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.
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 she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on the potential merits of integrating (a) health and (b) social care services with access to welfare advice.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We understand the importance of ensuring local services are joined up and providing personalised wrap around support. In the recent Pathways to Work green paper the Government announced that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work, backed up increased funding each year up to £1billion a year by the end of the scorecard.
As part of the mission led government, regular cross government collaboration takes place at both Ministerial and official level. The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions and has a range of support available so individuals can stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. In England and Wales, these measures include joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell, as well as support across the UK from Work Coaches, Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants.
Good work is good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key.
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, if she will hold discussions with AdviceUK on the potential impact of her reforms to disability benefits on demand for independent advice services.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This government values the input of stakeholders, disabled people and representative organisations. Ahead of the formal consultation for the Green Paper, we engaged with a number of organisations, and we continue to explore ways of involving stakeholders in our reforms. This includes through the PIP review, collaboration committees and the Disability Advisory Panel. I also continue to meet with a range of charities, organisations and individuals.
The Green Paper consultation further offers the opportunity for organisations, as well as claimants themselves, to provide input and help shape the reform proposals. We hope to hear from a wide range of voices and encourage organisations to respond to the consultation to share their views and expertise, before it closes on the 30 June.
We will continue to consider the potential impacts of reforms as part of our wider consideration of responses to the consultation, including any impacts on services.
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 reduce unemployment in 18-21 year olds.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of our plan to Get Britain Working, we are launching 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 Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education are working closely with the eight Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England, which began mobilising the Youth Guarantee Trailblazers in April 2025. The eight areas delivering Trailblazers are: the West of England, Tees Valley, East Midlands, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Liverpool City Region, West Midlands and two areas within the Greater London Authority. The trailblazers will run for 12 months, and we will use the learning to inform the future design and development of the Youth Guarantee as it rolls-out across the rest of England.
This is part of a broader package of reforms, including introduction of a new jobs and careers service to help get more people into work, the development of work, health and skills plans for the economically inactive, and the launch of Skills England to open up new opportunities for young people. We will work in partnership with organisations and businesses at the national and local level to offer exciting and engaging opportunities to young people. This could include work experience, training courses or employability programmes.
In addition, DWP continues to provide young people aged 16-24 with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This includes flexible provision driven by local need, nationwide employment programmes and support delivered by work coaches based in our Jobcentres and in local communities working alongside partners.
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 improve the safety of pensions.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
On State Pensions, we have made a commitment to the Triple Lock for the entirety of this Parliament which will mean the annual spend on people’s State Pensions is forecast to rise by around £31 billion. These rises are only possible because of the tough decisions made in the autumn statement 2024 to keep the public finances on a sustainable footing .
Over 12 million pensioners will benefit (over the course of this parliament) with the full yearly rate of the new State Pension is forecast to increase by around £1,900.
The Pension Schemes Bill, introduced in Parliament on 5 June, will legislate to transform the £2 trillion workplace pensions landscape – with a smaller number of bigger, better governed, better value pension providers investing in a wider range of productive assets, ultimately improving outcomes for savers and our economy. The Bill will also legislate for wider changes, from putting in place a value for money regime for Defined Contribution pensions to the introduction of flexibilities for trustees of well-funded Defined Benefit pension schemes to release surplus back to employers where it is safe to do so, enabling benefits for scheme members.
A bedrock of our reforms is the security of members’ benefits and protection of their best interests. The reforms to the existing regime will continue to maintain member protection, with appropriate and adequate safeguards in place underpinned by the role of regulators.
This government will work closely with the Pension Protection Fund as the administrator of the Fraud Compensation Fund to ensure that the fraud compensation system is effective and that schemes which have experienced of pension fraud receive fair and timely compensation.
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 assessment her Department has made of the number of people on long term sick leave due to stress over the last 12 months.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data is not available for sickness absence specifically due to stress.
The estimated number of people aged 16 to 64 in the UK who had a long-term (4 weeks or more) sickness absence from work due to stress, depression, anxiety and common mental health problems, between January and December 2024 (the latest data available) was 325,000. This represents around 22% of people who had a long-term sickness absence.
Source: Annual Population Survey (APS) - unpublished
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 assessment she has made of the potential impact of proposed changes to disability payments on people in working poverty.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government's impact assessment regarding Health and Disability Reform is available at Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms - Impacts.
However, this assessment does not include the impact of the £1 billion a year, by 2029/30, funding for measures to support those with disabilities and long-term health conditions into employment, which we expect to mitigate the poverty impact among people it supports into work. As such, an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed changes on people in working poverty cannot be made.
The Pathways to Work Green Paper set out a broad package of plans and proposals to reform health and disability benefits and employment support. Our plans are designed to protect the most vulnerable and give disabled people equal chances and choices to work.
We will continue to carefully consider the impacts of reforms as we develop our detailed proposals for change.
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 his Department is taking to provide support for older people to complete online job applications.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP currently offers employment support for eligible customers of all ages, through the network of Jobcentres across the UK, and through contracted employment programmes. A dedicated offer for older jobseekers provides more tailored support for those affected by additional challenges such as out of date skills or qualifications or those who need help with CVs.
Work Coaches and employers are supported by 50 plus Champions who provide a critical layer of support through Jobcentres, to ensure the needs of older jobseekers are met. Recent examples of personalised activity include 50 plus Job Fairs, Mentoring Circles, peer to peer support, digital awareness sessions and confidence building, including assisting customers with their perceived digital capabilities, from basic IT skills to more complex tasks.
Employer and Partnership Teams in Jobcentres also work with a range of employers and partners to enhance the skills and employment support available locally for customers.
The Government is reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them progress in their careers. This includes an enhanced focus on skills and careers advice.
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 she has had recent discussions with (a) Capita and (b) other relevant organisations on ensuring that Personal Independence Payment assessors have specialist knowledge in (i) multiple sclerosis, (ii) Crohn's and (iii) other non-visible disabilities.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recognises the importance of ensuring that health professionals (HPs) conducting assessments possess the necessary experience, skills, and training. To uphold this standard, DWP has established clear competency requirements, outlined in both guidance and regulations. Assessment suppliers (AS) must demonstrate that their HPs meet these standards before they are authorised to carry out assessments on behalf of the department.
DWP does not require HPs to be specialists in the specific medical conditions or impairments of the individuals they assess. Instead, the emphasis is on ensuring HPs are experts in disability analysis, focusing on how a person’s condition affects their daily life and functional abilities.
All HPs receive thorough training in disability analysis, which includes evaluating the impact of a wide range of health conditions on everyday activities. To support this, DWP provides AS with core training materials and guidance on conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, Ulcerative Colitis, and other non-visible disabilities. These contain clinical and functional information relevant to the conditions and is quality assured to ensure its accuracy from both a clinical and policy perspective.