Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of including directors’ dividends in the initial calculation of child maintenance payments.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information about the paying parent's gross income is taken directly from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for the latest tax year available. This allows calculations to be made quickly and accurately. Any income subject to income tax, including bonuses and overtime received by an employed paying parent, is included within their gross weekly income when calculating a child maintenance liability.
Where a paying parent is the Director of their limited liability company, they are legally an employee of that company and are treated the same as any other employee for child maintenance purposes. If the receiving parent believes that the paying parent has additional income from dividends, they can apply for a variation to take this into account.
Variations can be requested on grounds of unearned income, where the paying parent receives extra unearned income of at least £2,500 a year. This includes rental income from property or land, dividends, and interest from savings and investments.
Cases involving complex income can be investigated by the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU). This is a specialist team which can request information from financial institutions (such as banks, investment companies and mortgage companies) to check the accuracy of information the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is given.
The Child Maintenance Service has committed to reviewing the child maintenance calculation to make sure it fits current and future social trends. This review looks at fairness, family relations, sustainability, compliance, simplifying rates, work progression, including unearned income and assets, and how it interacts with other policies, such as Universal Credit.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 provide specialist employment support for unpaid carers to get into work.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our Get Britain Working plan aims to reduce economic inactivity levels and take the first steps to delivering our long-term ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate. We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunities they need to achieve and thrive, to succeed and flourish. This includes unpaid carers, whereby many of whom are excluded from the labour market due to their caring responsibilities.
Customers providing care for fewer than 35 hours a week receive personalised support through their Work Coach, and their work expectation is tailored to fit caring responsibilities. Support includes identifying skills gaps and referral to skills training, careers advice, job search support, volunteering opportunities and access to the Flexible Support Fund to aid job entry. Unemployed customers who require more intensive employment support can also be referred to the Restart programme.
The weekly Carer’s Allowance earnings limit is now pegged to 16 hours work at National Living Wage (NLW) levels and in future it will increase when the NLW increases. The earnings limit increased to be £196 a week (net earnings) on 7 April 2025, compared to £151 in 2024/25. This is the largest ever increase in the earnings limit since Carer’s Allowance was introduced in 1976 and the highest percentage increase since 2001. This means carers who are receiving the NLW (and have not done overtime or received a bonus) will be able to work for 16 hours a week and still receive Carer's Allowance.
DWP also provides information to help carers and potential unpaid carers make informed decisions about combining work and care through their JobHelp Care Choices Site.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 employees who leave employment to provide unpaid care to return to work.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our Get Britain Working plan aims to reduce economic inactivity levels and take the first steps to delivering our long-term ambition to achieve an 80% employment rate. We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunities they need to achieve and thrive, to succeed and flourish. This includes unpaid carers, whereby many of whom are excluded from the labour market due to their caring responsibilities.
Customers providing care for fewer than 35 hours a week receive personalised support through their Work Coach, and their work expectation is tailored to fit caring responsibilities. Support includes identifying skills gaps and referral to skills training, careers advice, job search support, volunteering opportunities and access to the Flexible Support Fund to aid job entry. Unemployed customers who require more intensive employment support can also be referred to the Restart programme.
The weekly Carer’s Allowance earnings limit is now pegged to 16 hours work at National Living Wage (NLW) levels and in future it will increase when the NLW increases. The earnings limit increased to be £196 a week (net earnings) on 7 April 2025, compared to £151 in 2024/25. This is the largest ever increase in the earnings limit since Carer’s Allowance was introduced in 1976 and the highest percentage increase since 2001. This means carers who are receiving the NLW (and have not done overtime or received a bonus) will be able to work for 16 hours a week and still receive Carer's Allowance.
DWP also provides information to help carers and potential unpaid carers make informed decisions about combining work and care through their JobHelp Care Choices Site.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 February 2025 to Question 30791 on Employment: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long Covid, whether the proposed reforms will (a) ensure appropriate assessment of the work capability of individuals with fluctuating conditions and (b) provide adequate support for people with ME who are unable to work due to their illness.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government believes there is a strong case to change the system of health and disability benefits across Great Britain so that it better enables people to enter and remain in work and to respond to the complex and fluctuating nature of the health conditions many people live with today. The system must also work to support disabled people and those with health to live independently.
