Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes to (a) PIP eligibility and (b) the Daily Living component on claimants in Stoke-on-Trent South constituency.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Estimates of the volumes of PIP claimants affected by the reform in the future are forecast for England and Wales only and therefore have not been broken down by Parliamentary Constituency or any other geographic area.
There will be no immediate changes. Changes to PIP eligibility aren’t coming into effect immediately. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from November 2026 subject to parliamentary approval.
PIP changes will only apply at to current claimants at the next award review after November 2026. The average award review period is about three years. At the award review, claimants will be seen by a trained assessor or healthcare professional and assessed on individual needs and circumstances.
After taking account of behavioural changes, OBR predicts that 370,000 people who will be receiving PIP at the point of implementation of the four point requirement in November 2026, will have lost their PIP Daily Living entitlement by 2029/30. Of all PIP recipients at the point of implementation, 9 in 10 will not lose PIP during the subsequent 3 years from this change. Even with these reforms, the overall number of people on PIP and DLA is expected to rise by 750,000 by the end of this parliament and spending will rise from £23bn in 24/25 to £31bn in 29/30.
The proportion of people in receipt of Personal Independence Payment daily living component who were awarded fewer than four points in all daily living activities, by Parliamentary Constituency, is available as part of the Pathways to Work Evidence Pack in Chapter 2, table 2.26.
The number of people currently on PIP who did not score 4 points in one category in their last assessment should not be equated with the number who are likely to lose PIP in future. It’s important to make a clear distinction between the two, not least because we don’t want constituents to be unnecessarily fearful about their situation, when we understand many are already anxious. Someone who did not score 4 points in an activity in a previous assessment may well score 4 points in a future assessment as conditions change over time.
We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. PIP is not based on condition diagnosis but on functional disability as the result of one or more conditions, and is awarded as a contribution to the additional costs which result.
We also intend to launch a wider review of the PIP assessment which I am leading, and we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support people with a criminal record to find employment.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government understands the challenges a criminal record can bring to finding a job and also recognises that employment significantly reduces the risk of reoffending.
The recently published Get Britain Working White Paper sets out Government’s proposals to reform employment, health and skills support to tackle economic inactivity. This includes support for people with a criminal conviction.
DWP provides a range of support to help ex-offenders find employment. This includes around 200 prison work coaches based in prisons across Great Britain who provide employment, training, and benefit support before release. Upon release, our jobcentre work coaches can offer individually tailored employment and training support, including access to DWP employment programmes such as Restart and Sector-based Work Academies.
DWP’s Strategic Relationship Team works with around 300 national employers and partners, and 80 trade associations across a wide range of labour market sectors to generate employment opportunities for claimants including ex-offenders. The Civil Service wide Social Mobility Recruitment Schemes such as Going Forward into Employment provide fixed-term appointment opportunities within the Civil Service for people who face barriers to work, including ex-offenders.
The National Partnership Agreement between MoJ, DWP and the HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) sets out how we are jointly driving rehabilitation and reducing reoffending. This includes DWP working alongside HMPPS’s New Futures Network, which brokers partnerships between prisons and employers in developing local agreements to enhance joined-up working for continuity of support on release. I refer the Hon. Member to the previous parliamentary question response 18064 on 9 December from Sir Nicholas Dakin.
A criminal record should not be a barrier to finding stable employment and having a positive future. Employers are encouraged to delay disclosure of convictions during job applications through the ‘Ban the Box’ scheme to give people with a criminal record a better chance to show their suitability and commitment to a job role. DWP is a proud member of the scheme.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions,what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Universal Credit reimbursement processes on claimants having to pay childcare fees upfront in a lump sum.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Credit customers can claim up to 3 months of future childcare costs at a time with these costs reimbursed month by month.
Universal Credit childcare element, when claimed together with upfront childcare costs, means that customers receive up to 185% of the first month of childcare costs to ease them into the Universal Credit childcare costs payment cycle.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department is taking steps to simplify the application process for Pension Credit.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department have introduced an online claim process, providing customers with a convenient alternative claim route, alongside the existing telephony and paper application methods. As the Department continues to modernise the Pension Credit service, we continue to review the user experience, balancing simplification of application with capturing the right information to ensure accuracy of award.