Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of proposed welfare reform on the projected number of people who are deemed unfit for work by 2030.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The recent Pathways to Work Green Paper announced our plans to abolish the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and instead use the Personal Independence Payment assessment as the single assessment for additional financial support, subject to parliamentary approval. Once the WCA has been abolished the Department for Work and Pensions will no longer classify people as fit or unfit for work.
The Department published “Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts” alongside the Spring Statement.
This report contains estimated caseloads for the Universal Credit health element from 2026/27 to 2029/30, categorised by whether claimants are receiving the higher rate or the frozen rate from 2025/26.
By 2029/30 an estimated 2.25 million people, the pre-April 2026 current claimants, will still be receiving the higher rate of the UC health element, frozen at its 2025/26 level. A further 730,000 are forecast to be receiving the new lower rate of the health element. All will receive a standard allowance that has been increased by more than CPI inflation.
Table A5: Benefit units affected by UC health element change
Average caseload over year (1,000s) | 2026/27 | 2027/28 | 2028/29 | 2029/30 |
Pre April 2026 claimants (current) | 2,670 | 2,510 | 2,380 | 2,250 |
Post April 2026 claimants (future) | 120 | 360 | 560 | 730 |
Note: Estimates are after behavioural effects and are rounded to the nearest ten thousand. A benefit unit is a single adult or a married or cohabiting couple and any dependent children.
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: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the £1 billion employment, health and skills support package for disabled people and those with long-term medical conditions will be available to people across the entire UK.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work. This is backed up by £1 billion of new funding across the United Kingdom, with the share of funding for devolved governments calculated in the usual way.
The UK government will respect settlements with devolved governments.
Within Great Britain, we will work closely with the Scottish and Welsh Governments to ensure all aspects of our new approach to delivering employment support partner effectively with devolved provision, including but not limited to skills, health and careers as well as Scottish and Welsh Government-funded employment support.
In Northern Ireland, health, skills, careers and all aspects of employment support are transferred matters. We will work closely with the Northern Ireland Executive, including sharing best practice with the Northern Ireland Executive’s Department for Communities about how our reforms to reduce economic inactivity and support disabled people and people with a health condition are working.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support people with a musculoskeletal condition back into work, and whether they plan to use chiropractors to help people return people to work.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Improving health and work outcomes for the over 20 million people with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions in the UK forms a key part of this government's missions to build an NHS fit for the future and kickstart economic growth.
Healthcare professionals play a vital prevention and early intervention role in supporting people to self-manage their musculoskeletal (MSK) condition and enabling them to get in and get on in work.
The 2025 Healthcare Professionals’ Consensus Statement for action on health and work, published 20 January 2025, commits to work over the next five years to support healthcare professionals, including allied health professionals, to engage more proactively with, and to promote ‘good work as a health outcome’ across the health and care sector. This will support patients, including with MSK conditions, to return and remain in good work.
To support people back into work, the Occupational Health Workforce Expansion Funding Scheme (launched July 2023) funded registered health professionals to undertake occupational health training and qualifications. To date, over 200 doctors and nurses have commenced training.
Government recognises the role complementary and alternative medicine treatments such as chiropractic can play in supporting people. NHS England does not currently support or commission chiropractic care in the NHS.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the number of pensioners entitled to claim Pension Credit who are not doing so.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department estimate that up to 760,000 families who were entitled to receive Pension Credit did not claim the benefit in the financial year ending 2023. Further details can be found at Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many pensioners have been in receipt of Pension Credit for each month since July 2024.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The next iteration of Pension Credit caseload statistics will be released on 18th February, as part of the DWP Benefits Statistics quarterly release. This will contain data for the period from June 2024 to the end of August 2024.
Following release, the data can also be accessed at Stat-Xplore - Home.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the uptake of Pension Credit by those entitled to it.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to ensuring that older people receive the support to which they are entitled. That’s why we are taking significant steps to maximise the take-up of Pension Credit. The Department’s campaign to promote Pension Credit has been running since September and has included TV, radio, social media such as Facebook and Instagram, on YouTube, on advertising screens, including on GP and Post Office screens as well as in the press.
The latest phase of the campaign ran from 8 November and was aimed at friends and family - especially adult children of eligible pensioners - asking them to tell people they know about Pension Credit, encourage them to check their eligibility, as well as help them make a claim.
In November we also wrote to around 120,000 pensioners who were in receipt of Housing Benefit but not Pension Credit. We invited these pensioners to claim Pension Credit in time to make a successful backdated Pension Credit claim and qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment.
In order to promote Pension Credit through as many channels as possible, we have also engaged with key stakeholders and partners, including other government departments, local councils, housing associations, community groups, local libraries and service providers as well as charities and third sector organisations.
Our campaign has seen DWP receive around 150,000 Pension Credit applications in the 16 weeks since the Winter Fuel Payment announcement. This is compared to around 61,300 Pension Credit applications in the 16 weeks preceding the announcement – a 145% increase in applications since the 29 July.
Over the coming weeks, as part of the annual State Pension uprating exercise, around 11 million pensioners will receive a leaflet promoting Pension Credit along with their State Pension uprating letter.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the annual cost increase arising from the greater uptake of Pension Credit since July 2024.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department estimates that the legislation to means-test Winter Fuel Payments would generate a net saving of £1.3 billion in England and Wales for 2024/25. This reflects an expected increase in Pension Credit take-up, estimated at five percentage points. This assumption reduced the overall saving by £0.3 billion in 2024-25 in England and Wales, but there is significant uncertainty around this element of the costing. For further details, please see Economic and fiscal outlook – CP 1169.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the maximum amount that the Department for Work and Pensions is seeking to recover from any individual recipient of carer's allowance as a result of overpayment of that allowance; and whether there is any cap on the total amount sought.
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: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment has the Department for Work and Pensions made of its own culpability in issuing overpayments to recipients of carer's allowance.
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: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government from how many recipients of carer's allowance the Department for Work and Pensions is seeking repayment following overpayment of that allowance.
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.