Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by Maternity Action, entitled Pushed into Poverty, published in May 2025, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the recommendation on £7.99 million model costing for maternity allowance to be treated as earned income by Universal Credit on women in low income jobs.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment is planned.
Universal Credit treats Maternity Allowance in the same way as legacy means-tested benefits, such as Income Support or Income Based Jobseeker’s Allowance, in that it is taken fully into account. Whilst we keep all policies under review, we have no plans to review how Maternity Allowance is taken into account in UC.
Maternity pay is primarily designed as a health and safety provision for pregnant working women. We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work in the later stages of their pregnancy and following childbirth, if they wish, for their own health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
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 merits of treating Maternity Allowance as earned income for the purposes of calculating Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment is planned.
Universal Credit treats Maternity Allowance in the same way as legacy means-tested benefits, such as Income Support or Income Based Jobseeker’s Allowance, in that it is taken fully into account. Whilst we keep all policies under review, we have no plans to review how Maternity Allowance is taken into account in UC.
Maternity pay is primarily designed as a health and safety provision for pregnant working women. We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work in the later stages of their pregnancy and following childbirth, if they wish, for their own health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what long-term plans her Department has to increase levels of (a) maternity, (b) paternity and (c) parental pay in line with the National Living Wage.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Government spends approximately £3 billion a year on parental payments. When considering calls to increase the level of maternity benefits generally, those must be balanced against limited resources as well as being mindful of the burden on employers, the needs of parents and could not be made without consultation with businesses and other stakeholders. Further, any changes would need to take account of economic circumstances and affordability for taxpayers.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of benefits and State Pensions, including Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance. This is based on a review of trends in prices and earnings growth in the preceding year.
From April 2025, the rate for Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance increased by September 2024's CPI figure of 1.7%, from £184.03 to £187.18 per week.
Maternity and other types of Parental Pay are intended to provide a measure of financial security to support parents whilst they are away from the workplace; they are not a replacement of earnings.
We know that the parental leave system needs improvement. In the Plan to Make Work Pay the government committed to a Review of the parental leave system to ensure that it best supports working families. Planning work is already underway across Government.
The review provides us with an opportunity to consider the current framework of parental leave entitlements and how they should operate as a holistic system to improve the support available for working families.
We will also take the opportunity to establish a set of objectives for the parental leave system, which reflect the needs of GB’s modern economy. This has been lacking in recent years as the framework of entitlements has evolved over time.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
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 merits of increasing (a) Statutory Maternity Pay, (b) Maternity Allowance and (c) Shared Parental Pay to 62.5 per cent of the weekly National Living Wage by 2028.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Government spends approximately £3 billion a year on parental payments. When considering calls to increase the level of maternity benefits generally, those must be balanced against limited resources as well as being mindful of the burden on employers, the needs of parents and could not be made without consultation with businesses and other stakeholders. Further, any changes would need to take account of economic circumstances and affordability for taxpayers.
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of benefits and State Pensions, including Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance. This is based on a review of trends in prices and earnings growth in the preceding year.
From April 2025, the rate for Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance increased by September 2024's CPI figure of 1.7%, from £184.03 to £187.18 per week.
Maternity and other types of Parental Pay are intended to provide a measure of financial security to support parents whilst they are away from the workplace; they are not a replacement of earnings.
We know that the parental leave system needs improvement. In the Plan to Make Work Pay the government committed to a Review of the parental leave system to ensure that it best supports working families. Planning work is already underway across Government.
The review provides us with an opportunity to consider the current framework of parental leave entitlements and how they should operate as a holistic system to improve the support available for working families.
We will also take the opportunity to establish a set of objectives for the parental leave system, which reflect the needs of GB’s modern economy. This has been lacking in recent years as the framework of entitlements has evolved over time.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work, published on 18 May 2025, what estimate has she made of the potential impact of her Department's Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work, published on 18 May 2025, on the number of claimants who will have their housing benefit cut because they have at least one spare room in Northern Ireland in each of the next five years.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
PIP is administered in Northern Ireland by the Department for Communities (DfC). DfC is responsible for producing analysis on how the planned reforms will impact claimants in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of (a) deaf and (b) disabled people who will be affected by proposed Personal Independence Payment changes in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
PIP is administered in Northern Ireland by the Department for Communities (DfC). DfC is responsible for producing analysis on how the planned reforms will impact claimants in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work, published on 18 May 2025, what estimate she has made of the number of claimants currently in receipt of contributory Employment and Support Allowance who would transfer to the proposed unemployment insurance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is currently consulting on a proposed Unemployment Insurance. The consultation closes on 30 June 2025. No decisions have yet been made about transitioning existing claimants of NS ESA and NS JSA to the proposed Unemployment Insurance and therefore an estimate cannot be provided at this stage. However, a further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper has been published here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab). Latest data as of November 2025 shows that there are 750,000 claimants for contributory ESA.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
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 (a) directly invite the views of disabled people and (b) directly engage with stakeholder groups on the Pathway to Work proposals.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government strongly values the input of disabled people and representative organisations, and that is why we have brought forward this Green Paper and opened a public consultation. The consultation welcomes all views, and we hope that a wide range of voices will respond before it closes on the 30 June 2025.
We have published a full suite of accessible versions of the Green Paper to ensure that everyone can engage. Our schedule of virtual and in-person public consultation events across the country will further facilitate input and help us to hear from disabled people and stakeholders directly. The events accommodate any reasonable adjustments for individuals who wish to attend, including re-imbursing travel costs and arranging accessible venues and accessibility requirements such as BSL interpreters or stenographers for attendees.
We are continuing to facilitate other ways to involve stakeholders and disabled people in our reforms. In addition to the consultation itself, we will establish ‘collaboration committees’ that bring groups, including disabled people and other experts, together for specific work areas. Our wider review of the PIP assessment, led by myself, will also bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure the consultation events on the Pathway to Work are accessible to people with disabilities.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government strongly values the input of disabled people and representative organisations, and that is why we have brought forward this Green Paper and opened a public consultation. The consultation welcomes all views, and we hope that a wide range of voices will respond before it closes on the 30 June 2025.
We have published a full suite of accessible versions of the Green Paper to ensure that everyone can engage. Our schedule of virtual and in-person public consultation events across the country will further facilitate input and help us to hear from disabled people and stakeholders directly. The events accommodate any reasonable adjustments for individuals who wish to attend, including re-imbursing travel costs and arranging accessible venues and accessibility requirements such as BSL interpreters or stenographers for attendees.
We are continuing to facilitate other ways to involve stakeholders and disabled people in our reforms. In addition to the consultation itself, we will establish ‘collaboration committees’ that bring groups, including disabled people and other experts, together for specific work areas. Our wider review of the PIP assessment, led by myself, will also bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South and Mid Down)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to apply for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal from the Upper Tribunal judgement Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v MJ [2025] UKUT 035 (AAC).
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In relation to the recent judgment in Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v MJ [2025] UKUT 035 (AAC), the Secretary of State will not be seeking permission to appeal the outcome.