Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of excluding zero-hours contracts from the Youth Guarantee on employment opportunities for young people who are not in education, employment or training.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of the Government’s investment of an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years in the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy, young people on Universal Credit are benefiting from enhanced support to help them get into employment, apprenticeships, work experience, Sector-based Work Academy Programme, learning or training from their first appointment in the Jobcentre.
Eligible young people can also benefit from the Jobs Guarantee, which will provide a guaranteed paid job offering regular hours of work of up to 25 hours per week for six months at the relevant National Minimum Wage. Participants will receive the same statutory employment rights and protections as other employees, alongside opportunities to develop skills and experience that support progression into sustained employment. The scheme aims to provide meaningful, secure and predictable employment opportunities for eligible young people who have experienced long-term unemployment. By offering a guaranteed paid job with regular hours, the scheme is designed to help the participants to develop the skills and experience they need to progress into sustained employment.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of temporary work in helping young people who are not in education, employment or training to gain experience and enter the labour market.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
With over one million young people not in education, employment and training, this Government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. The Government is investing an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy.
This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn, including through expanded network of Youth Hubs, earlier intensive support in Jobs Centres through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, additional work experience and training opportunities, a £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant and £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment for employers, and a fully funded six month job for long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds.
We also recognise the crisis of participation that Alan Milburn has so clearly laid out in his interim report. We will use this interim report to continue to build our reforms and look forward to final recommendations in the Autumn.
The government recognises that temporary work can help young people, including those not in education, employment or training (NEET), to gain valuable experience and enter the labour market. Through the Youth Guarantee, the government is expanding access to work experience, training and employment support to help more young people move into work. For example, several Youth Guarantee Trailblazers are connecting young people who are NEET with work placement opportunities to help them gain the experience they need and develop the skills to get sustained employment.
The Employment Rights Act preserves flexibility for genuinely temporary work, including through limited-term contracts. The government is consulting employers, trade unions and wider civil society to ensure the right to guaranteed hours works for businesses and workers.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the numbers of non-British nationals claiming Universal Credit.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Figures are routinely published of the number of non ‘Common Travel Area’ (CTA) nationals in the Universal Credit statistics available on GOV.UK.
From the most recently published Universal Credit statistics, there were 8.3 million people on Universal Credit in January 2026, and the percentage of those people by nationality group, compiled from Table 2 of the immigration and nationality data tables, is shown in the table below.
Table 1: Proportion of People on Universal Credit by Nationality group, Great Britain, January 2026
| January 2026 (%) |
CTA - UK, Ireland, Right of Abode | 85% |
EEA (Excluding Ireland) | 7% |
Non-EEA | 6% |
No nationality recorded on digital systems | 2% |
Source: DWP Universal Credit - Immigration Status and Nationality statistics
Notes:
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that Child Maintenance Service users who are assigned to the specialist domestic abuse caseworker team are transferred to that team when they contact the Child Maintenance Service helpline.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to ensuring that victims and survivors of domestic abuse receive the support they need when using the Child Maintenance Service (CMS).
The CMS has a Specialist Caseworker team that provides targeted support for customers experiencing the most challenging or complex domestic abuse situations. All CMS caseworkers receive training to identify indicators of domestic abuse and to refer appropriate cases to the specialist team.
Once the CMS has moved a customer’s case into the Specialist Caseworker team, all inbound calls from that customer will route directly to that team. If the automated call routing cannot identify the customer, their call will go to a different team, but all caseworkers are trained to identify this and will reroute the call to the Specialist Caseworker Team. CMS has strengthened telephony quality assurance arrangements and provided targeted training for team leaders on service standards, coaching and feedback. These measures are designed to support consistent service delivery and help ensure customers requiring specialist support are identified and transferred appropriately.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in light of their commitment in 2023 to include unearned income in the standard calculation used by the Child Maintenance Service, when they intend to introduce the necessary legislation to facilitate this.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has recently completed a review of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) calculation. This was underpinned by a substantial programme of research the results of which have been published.
Following the review, the Government intends to reduce the income tolerance from 25 per cent to 15 per cent so that changes in income are reflected more quickly in maintenance calculations. The Government also intends to include unearned income within the standard calculation, helping to ensure liabilities more accurately reflect a parent's financial circumstances and that more money reaches children.
Secondary legislation is required before implementation, which is subject to parliamentary approval. Further details on legislation and implementation will be communicated in due course.
We remain committed to ensuring that the CMS provides an effective service for separated parents and their children and continue to keep the operation of the child maintenance system under review and will consider any future changes in the context of wider priorities for supporting children and families.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will reconsider the cancellation of the public consultation on the Child Maintenance Service's calculation process.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has recently completed a review of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) calculation. This was underpinned by a substantial programme of research the results of which have been published.
Following the review, the Government intends to reduce the income tolerance from 25 per cent to 15 per cent so that changes in income are reflected more quickly in maintenance calculations. The Government also intends to include unearned income within the standard calculation, helping to ensure liabilities more accurately reflect a parent's financial circumstances and that more money reaches children.
Secondary legislation is required before implementation, which is subject to parliamentary approval. Further details on legislation and implementation will be communicated in due course.
We remain committed to ensuring that the CMS provides an effective service for separated parents and their children and continue to keep the operation of the child maintenance system under review and will consider any future changes in the context of wider priorities for supporting children and families.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether there has been an increase in the annual number of reported errors made by the Child Maintenance Service since July 2024.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates within the wider DWP Quality Strategy designed to prevent, detect, and correct errors at the earliest opportunity. Where payments have been made in error, the CMS has processes to refund overpayments to the paying parent and, where appropriate, to seek recovery from the receiving parent. Decisions on reimbursement are made on a case-by-case basis and the welfare of all children affected in any given case will be considered as part of making this decision.
