Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, under the proposals for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) contained in the Green Paper Pathways to Work, how many current PIP claimants, based on their present activities of daily living points total and distribution between activities of daily living, would (1) not be entitled to the daily living component of PIP at the standard rate, (2) not be entitled to the daily living component of PIP at the enhanced rate, (3) become subject to the benefit cap, and (4) become subject to the shared accommodation rate of Local Housing Allowance.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Lister of Burtersett on 3 April (HL6131), what is their estimate of the total cash amount of the Universal Credit standard allowance in 2029-30, both with and without the above-inflation increases listed.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
Estimated Monthly Standard Allowance in 2029-30 | ||
Rate | Inflation uprating only | Minimum Amounts with Above-inflation uprating |
Single under 25 | £348 | £365 |
Single 25 plus | £439 | £461 |
Couple under 25 | £546 | £573 |
Couple 25 plus | £690 | £723 |
Notes:
Amounts are rounded to the nearest £
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Hanson of Flint on 8 April (HL6130), whether they intend to publish the interim and final findings of the evaluation of the changes to the move on period for refugees who have been granted leave to remain in the UK.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office will consider in due course what can be published in this area, once the department has had an opportunity to study the findings.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication on 7 April of Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, whether there will be exemptions from the proposed conversations for disabled people who cannot work, and if so what those exemptions will be.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many child's rights impact assessments they (1) prepared, and (2) published, in each year from 1 April 2018, broken down by department.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
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.
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 the number of disabled people who are in receipt of a means-tested benefit but are not in receipt of personal independence payment.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the proposal in Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published 28 March, for a time-limited contribution-based employment and support allowance, what estimate they have made of the number of people who will no longer be entitled to this allowance if it is time-limited for (1) six months, and (2) 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Hanson of Flint on 13 December 2024 (HL Deb cols 2010–12), whether the pilot will involve newly recognised refugees with lived experience of the moving on period; what the criteria will be to evaluate success; who is undertaking the pilot; and whether the interim findings will be published, and if so when.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) & RSM have been contracted to undertake an evaluation of the changes to the move on period on behalf of the Home Office. This evaluation will cover the extension of the move on period to 56 days, the provision of liaison officers to support those granted asylum, and the provision of £2.8m recognition payment for select local authorities. It will assess the implementation, early outcomes and value for money of these initiatives. It will also assess the early impact of the rollout of eVisas and how this interacts with the above initiatives.
The following outcomes are of interest, and the evaluation will assess how/whether the changes to the move on period have:
Evaluation methods include interviews with newly granted refugees to capture insights from those with lived experience of the move on process.
Interim evaluation findings are due to be delivered shortly, with final evaluation findings delivered this summer.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Sherlock on 18 March (HL Deb col 1203), whether the above-inflation increase in the standard rate of Universal Credit by the end of this Parliament represents an above-inflation increase in any year other than 2026–27.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the purpose of the changes made to (1) illegal entry, and (2) arriving without a required valid entry clearance or electronic travel authorisation, having made a dangerous journey, in the Nationality: good character requirement guidance.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are already rules that can prevent those arriving illegally from gaining citizenship.
On 10 February 2025, the Home Office strengthened measures to make it clear that anyone who enters the UK illegally or who arrives without a required valid entry clearance or electronic valid authorisation having made a dangerous journey, including small boat arrivals, now faces having a British citizenship application refused on the basis that they will not normally be considered to be of good character. This change means that:
However, each citizenship application will continue to be considered on a case-by-case basis. The Secretary of State may choose to apply discretion to grant citizenship on an exceptional basis where there are particularly exceptional, compelling, or mitigating circumstances.