold is reached.

No estimates have been published.

While we cannot commit to changing the two child policy at this time, 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. This is why the child poverty taskforce will look at all available levers to reduce child poverty, including social security reforms, before publishing a strategy in Spring 2025.

The taskforce will engage external experts throughout the strategy development process including through a rolling programme of meetings, with sessions built thematically to bring together a broad range of experts on specific topics.

The Government also recognises the importance of capturing the experiences of those living in poverty which is why the taskforce will also draw on findings from wider external engagement events in all regions and nations of the UK. These events will convene a broader range of voices, including bringing in the perspectives of families and children themselves.

No assessment has been made.

Our Back to Work Plan will provide further support and help to improve the lives of working people. People who are working and earning money are much less likely to be affected by the benefit cap.

Customers can apply to their local authority to be considered for additional financial support through Discretionary Housing Payments or the Household Support Fund.

The Government has announced funding to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) for a further 6 months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025.

An additional £421 million will be provided to enable the extension of the HSF in England, plus funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual.

As with previous HSF schemes, the Fund will be made available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to provide discretionary support to those most in need.

The HSF scheme guidance and individual Local Authority funding allocations for the forthcoming extension will be announced as soon as possible ahead of the scheme beginning on 1 October 2024.

DWP is conducting an evaluation of the fourth iteration of the Household Support Fund. This includes research with a selection of representative Local Authority case study areas, consisting of interviews with Local Authority officials and their delivery partners, and surveys and interviews with recipients of the HSF. This evaluation will provide key evidence on how Local Authorities are delivering the scheme, and their experiences of doing so, as well as the effectiveness of the funding for recipients.

The new Ministerial Taskforce will drive cross-government action on child poverty, starting with overseeing the development of our ambitious new strategy in line with the Opportunity Mission.

We will continue to engage with leading organisations, charities, campaigners and parents to shape and inform these plans. After initial engagement, the formal work to develop the new child poverty strategy will begin, and the Taskforce terms of reference will be published in the coming weeks. Recognising the wide-ranging causes of child poverty, we will explore how we can use all the available levers we have across government and wider society to drive forward the change our children need.

No recent estimates have been published but external estimates are available. Tacking child poverty is at the heart of this Government's mission to break down barriers to opportunity. Our new Ministerial Taskforce will oversee the development of an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, tackle its root causes, and give every child the best start to life.

The new Ministerial Taskforce will drive cross-government action on child poverty, starting with overseeing the development of our ambitious new strategy in line with the Opportunity Mission.

We will continue to engage with leading organisations, charities, campaigners and parents to shape and inform these plans. After initial engagement, the formal work to develop the new child poverty strategy will begin, and the Taskforce terms of reference will be published in the coming weeks. Recognising the wide-ranging causes of child poverty, we will explore how we can use all the available levers we have across government and wider society to drive forward the change our children need.