Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 4 February (HL14073), what technical reasonable adjustments, beyond "plain English" and dynamically built questions, are embedded in the digital interface to support claimants with learning disabilities; and in particular whether session timeouts have been extended.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
While Universal Credit is delivered as a digital first service, the Department recognises some customers need support to access or manage services online. Universal Credit is designed and built in line with accessibility standards and is regularly tested with users who have a range of access needs, including learning disabilities. Features such as step-by-step journeys, plain English and clear prompts are built-in to support understanding and reduce cognitive load.
Where customers have health conditions or learning disabilities, support is provided operationally through tailored help and reasonable adjustments. Any agreed adjustments are recorded on the customer’s account and reviewed regularly, ensuring support can be delivered consistently throughout the Universal Credit journey. These include telephone and face-to-face support, postal correspondence, home visits and support from an appointee or representative to act on the customer’s behalf if appropriate. The Department also offers the Help to Claim service, delivered by Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland and provides enhanced support for vulnerable customers, including some moving from ESA.
In addition, regarding session time‑outs, there is a feature to give users the opportunity to extend the time for them to complete that stage. When making a claim there are many points where the data is autosaved, meaning that when a customer is timed out their information is mainly saved. Where session length or digital interaction presents a barrier, customers can be supported through assisted digital routes or non‑digital channels, tailored to their individual needs.
There is continued focus on accessibility and support, allowing customers to transact via a variety of channels according to their needs, including offering non‑digital routes, reasonable adjustments and tailored help for customers who may struggle with the claims process.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 4 February (HL14073), what is the average duration from initial contact to claim completion for claimants with a learning disability using (1) the digital service, and (2) the telephone or home-visit alternative service.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Claims are not awarded/paid until the end of the monthly assessment period, in order that an accurate assessment can be made, including any income/earnings received during that period. Therefore, there is no measure of claim completion prior to the end of the assessment period.
‘Payment Timeliness’ data, shows those claimants who are paid on time at the end of the first assessment period; however, this is not segregated by claimant characteristics or channel.
The latest published statistics for ‘Payment Timeliness’ are from October 2025, showing 93% received their payment on time and 88% their payment on time and in full.
Universal Credit is primarily a digital service, but there is a continued focus on accessibility and support, allowing claimants to transact via a variety of channels according to their needs, offering non‑digital routes. This includes making a claim by telephone or face-to-face and where appropriate, home visits may also be considered.
Independent support is also available through the Help to Claim service, delivered by Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland. For customers identified as vulnerable, including some customers with learning difficulties, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) also has an Enhanced Support Journey for those migrating from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) who may need additional help to make and complete their claim.
Where a customer is unable to manage their own affairs, DWP can appoint a suitable individual, third party, or organisation to act on the customer’s behalf and manage their Universal Credit claim. This arrangement can be short or long‑term, depending on the customer’s circumstances.
The Department is committed to ensuring customers are supported in a way that meets their individual needs and DWP staff are required to discuss and review accessibility needs at every interaction, as reasonable adjustment needs can change over time.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 4 February (HL14073), what assessment they have made of the technical requirements to make the requested statistics on identity verification and work capability failure rates for claimants with learning disabilities "readily available" for future parliamentary scrutiny and improving service provision.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department holds Universal Credit data to support the safe and accurate delivery of benefit; primarily supporting the effective administration of claims, rather than detailed analytical reporting by disability type. Therefore, data does not currently show identity verification or work capability related outcomes segregated by claimant characteristics, such as learning disabilities. The latest published statistics for ‘Payment Timeliness’ are from October 2025, showing 93% received their payment on time and 88% their payment on time and in full.
Identity verification can be completed through a range of digital and non‑digital routes; with the majority of customers successfully verifying their identity. A proportion of customers disengage from the process before completion; however, this can occur for many reasons (including finding work/earning more) and does not necessarily indicate an inability to verify identity. Where customers have health conditions or learning disabilities, support is provided operationally through tailored help and reasonable adjustments. Any agreed adjustments are recorded on the customer’s account and reviewed regularly, ensuring support can be delivered consistently throughout the Universal Credit journey.
