Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the level of child poverty.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest statistics show that in 2022/23 there were 4.3 million children (30%) in relative low income after housing costs.
Statistics on the number of children living in absolute and relative poverty in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication at Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab). The latest available data can also be found on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. The latest statistics published on 21 March 2024 are for the financial period 2022/23.
Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025.
Our publication on 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’ sets out how we will develop the Strategy, harnessing all available levers to deliver a reduction in child poverty this Parliament.
The Strategy will look at policies 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.
The Strategy is building on a wealth of existing evidence and expertise from all relevant Departments, as is reflected in the broad membership of the Ministerial Taskforce. Ministers are also committed to leading discussions across all UK nations and regions.
The Taskforce will listen to experts and campaigners, engaging with charities, campaigners and leading organisations across the UK to shape and inform these plans, including hearing directly from families across the UK to gather insight.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what further steps they will take to mitigate the impact of child poverty.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025.
Our publication on 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’ sets out how we will develop the Strategy, harnessing all available levers to deliver a reduction in child poverty this Parliament.
The Strategy will look at policies 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.
The Taskforce will hear directly from experts on each of the Strategy’s themes. In October, they heard from partners in industry, regulation and the charity sector about options to reduce essential costs for low-income families. In November, employers, trade unions and think tanks will be invited to discuss options to increase incomes and financial resilience in low-income households.
The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, introduce a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers.
£1 billion, including Barnett impact, will be invested to extend the Household Support Fund in England by a full year until 31 March 2026, on top of the six months already announced, and to maintain Discretionary Housing Payments in England and Wales. This will help struggling households facing the greatest financial hardship.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to get rid of the two-child limit for eligibility for certain benefits.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
While we cannot commit to changing the two child policy, 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.
The Child Poverty Taskforce will explore how we can harness all available levers to reduce child poverty, including by listening to stakeholders on potential changes, before publishing a strategy in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of numbers of people in receipt of Universal Credit; and what are the comparative figures for the 2020–21 financial year.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes Universal Credit statistics on Stat-Xplore which show there were 7.1 million people on Universal Credit in September 2024 and 5.6 million people on Universal Credit in September 2020.
The Department also publishes the benefit expenditure and caseload tables which reported an average caseload of 4.0 million people on Universal Credit in 2020-21.
There are a number of reasons for the increase in the caseload for Universal Credit. There is a maturing effect, as people on legacy benefits leave the system as their legacy claim ends, they appear as a new claim to Universal Credit. In addition, the Move to UC programme is driving up the caseload numbers as people are moved off legacy benefits onto Universal Credit as part of our migration programme.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to removing differences in Universal Credit allowance entitlements for recipients under the age of 25 in their Universal Credit review.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The lower rate of Universal Credit standard allowance for customers under 25 reflects the fact they are more likely to live in someone else’s household than customers 25 and over and are therefore likely to have lower living costs. They also typically earn less as they are earlier in their careers, with the lower rate maintaining the incentive to work.
The Government is committed to reviewing Universal Credit. Details of the review will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to remove the reduced rate in Universal Credit for under 25s.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are no plans to remove the reduced rate of Universal Credit for under 25s.
The reduced rate for under 25s reflects the lower wages that younger workers typically receive. This is intended to maintain the incentive for younger people to find work. Customers under 25 are also more likely to live in someone else’s household and therefore typically have lower living costs.
Additional amounts are added to a customer’s Universal Credit award to provide for individual needs such as housing, children, disability, and childcare costs.
Further, targeted help is available through the Household Support Fund, which has recently been extended to 31 March 2025.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had regarding the extension of the Household Support Fund after September.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
£500 million is being provided to enable the current Household Support Fund, including funding for Devolved Administrations through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion. This means Local Authorities in England are receiving £421 million to support those in need locally.
The current Household Support Fund will be in place until 30 September 2024.
As a new government, we are reviewing all policies, including the Household Support Fund.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Household Support Fund.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There have been five separate iterations of the Household Support Fund (HSF). Since the first iteration was introduced over £2.5 billion has been allocated to Local Authorities in England to distribute to those in need (October 2021- September 2024).
DWP requires that Local Authorities provide Management Information (MI) returns to the Department, which demonstrate that they are delivering the scheme in accordance with the guidance and grant determination that the Department have set out for the scheme. This includes information on the type of household supported, category of spending, types of support and how support has been accessed.
MI has been published for the first three iterations of HSF following their completion. The latest MI covering HSF3 was published in August 2023 and can be found here: Household Support Fund 3 management information for 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The MI shows that just under £1.3 billion was spent in England during HSF1-3, corresponding to 26 million individual awards. Approximately 66% of funding of HSF1-3 (around £800 million) was spent on households with children.
Additionally, DWP is conducting a process and impact 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 the impacts of the funding for recipients.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that carers are not pushed into benefit debt through lack of awareness about the earnings rules.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (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 Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the percentage of people who moved to Universal Credit under the 'Move to UC' policy have been awarded 'transitional protection' (1) between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, and (2) between 1 to 30 April 2024.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions)
The latest published statistics show for households sent a migration notice between April 2023 and end of March 2024, and who went on to claim Universal Credit, 60% were awarded transitional protection.
The relevant information can be found in ‘table 9a’ published here: Move to Universal Credit statistics, July 2022 to March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Data for April 2024 will be published as part of the next Move to Universal Credit statistics release.