Asked by: Deirdre Costigan (Labour - Ealing Southall)
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 adequacy of maternity pay for people with (a) twins and (b) multiples.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work. Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance rates are reviewed annually and were raised again by 6.7% in April 2024 from £172.48 to £184.03.
Maternity pay is primarily a health and safety provisions for pregnant working women. It is not intended to replace a woman's earnings completely, nor is it intended to assist with the costs associated with the birth of a new child or children. Rather it provides a measure of financial security to help pregnant working women take time off work in the later stages of their pregnancy and in the months following childbirth.
Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance are not paid in respect of each child but in respect of each pregnancy. The qualifying conditions for both are generally based on a woman's recent employment and earnings.
Maternity pay represents only one element of state-funded support available to new families in the first years of their child’s life. Depending on individual circumstances, additional financial support, for example Child Benefits and Sure Start Maternity Grant, may also be available.
In terms of wider support for parents, the Government committed [ in its manifesto] to review parental leave to ensure that it best supports working families. Further details of the review will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Deirdre Costigan (Labour - Ealing Southall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to (a) clarify guidance and (b) introduce further safeguarding measures to ensure that disabled people who engage in regular physical activity do not risk a (a) review of and (b) reduction to their disability benefits.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Entitlement to disability benefits is based on a functional assessment of the person’s ability to perform a range of activities relevant to the specific benefit.
Engaging in regular physical activity will not automatically result in reduction in benefit or trigger review or reassessment. It will, however, be considered when assessing the person’s functional ability.
It is regrettable to note - as reported in the ‘Activity Alliance Annual Disability and Activity Survey (June 2024)’ - that “around two-fifths (38%) of disabled people say that a fear of their benefits or financial assistance being taken away prevents them from trying to be more active”.
This government is committed to championing the rights of disabled people and to the principle of working with them, so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all that we do.
Asked by: Deirdre Costigan (Labour - Ealing Southall)
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 that engagement in physical activity does not put disabled people at potential risk of losing their benefits.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Entitlement to disability benefits is based on a functional assessment of the person’s ability to perform a range of activities relevant to the specific benefit.
Engaging in regular physical activity will not automatically result in reduction in benefit or trigger review or reassessment. It will, however, be considered when assessing the person’s functional ability.
It is regrettable to note - as reported in the ‘Activity Alliance Annual Disability and Activity Survey (June 2024)’ - that “around two-fifths (38%) of disabled people say that a fear of their benefits or financial assistance being taken away prevents them from trying to be more active”.
This government is committed to championing the rights of disabled people and to the principle of working with them, so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all that we do.
Asked by: Deirdre Costigan (Labour - Ealing Southall)
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 requiring employers to respond to reasonable adjustment requests from disabled workers within two weeks.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Equality Act 2010 (the Act) protects disabled people against unlawful direct or indirect discrimination in employment, including by placing a duty on employers to make, on request, reasonable adjustments to any element of a job, job application or interview process, which may place disabled people at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people.
There are no current plans to amend the reasonable adjustments duty in the Act. In most cases, it is fairer to apply a “reasonableness” test which enables each situation to be considered on its merits, rather than impose rigid, universal requirements on employers and service providers. Where an employer takes an unreasonably long time to make a decision on a reasonable adjustment request, this omission could, of itself, potentially be considered a failure to make the adjustment, which could in turn be actionable by the affected person at an employment tribunal.
Asked by: Deirdre Costigan (Labour - Ealing Southall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of her plans to strengthen statutory sick pay on the disability employment gap.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No one should be forced to choose between their health and financial hardship, which is why we plan to strengthen Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), so it provides a safety net for those who need it most. The Plan to Make Work Pay commits to remove the Lower Earnings Limit to make it available to all workers and remove the waiting period so that everyone receives fair earnings replacement when they have to take time off work.
Any changes to SSP will be accompanied by a full Regulatory Impact Assessment and Equalities Impact Assessment to assess the impact of the changes on a range of protected characteristics, but this will not directly assess the impact of the changes on the disability employment gap. However, we would expect that strengthening SSP would increase the overall employment rate of disabled people as well as reduce the difference between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people.
Asked by: Deirdre Costigan (Labour - Ealing Southall)
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 reduce Access to Work claim (a) application and (b) renewal times; if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing the cap on Access to Work; and if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the Access to Work scheme in helping disabled people to (i) stay in and (ii) start work.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions is committed to reducing waiting times for new applications for Access to Work, as well as renewals. We are considering the best way to deliver that for customers. We have increased the number of staff processing Access to Work claims and have prioritised applications from customers who are about to start a job and renewals.
There are no current plans to change the maximum amount of annual grants available in Access to Work but we will keep this under review.
Access to Work is a popular scheme that helps many disabled people and those with health conditions to have suitable workplace adjustments. The 2018 qualitative evaluation of Access to Work (Access to Work: Qualitative Research with applicants, employers and delivery staff) reported that customers felt the scheme helped them to retain and progress in employment, improve confidence and mental wellbeing, and better enabled employers to recruit employees with health conditions or disabled employees.
Asked by: Deirdre Costigan (Labour - Ealing Southall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact the Disability Employment Charter proposals on disabled people's ability to (a) gain and (b) retain employment.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has ambitious employment plans, including for disability employment. We will be setting this out through a forthcoming White Paper, the Employment Rights Bill and the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill. A fully inclusive labour market that enables disabled people and people with health conditions to have access to the same opportunities as everyone else to the benefits of work is crucial to meeting our ambition for an 80% employment rate.
Employers play a key role in supporting the health of their workforce and minimising health-related job loss. Proactive initiatives from employers and all parts of society, such as the Disability Employment Charter, to support disabled people and people with health conditions to thrive in work are welcome. While the Government has not made a formal assessment of its impact, we know that the employers signed up to the Disability Employment Charter are sending a positive message to current and potential employees.
Asked by: Deirdre Costigan (Labour - Ealing Southall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to implement the recommendations of The Disability Employment Charter.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has ambitious employment plans, including for disability employment. We will be setting this out through a forthcoming White Paper, the Employment Rights Bill and the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill. A fully inclusive labour market that enables disabled people and people with health conditions to have access to the same opportunities as everyone else to the benefits of work is crucial to meeting our ambition for an 80% employment rate.
Employers play a key role in supporting the health of their workforce and minimising health-related job loss. Proactive initiatives from employers and all parts of society, such as the Disability Employment Charter, to support disabled people and people with health conditions to thrive in work are welcome. While the Government has not made a formal assessment of its impact, we know that the employers signed up to the Disability Employment Charter are sending a positive message to current and potential employees.
Asked by: Deirdre Costigan (Labour - Ealing Southall)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish a timeline for the introduction of the right to equal pay for disabled people through the introduction of mandatory disability pay gap reporting for large employers.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Following the announcement in the King's Speech in July to take forward work on an Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, and this government's manifesto commitments to introduce the full right to equal pay for disabled people and disability pay gap reporting for large employers, the Disability Unit is currently taking forward work in these areas. Ministers will update the House as this work progresses.