There is continued focus on accessibility and support, allowing claimants to transact via a variety of channels according to their needs, including offering non‑digital routes, reasonable adjustments and tailored help for customers who may struggle with the claims process. These measures are intended to support successful engagement and completion of claims with 88% paid on time at the end of the first assessment period.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what specific reasonable adjustments are embedded in the digital benefit application interface to accommodate claimants with learning disabilities; and what percentage of those who failed (1) the identity verification, and (2) the work capability, online application stages in the past 12 months were identified as having a learning disability.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to ensuring that its digital benefit services, including the Universal Credit online claim, are accessible to all, in line with our duties under the Equality Act 2010. This includes making reasonable adjustments for people with learning disabilities so that they are not placed at a substantial disadvantage when applying for support.
Universal Credit is designed as a modern digital service, with the online application structured in clear steps and using plain English, informed by user research and feedback. The questions presented are built dynamically based on the information the customer provides, so people only see the screens that are relevant to their circumstances, reducing complexity for those who may find long forms or highly technical language difficult to manage.
An Accessibility Statement link is also available at the bottom of each Universal Credit page. This explains how to access the service if extra support is needed, including how to ask for information in alternative formats or for additional help with managing the digital journey.
Customers who are unable to use the digital service can make a claim by telephone, and where they are unable to attend the jobcentre, a home visit can be arranged to undertake verification. Customers may also give explicit consent for a trusted third party to help manage their claim, or an appointee can be formally appointed to act on their behalf, with these arrangements recorded within the digital service.
The Department keeps the Universal Credit service under regular review and continues to work with stakeholders, disability organisations and people with lived experience to identify further improvements, including for customers with learning disabilities, to ensure that our services remain accessible and responsive to all.
With reference to the statistics requested, these are not readily available based on the requested parameters.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in notifying individuals that they may be eligible to Winter Fuel Payments, whether they took steps to ensure that letters were not sent to deceased people whose relatives had used the Tell Us Once service, and in how many instances they are aware of such letters being sent despite this.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department each year routinely takes steps to ensure letters issued to those eligible to Winter Fuel payments are accurate based on their circumstances at the time of writing. Naturally, there is a short timeframe where in very rare occasions these circumstances may change whilst the letters are already in production or in the delivery network. We continually review our processes to ensure these instances are kept to an absolute minimum to avoid unnecessary impacts on our customers or their relatives.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to ensure that the ruling by the Supreme Court on O'Brien (Appellant) v Ministry of Justice (Respondent) that same-sex couples should have equal pensions rights and entitlements as those in opposite-sex marriages will remain law post-Brexit, given that the ruling was based on EU law.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
The Government has no plans to amend pension rights for same sex couples as a result of the UK leaving the European Union.
The Government is committed to same sex marriage and is proud that legislation was introduced to ensure that pensions are built up equally for all legal partnerships.
Regarding the recent Supreme Court ruling in the case of Walker v Innospec Ltd, the Government of course respects the decision of the Supreme Court. The Government are reviewing the implication of the judgement in detail and will respond appropriately in due course.
The Supreme Court has passed the case of O’Brien v Ministry of Justice to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on LGBT young people of the announcement in the Budget of the withdrawal of housing benefit from under-21 year-olds, in the light of the statistics from the Albert Kennedy Trust that indicate that 69 per cent of LGBT young people in that age group have had to leave their family home and cannot return due to issues surrounding coming out.
Answered by Lord Freud
To prevent young people slipping straight into a life on benefits, from April 2017 the Government will remove the automatic entitlement to housing support for new claims in Universal Credit from 18-21 year olds who are out of work. This will ensure young people in the benefits system face the same choices as young people who work and who may not be able to afford to leave home.
We will ensure that vulnerable young people who are in need of support for their housing needs continue to receive it. Government will consider the impact in line with our legal obligations as part of that process.
Asked by: Lord Scriven (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce differences between survivor pensions received by surviving married partners in same-sex partnerships and those in mixed-sex partnerships, in both the public and private sectors and when they consider full equality will be achieved in that area.
Answered by Lord Freud
The Government has carried out a review of survivor benefits in occupational pension schemes. The review was carried out jointly by the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Treasury, and was published in June 2014. It considered the differences in survivor benefits between different groups, and the costs and effects of eliminating the differences.
The Government is considering the findings of the review, which provided important information on the costs and other effects of eliminating or reducing differences in survivor benefit provision.
A decision on the review will be made and a response issued in due course, however it is vital that the findings are considered thoroughly before doing so.