Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, of the households who flowed off the household benefit cap in the quarter to May 2025, how many had the off-flow outcome due to the (a) household’s benefit income being reduced to under the cap levels, (b) the household being in receipt of an exempting benefit, and (c) household no longer claiming Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to May 2025.
Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the average payment per customer for each primary medical condition, as defined in the Access to Work statistics released by the Department for Work and Pensions.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested information across all Access to Work provision can be found in tables AVG03a (nominal terms expenditure) and AVG03a-R (real terms expenditure) in the published official statistics. Tables AVG03b through AVG03d-R provide further average expenditure breakdowns by any element, any assessment and non-contracted provision. Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2025 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Autumn Budget 2025 on the number of NEET young people.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Budget made more than £1.5bn available over the next three years for investment inemployment and skills support. This funds £820m for the Youth Guarantee and provides£725m for the Growth and Skills Levy, ensuring young people have the support they need toearn or learn. The Youth Guarantee will include the Jobs Guarantee, which is guaranteeing six-months of paid work for every eligible 18-21 year old who has been on Universal Credit andlooking for work for 18 months. Under the Jobs Guarantee we will fund 100% of the wages forthe six months (up to 25hrs/week at the relevant minimum wage), as well as the additionalemployment costs.
An independent investigation has also been launched to identify how we can go further totackle the root causes of youth activity. Led by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, the probewill examine why increasing numbers of young people are falling out of work or educationbefore their careers have begun, with a particular focus on the impact of mental healthconditions and disability.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) removing the two-child limit of UC child benefit and (b) adding that benefit to the exemptions for the household benefit cap on the (i) cost to the public purse and (ii) number of households exempt from that cap.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information related to removing the two child limit policy is published in ‘Table 3.2: Costing of the removal of the two-child limit’ (page 66-67) and is available at EFOs - Office for Budget Responsibility.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, will he provide projections for the number of face-to-face assessments on a national basis for each month of 2026.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we plan to increase the number of face-to-face health assessments while maintaining our commitment to providing alternative assessment channels where necessary.