Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the latest figures they hold of the number of people receiving new style contribution-based Jobseekers Allowance, broken down by the number of (1) men, and (2) women, and the duration of award (a) up to three months, (b) three to six months, and (c) over six months.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to enable the independent advice sector to benefit from ongoing reforms to apprenticeships, skills and employment policy.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Getting more young people into work is a priority of this Government. As such, we are transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy in England to improve access to opportunities. The new levy will give employers greater flexibility, including those in the independent advice sector, and will support the delivery of the Industrial Strategy.
We are investing in young people’s futures and reversing the sharp decline in apprenticeship starts amongst young people, which have fallen by 40% over the last decade, emphasised by our ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships.
There are several apprenticeship standards available that employers in the independent advice sector can take advantage of, including the Level 3 Learning and Development Practitioner and Level 4 Employability Practitioner standards.
Eligible employers within the independent advice sector will be able to benefit from the new £2,000 apprenticeship hiring grant for non-levy paying employers, typically SMEs, that take on 16–24-year-old apprentices as new employees. It will apply to apprenticeship starts from October as long as they have joined their employer within the past 3 months i.e. from July 2026. This is in addition to fully funding apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers for all eligible 16–24-year-olds from the start of the next academic year.
Employers in the sector will also be able to benefit from the Youth Guarantee, which will offer fully funded training, financial incentives and a pipeline of young talent to help fill skills gaps and build their workforce.
In addition, the Adult Skills Fund which is worth around £1.4bn this year, funds education and skills training up to and including Level 3, for eligible adults aged 19+ which can include learning to support individuals to work in the independent advice sector. Skills Bootcamps also support reskilling and upskilling in a range of priority skills areas that could help learners and employers in the independent advice sector.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how many families will not benefit, or not benefit fully, from the removal of the two child limit on Universal Credit because (1) they are receiving transitional protection following migration to Universal Credit, and (2) their council tax reduction is adversely affected.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available, and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. The department does not hold information on Council Tax Reduction awards.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many families would be removed from the benefit cap if child benefit were not included in it; and what would be the cost.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold this data.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they plan to encourage parents, children and teachers to discuss the child-friendly version of the child poverty strategy published on 13 March.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The child‑friendly version of the government’s Child Poverty Strategy is designed to help teachers and parents talk to children about the challenges facing children and families in poverty. It provides a clear, reassuring, and age‑appropriate overview of what poverty means, why some families face difficulties, and the actions the government is taking in response.
In developing the strategy, the government undertook structured engagement with children and families experiencing poverty, placing their views at the centre of the work. A Children’s Rights Impact Assessment was also published, outlining the expected positive effects on children’s rights. The child-friendly version of the Strategy (attached) and the Children’s Rights Impact Assessment can be found on the Strategy’s gov.uk webpages: Our Children, Our Future: How the government is helping children and families (Child Friendly) and Child Poverty Strategy: Child Rights - GOV.UK.
UNICEF has shared the strategy with its network of 1,600 Rights Respecting primary schools, and the Department for Education has highlighted it in its sector communications. Further promotion has been supported through social media activity and a stakeholder toolkit to help raise awareness of the child‑friendly strategy.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to publish agendas, workplans or minutes from meetings of the Timms Review steering group.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I recognise the high levels of interest in the Timms Review and the importance of transparency in its work. The Review is being co-produced and its Steering Group has committed to providing regular updates from the co-chairs on its work as it progresses.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what their assessment is of the number of additional families and children who will be affected by the benefit cap as a result of its thresholds not being uprated from April 2026; and what its thresholds would be from April 2026 had they been uprated in line with the universal credit standard allowance since (1) 2016 when the current thresholds were set, and (2) 2023 when they were last uprated.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made of the number of additional families and children who will be affected by the benefit cap as a result of its thresholds not being uprated from April 2026.
The requested figures for thresholds uprated in line with the Universal Credit standard allowance are shown below. Note these are annual figures for 2026/27.
| Actual | Uprated since 2016 (1) | Uprated since 2023 (2) |
National (couple or lone parents) | £22,020 | £26,732 | £25,372 |
National (single) | £14,753 | £17,910 | £16,998 |
Greater London (couple or lone parents) | £25,323 | £30,742 | £29,178 |
Greater London (single) | £16,987 | £20,598 | £19,573 |
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many people were affected by the under-occupancy charge in each of the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Department for Work and Pensions administrative data on the number of people affected by the under-occupancy charge, formally known as the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS), in Housing Benefit and Universal Credit, is shown in the table below. The figures represent the position as of August for each year from 2020 to 2025.
This information is publicly available through the DWP’s Stat-Xplore service at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk.
| Aug-20 | Aug-21 | Aug-22 | Aug-23 | Aug-24 | Aug-25 |
RSRS HB Caseload | 260,395 | 229,360 | 201,132 | 176,891 | 150,165 | 40,136 |
RSRS UCHE Caseload | 230,495 | 265,743 | 283,078 | 303,872 | 333,692 | 427,268 |
RSRS HB and UCHE Caseload | 490,890 | 495,103 | 484,210 | 480,763 | 483,857 | 467,404 |
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to introduce new earned income disregards for Housing Benefit claimants in supported housing.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department will be introducing new earned income disregards for Housing Benefit claimants in Supported Housing and Temporary Accommodation from Autumn 2026. This will help smooth the transition between the two benefit systems and remove the financial cliff edge for individuals in supported housing and temporary accommodation.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the new Crisis and Resilience Fund will count as public funds under the 'no recourse to public funds' rule.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Crisis and Resilience Fund will fall within the definition of public funds. We plan to publish scheme guidance in January 2026.