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Written Question
Pensioners: Disability
Thursday 10th July 2025

Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)

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 pensioners who have (a) become disabled after reaching State Pension age and (b) require (i) adapted vehicles and (ii) mobility assistance.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Attendance Allowance (AA) is a weekly benefit for those over State Pension age who require care or supervision as a result of a physical or mental disability. AA is paid at two rates. A higher rate of £110.40 a week for claimants who need help or supervision for both day and night or who are terminally ill. And a lower rate of £73.90 for claimants who need frequent help or supervision during the day or night.

AA provides financial support towards the extra costs faced by disabled people. It is neither means-tested, nor based on National Insurance contributions paid and recipients can choose how they wish to spend it. Receipt of AA can provide a passport to additional amounts in means-tested benefits (notably Pension Credit and Housing Benefit) for those on low incomes and to Carer’s Allowance for the person providing care for them.

AA has never included a mobility component and so cannot be used in payment for a leased Motability Scheme vehicle. Government mobility support is focused on people who are disabled earlier in life.

There is no constraint on what an award of Attendance Allowance can be spent on, and a recipient may choose to use this benefit to fund mobility aids.

There are no plans to review the Scheme’s qualifying benefits.


Written Question
Motability: Attendance Allowance
Thursday 10th July 2025

Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)

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 merits of expanding the eligibility criteria for the Motability Scheme to include Attendance Allowance claimants.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Attendance Allowance (AA) is a weekly benefit for those over State Pension age who require care or supervision as a result of a physical or mental disability. AA is paid at two rates. A higher rate of £110.40 a week for claimants who need help or supervision for both day and night or who are terminally ill. And a lower rate of £73.90 for claimants who need frequent help or supervision during the day or night.

AA provides financial support towards the extra costs faced by disabled people. It is neither means-tested, nor based on National Insurance contributions paid and recipients can choose how they wish to spend it. Receipt of AA can provide a passport to additional amounts in means-tested benefits (notably Pension Credit and Housing Benefit) for those on low incomes and to Carer’s Allowance for the person providing care for them.

AA has never included a mobility component and so cannot be used in payment for a leased Motability Scheme vehicle. Government mobility support is focused on people who are disabled earlier in life.

There is no constraint on what an award of Attendance Allowance can be spent on, and a recipient may choose to use this benefit to fund mobility aids.

There are no plans to review the Scheme’s qualifying benefits.


Written Question
Maternity Allowance
Monday 23rd June 2025

Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the level of Maternity Allowance.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Secretary of State is required by law to undertake an annual review of benefits and the State Pension, including statutory pay. This is based on a review of trends in prices and earnings growth in the preceding year.

From April 2025 the standard rate of Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance increased by September 2024’s CPI figure of 1.7% from £184.03 to £187.18 per week.


Written Question
Child Maintenance Service: Fraud
Thursday 27th February 2025

Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she plans to take to (a) tackle the fraudulent reporting of earnings to the Child Maintenance Service and (b) ensure that parents are paid the correct amount of maintenance.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The primary goal of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is to ensure that children receive the financial support they are entitled to. To achieve this, the CMS collaborates with HMRC and Benefit systems to accurately calculate maintenance payments. This collaboration helps prevent paying parents from misrepresenting their income. Parents can make a request to the CMS to have other forms of income not previously considered included in the maintenance calculation.

To tackle fraudulent reporting of earnings, if there is any suspicion of income misrepresentation, the Financial Investigations Unit (FIU) steps in to conduct a thorough investigation. Complex income and cases where a paying parent may be responsible for declaring their own income can also be investigated by the FIU. This specialist team can request information from financial institutions to check the accuracy of information the CMS is given. When an investigation finds evidence of fraud, the FIU will seek to prosecute or forward the case to HMRC for fraud action.