Welfare Reform

Debate between Baroness Sherlock and Lord Young of Cookham

Tuesday 18th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for raising that question and I apologise to my noble friend Lady Lister for having forgotten to deal with it in my response to her. I commend my noble friend Lady Pitkeathley for all that she does in this space. First, she knows more than anyone that we are investing in carers: we have just significantly raised the amount of money that somebody can earn before they will lose their carer’s allowance. We have also launched an independent review of carer’s allowance to make sure that the system works. The eligibility change will benefit 60,000 carers-plus by 2029-30.

My noble friend makes the excellent point that the overlap between caring and disability is sometimes more intertwined than we realise. Again, I reassure her that if somebody is on PIP, neither the carer nor the person being cared for will lose that money unless and until there is a reassessment and their eligibility is found to have changed. More than that, we made a specific commitment in the Green Paper to look carefully when considering the consultation responses at how we can support any unpaid carers who find they are affected by the changes that we are proposing. In light of that, I strongly encourage anyone such as her or people she may know to respond to the consultation, to engage with us and to make sure that we understand any unforeseen consequences and can think about how we deal with them.

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

The noble Baroness has announced a wide range of reforms. Can she say which require primary legislation and which can be done by secondary legislation? Can she outline the implications for those who work in her department of the reforms she has just touched on?

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

With parliamentary approval, we will use primary legislation to address the changes in universal credit and PIP eligibility. Assuming that we have parliamentary approval and that time is found for Bills by whoever makes these decisions, we will bring forward legislation on those. Some of the other aspects of the reforms that we are consulting on in the Green Paper, if taken forward, will also need primary legislation, but of course they are the subject of consultation, so, as the noble Lord will understand, I would not commit to doing them at this stage; it depends on the result of the consultation. Some of those will need consultation, and primary legislation for them, with parliamentary approval, would have to be done in a subsequent Session.

On the impact on people in my department, we have looked carefully and have been working with colleagues across the department to make sure that the changes that we want to make are deliverable—that has been very much at the forefront. Somebody asked me recently what the biggest difference is between being in opposition and being in government. It is that, when you are in opposition, your primary concern is policy; when you are in government, one of your concerns is how you can actually deliver things. We are very conscious that we have to make sure not only that the system has the right elements to it but that it is deliverable, and we are determined to do that.

Household Support Fund

Debate between Baroness Sherlock and Lord Young of Cookham

Wednesday 24th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

My Lords, I assume that the noble Lord is talking about a vote in the other place on the two-child limit. I certainly would not comment on the decisions of the Chief Whip here—never mind at the other end—who is of course always right. I simply take gentle issue with the suggestion that people taking a particular view are putting party before country. I recognise that there is a concern about the two-child limit, but our new Prime Minister could not have shown a greater commitment on child poverty. One of the earliest major announcements he made, in his second week, was to create a major commission on child poverty, with Ministers drawn from across government. It will of course look at important questions such as household income, but poverty is not just about that. It is going to draw in and look at education, childcare and health—all the things that prevent our children having the best start in life—and I am really excited about that.

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

Does the Minister recall that, the last time we debated this, the outgoing Government agreed to extend the household support fund for a further six months until September? Does she recall that, at that time, I intervened to suggest that, instead of a cliff edge at the end of September, there should be some form of taper? Will the Government consider that?

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

I remember that very well. In fact, I read the Hansard of the last time this came up and noticed that the noble Lord made that point. When I looked at how the financing had been provided, I saw that the money had been provided for only six months. Therefore, there is currently nothing in the budget to go beyond that. But I take his broader point about cliff edges and short notice being unhelpful. As I said, we need to get back to a space where we can support councils with longer, multiyear funding to give them the kind of stability they need but simply have not had recently.