Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of people on the top level of incapacity benefit have joined a coaching scheme to help get them back into work.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
There are several schemes for individuals in the Universal Credit Limited Capability for Work and Related Activity group (UC LCWRA) or Employment Support Allowance Support Group which may use some coaching to support individuals back to work. Examples include Additional Work Coach Support, Work and Health Programme, WorkWell, Connect to Work and Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies. However, these schemes are personalised to the needs of the individual and therefore coaching is only one of many ways to help get them back to work.
The published report “The impact of additional Jobcentre Plus support on the employment outcomes of disabled people” March 2025 includes some of the most recent relevant analysis on employment support for those on UC LCWRA.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 help tackle inequalities experienced by young disabled people at work.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The DWP supports young people aged 16-24 to achieve financial security by helping them to move into, stay and succeed in work. Support is delivered nationally and locally, tailored to individual needs, and includes personalised help from Work Coaches in Jobcentres and communities, working with partners such as The King’s Trust, Local Authorities, and the National Careers Service/Career Wales.
Our plan to Get Britain Working includes a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 (including young people with health conditions or disabled young people) to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. Eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers were launched earlier this year, and the insights gained will inform the future design and delivery of the Youth Guarantee.
For young people with complex needs, specialist Youth Employability Coaches (YECs) offer dedicated intensive support in Jobcentres and communities. This includes help with CV, interview preparation, skill development, and accessing opportunities such as Supported Internships, Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes, apprenticeships or traineeships. Support typically lasts six months, with flexibility to extend, and includes six weeks follow on support after young people enter work, education or training. YECs also work closely with Disability Employment Advisers and specialist partner organisations, to provide joined-up, holistic support.
Additional support is also available to help people with health conditions and disabilities of all ages. The WorkWell pilot, currently running in 15 areas across England, provides integrated work and health support to help people get into, stay in, and progress at work. Services include work and health assessments, coaching, physiotherapy, mental health support, and advice on workplace adjustments.
An Access to Work grant can also support people with a health condition or disability, by funding the purchase of specialist equipment, providing a tailored plan to help stay in work or funding access to sessions with a mental health professional. It also covers in-work support for young disabled people undertaking Supported Internships, helping them build confidence, develop skills, and move into paid employment.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help reduce inequalities for young disabled people in the labour market.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we will launch a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work.
The Government recognises that health conditions and disabilities can present significant barriers to work for many young people. A range of existing programmes already provide targeted support:
However, we recognise that the current benefit system categorises too many young people as unable to work, often leaving them without meaningful engagement or support. For most disabled young people and young people with a health condition working at some point in the near future must be a credible ambition.
That is why the Pathways to Work Green Paper sets out reform options for a joined-up work, health and skills approach and to reform the employment journey for young people, including those with disabilities. The consultation closed on 30 June, and we are now carefully reviewing all responses as we develop the new support offer and our expectations of engagement.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support young disabled people into further (a) training and (b) education.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our plan to Get Britain Working includes a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. Eight Youth Trailblazers across England are currently piloting this at a local level.
The Government recognises that health conditions and disabilities can present significant barriers to work for many young people. A range of existing programmes already provide targeted support:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of benefit rules on the risk of supported housing residents who increase their working hours being in rent arrears.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It remains the department’s priority to ensure that those who can work are supported to enter the labour market and to sustain employment.
The Department acknowledges there is a challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those living in Supported Housing and Temporary Accommodation and receiving their housing support through Housing Benefit. The department will consider the issue carefully in partnership with stakeholders.
Like Universal Credit, Housing Benefit has an income taper. As Housing Benefit may be claimed by those both in work and out of work, there are no rules around the number of hours that someone may work; instead, there are income tapers which apply.
The income taper in Housing Benefit ensures people in work are better off than someone wholly reliant on benefits. In addition to any financial advantage, there are important non-financial benefits of working. These benefits include learning new skills, improved confidence and independence as well as a positive effect on an individual's mental and physical health. However, the treatment of earnings in Housing Benefit is less generous than that of Universal Credit. Therefore, although customers living in Supported Housing are better off working than doing no work at all, they can be financially better off limiting the hours they work to ensure they retain a small amount of Universal Credit entitlement.
Changing the current rules would require a fiscal event and funding at a Budget. As funding is required to allow a change, any future decisions will take account of the current fiscal context.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 vulnerable people are not adversely impacted by welfare reforms.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
At the heart of our reforms is the principle that those who can work should work. If you need help into work, the government should support you, while those who can’t work should be supported to live with dignity.
We are committed to protecting the most vulnerable. That is why we are legislating in the Universal Credit Bill to ensure any claimants who meet the Severe Conditions Criteria – or who qualify under Special Rules for End of Life – see their combined standard allowance and LCWRA rise at least in line with inflation every year until 2029/30.
The Timms Review will also ensure that PIP is fair and fit for the future, and will be co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, so a wide range of views and voices are heard.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to tackle child poverty.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Tackling child poverty is at the heart of the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of every child. The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in autumn that will deliver fully funded measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.
The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments.
As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1bn a year (including Barnett impact), investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap.
These commitments come on top of the existing action we have taken which includes expanding free breakfast clubs, capping the number of branded school uniform items children are expected to wear, increasing the national minimum wage for those on the lowest incomes and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the disability pay gap.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Equalities Ministers have been engaging with Ministerial colleagues as we develop the policy on disability pay gap reporting, including on the proposals in our recent consultation, and will continue to do so.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of allowing early state pension access for people with a terminal illness.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There has been no recent assessment. The principle of having a State Pension age that is the same for everybody has the merit of simplicity and clarity through providing an important trigger moment for planning purposes. It has always been the case that nobody can claim their State Pension before they reach their State Pension age.
For those nearing the end of their life, the Government’s priority is to provide people with financial support quickly and compassionately. The main way the Department does this is through the Special Rules for End of Life. These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment, serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit.
These rules apply to five benefits that support people with health conditions or disabilities: Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the review of Universal Credit will consider the process of how social security rates are (a) set and (b) uprated.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State already has an annual Statutory duty to conduct a review of benefits and State pension rates, including Universal Credit, to determine whether they have retained their value in relation to the general level of prices and/or earnings. This is a well-established process that applies more widely than just Universal Credit and is therefore outside the scope of the review.
This Government uprated benefit rates for 2025/26 in line with inflation, with 5.7 million Universal Credit households forecast to gain by an average of £150 annually. We will also improve the adequacy of the Universal Credit standard allowance with the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced, subject to parliamentary approval as part of our welfare reform.