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, pursuant to the answer of 8 December 2025 to UIN 96251, whether his Department plans to make an estimate of the level of change in the number of households exempt from the benefit cap following the Autumn Budget 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department does publish quarterly benefit cap statistics about the number of households that have been capped but this does not provide a breakdown of exemptions nor go into an individual exemption breakdown level.
These were last published on 16 December with data until August 2025 and can be found here: Benefit cap: number of households capped to August 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 estimate he has made of the level of change in the number of households exempt from the benefit cap following the Autumn Budget 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department does publish quarterly benefit cap statistics about the number of households that have been capped but this does not provide a breakdown of exemptions nor go into an individual exemption breakdown level.
These were last published on 16 December with data until August 2025 and can be found here: Benefit cap: number of households capped to August 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, how many households on Universal Credit have a combined income between £831 and £861 a month after tax and national insurance contributions, broken down by those who are (a) employed and (b) self-employed.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
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, how many households returned to the benefit cap because of the loss of an exempting benefit other than PIP during (a) the quarter to August 2025, (b) the quarter to May 2025, (c) the quarter to February 2025 and (d) the quarter to November 2024.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
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, how many households returned to the benefit cap because of the loss of PIP during (a) the quarter to August 2025, b) the quarter to May 2025, (c) the quarter to February 2025 and (d) the quarter to November 2024.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
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,how many households include (a) one, (b) two and (c) three or more people in receipt of Carer’s Element in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
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, how many people received the following payment per customer under the Access to Work scheme – a) £0 - £9,999 b) £10,000 - £19,999 c) £20,000 – £29,999 d) £30,000 – £39,999 e) £40,000 - £49,999 f) £50,000 - £59,999 g) £60,000 - £69,999 h) above £70,000.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The table below shows the number of people who received total payment values within each specified band during the 2022/23 to 2024/25 financial years. The figures refer to individuals who received any Access to Work provision.
The figures do not sum to the total due to rounding.
Number of Customers in each Payment Band | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
£0 - £9,999 | 49,380 | 60,240 | 66,300 |
£10,000 - £19,999 | 2,520 | 3,540 | 4,180 |
£20,000 - £29,999 | 1,020 | 1,500 | 1,670 |
£30,000 - £39,999 | 570 | 820 | 870 |
£40,000 - £49,999 | 310 | 470 | 550 |
£50,000 - £59,999 | 240 | 330 | 370 |
£60,000 - £69,999 | 140 | 250 | 210 |
£70,000 + | 40 | 90 | 50 |
Total | 54,210 | 67,240 | 74,190 |
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, how many households have (a) one, (b) two and (c) three or more individuals in receipt of Carer’s Allowance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Published information on the number of people in receipt of Carer’s Allowance using DWP administrative data, and information on benefit receipt on a household and benefit unit basis is available through the Family Resources Survey (FRS), is available on Stat-Xplore.
You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access
guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also Family Resources Survey data on Stat-Xplore: user guide available.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Budget 2025, what assessment he has of the potential impact of the proposed changes to the salary sacrifice policy for employee pension contributions on the number of hours worked by NHS employees.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The proposed Salary Sacrifice policy’s changes to employer contributions will not have an impact on National Health Service employees' working hours. HM Treasury's Managing Public Money guidelines prevent public funds from being used to offset National Insurance liabilities. As a result, NHS Pension Scheme contributions cannot be paid through salary sacrifice arrangements.
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, how many individuals are waiting for their Access to Work application to be processed, and how does this compare to each month since June 2024.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 October 2025 to Question UIN 80759.
The number of Access to Work applications increased from approximately 5,340 in April 2021 to 42,403 in June 2024.
We are committed to reducing waiting times for new applications and have increased the number of staff processing Access to Work claims. Applications from customers who are about to start a job or who are renewing are prioritised.
In March 2025, the Department published the Pathways to Work Green Paper, launching a consultation on the future of Access to Work and how the scheme can better support disabled people in employment. We are reviewing all aspects of Access to Work as we develop plans for reform following the conclusion of the consultation.
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.