In addition, the Department’s approach to accuracy and error is subject to independent scrutiny, including oversight by the National Audit Office, providing further assurance that robust controls are in place and that any issues are identified and acted upon promptly.
The Department remains committed to improving its systems and processes to reduce the likelihood of error, ensure payments are correct, and take swift action to resolve issues where they occur.
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) measures assessment accuracy by comparing the total weekly monetary value of correct and incorrect maintenance calculations to produce an overall percentage of correctly assessed cases. For 2024/25, CMS Monetary Value Error (MVE) accuracy was 99.5%, unchanged from 2023/24, where accuracy was also 99.5%. This indicates that the overall level of accuracy in maintenance assessments has remained stable over this period.
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) Client Fund Accounts are due to be published in December 2026, which will include the assessment accuracy for 2025/26.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of reported errors made by the Child Maintenance Service in 2025–26.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates within the wider DWP Quality Strategy designed to prevent, detect, and correct errors at the earliest opportunity. Where payments have been made in error, the CMS has processes to refund overpayments to the paying parent and, where appropriate, to seek recovery from the receiving parent. Decisions on reimbursement are made on a case-by-case basis and the welfare of all children affected in any given case will be considered as part of making this decision.
In addition, the Department’s approach to accuracy and error is subject to independent scrutiny, including oversight by the National Audit Office, providing further assurance that robust controls are in place and that any issues are identified and acted upon promptly.
The Department remains committed to improving its systems and processes to reduce the likelihood of error, ensure payments are correct, and take swift action to resolve issues where they occur.
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) measures assessment accuracy by comparing the total weekly monetary value of correct and incorrect maintenance calculations to produce an overall percentage of correctly assessed cases. For 2024/25, CMS Monetary Value Error (MVE) accuracy was 99.5%, unchanged from 2023/24, where accuracy was also 99.5%. This indicates that the overall level of accuracy in maintenance assessments has remained stable over this period.
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) Client Fund Accounts are due to be published in December 2026, which will include the assessment accuracy for 2025/26.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what safeguards will be put in place to ensure that communications and promotional material relating to surplus release and endgame strategies are balanced, accurate and in the best interests of scheme beneficiaries.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pension Schemes Act 2026 introduced reforms enabling more trustees of well-funded occupational Defined Benefit (DB) pension schemes to share surplus with the sponsoring employer and benefit members. Regulations will set out the conditions that trustees must meet before surplus can be released. These protections are designed to ensure that members’ promised benefits remain secure. The Department for Work and Pensions will consult on these draft regulations.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published guidance to support trustees in making endgame decisions. TPR will consult on further guidance, on matters that trustees should consider when releasing surplus. Trustees will continue to act in accordance with their duties which require them to act in the interests of scheme beneficiaries, alongside fulfilling the clear standards for effective member communications, as is already overseen by TPR.
TPR’s 2024 survey of trust-based DB schemes indicated that around 62% of the schemes with a long-term objective intended to buy-out in the insurance market. Under the Occupational Pension Schemes (Funding and Investment Strategy and Amendment) Regulations 2024, trustees must set a funding and investment strategy determining how they plan to provide benefits over the long-term. The DB surplus changes allow trustees of all schemes the choice to be able to use surplus to benefit members and employers, but schemes are not required to release surplus.
The Impact Assessment for the Pension Schemes Act 2026 estimated that £11.2 billion of additional surplus funds are expected to be released over a 10-year period as a result of this legislative change, based on assumptions about take-up and behaviour. £160 billion is the total estimate of DB scheme surplus, for schemes in surplus estimated at September 2024. Actual levels of surplus release will depend on market conditions, individual scheme circumstances and trustee decisions.
TPR is an independent regulator responsible for determining how it deploys its resources to meet its statutory objectives. The Government keeps under review the implications for TPR of developments in the DB pensions landscape and for its resources.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the additional resources or regulatory capacity required by the Pensions Regulator if more defined benefit pension schemes are expected to operate on a run-on basis for longer periods.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pension Schemes Act 2026 introduced reforms enabling more trustees of well-funded occupational Defined Benefit (DB) pension schemes to share surplus with the sponsoring employer and benefit members. Regulations will set out the conditions that trustees must meet before surplus can be released. These protections are designed to ensure that members’ promised benefits remain secure. The Department for Work and Pensions will consult on these draft regulations.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has published guidance to support trustees in making endgame decisions. TPR will consult on further guidance, on matters that trustees should consider when releasing surplus. Trustees will continue to act in accordance with their duties which require them to act in the interests of scheme beneficiaries, alongside fulfilling the clear standards for effective member communications, as is already overseen by TPR.
TPR’s 2024 survey of trust-based DB schemes indicated that around 62% of the schemes with a long-term objective intended to buy-out in the insurance market. Under the Occupational Pension Schemes (Funding and Investment Strategy and Amendment) Regulations 2024, trustees must set a funding and investment strategy determining how they plan to provide benefits over the long-term. The DB surplus changes allow trustees of all schemes the choice to be able to use surplus to benefit members and employers, but schemes are not required to release surplus.
The Impact Assessment for the Pension Schemes Act 2026 estimated that £11.2 billion of additional surplus funds are expected to be released over a 10-year period as a result of this legislative change, based on assumptions about take-up and behaviour. £160 billion is the total estimate of DB scheme surplus, for schemes in surplus estimated at September 2024. Actual levels of surplus release will depend on market conditions, individual scheme circumstances and trustee decisions.
TPR is an independent regulator responsible for determining how it deploys its resources to meet its statutory objectives. The Government keeps under review the implications for TPR of developments in the DB pensions landscape and for its resources.