We are therefore working to develop proposals for health and disability reform and will set them out in a Green Paper ahead of the Spring Statement. This will launch a consultation on the proposals, with a conclusion to be set out in a white paper later this year.
This Government is committed to putting the views and voices of disabled people at the heart of all that we do, so we will consult on these proposals, where appropriate, with disabled people and representative organisations.
Ahead of the formal consultation for the Green Paper, we have already started to explore ways of engaging with disabled people and their representatives, including through stakeholder roundtables and public visits. We look forward to progressing these initiatives over the coming months.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 people with (a) Long Covid and (b) ME back into the workplace.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate.
We are committed to reforming the system of health and disability benefits so that it promotes and enables employment among as many people as possible. The system must also support disabled people to live independently. It is also vital to ensure that the system is financially sustainable in the long term. We are working to develop proposals for reform in the months ahead and will set them out in a Green Paper ahead of the Spring Statement later this year.
Appropriate work is generally 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, including those with Long Covid and/or ME, are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems.
Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care.
Employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, to thrive as part of the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, a digital information service for employers and the Disability Confident scheme.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 support people with neurodiverse conditions into the workplace.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We recognise that neurodivergent people face particular barriers to employment, which is reflected in a poor overall employment rate. In our plan to Make Work Pay, we committed to raising awareness of neurodiversity in the workplace and across wider society.
Our specialist initiatives to support neurodivergent people and other disabled people into work include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants. £12.3 million has also been invested into 23 lead Local Authority areas to provide support to autistic people and people with learning disabilities, under the Local Supported Employment Programme.
Under the Government’s new Get Britain Working Strategy, the forthcoming voluntary, locally led Supported Employment programme ‘Connect to Work’ will support disabled people, those with health conditions and other complex barriers including neurodivergent people, to get into and on in work.
Employers have a key role to play in inclusion for neurodiverse people. Our support to employers includes the online Support with Employee Health and Disability service, to support employers managing health and disability in the workplace. This includes questions of disclosure and equipping employers to feel confident having conversations about health and disability. The Disability Confident scheme also signposts employers to expert resources which support the employment of disabled people.
We have recently launched an independent panel of academics with expertise in neurodiversity to advise ministers and employers on neurodiversity and inclusion at work.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to assess levels of poverty among unpaid carers; and what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of unpaid carers who live in poverty.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Unpaid carers play a vital role in supporting elderly or disabled relatives or friends. Sometimes unpaid carers will need to turn to the benefit system for financial support, so it is right that we keep Carer’s Allowance under review, to see if it is meeting its objectives, and giving unpaid carers the help and support they need and deserve.
Unpaid carers may be able to receive financial and/or employment support from the department depending on their circumstances. Carer’s Allowance provides a measure of financial support and recognition for people who are not able to work full time due to their caring responsibilities. The rate of Carer’s Allowance is £81.90 a week in 2024/25, and from April 2025 this will increase by 1.7% to £83.30 a week.
In addition to Carer’s Allowance, carers on low incomes can claim income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit. These benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the carer element and the additional amount for carers respectively. Currently, the Universal Credit carer element is £198.31 per monthly assessment period. The additional amount for a carer in Pension Credit is £45.60 a week. These additional amounts are worth around £2400 a year.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to monitor the success of the Household Support Fund in reaching (a) unpaid carers and (b) other financially vulnerable households.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Local Authorities have the discretion to design their own local schemes within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination that the Department for Work and Pensions have set out for the fund. This is because they have the ties and the knowledge to best determine how support should be provided in their local communities. We encourage Local Authorities to consider how they may support a wide range of low-income households in need, including unpaid carers and other financially vulnerable households.
Management information, including details of how the fund has been spent on households with children, pensioners, disabled people, and other vulnerable households, including but not limited to only financially vulnerable households, is available here: Household Support Fund management information - GOV.UK.
The Department for Work and Pensions is currently conducting an evaluation of the Household Support Fund that ran from April 2023 to March 2024, to understand the benefits of the awards made across England during this period. This will be published in due course.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
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 (a) monitor and (b) reduce the average call waiting time for the Child Maintenance Service helpline.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service is committed to delivering the best possible service to all customers within our growing caseload. We continuously monitor telephony performance and through this we fully recognise that call waiting times are, at times, longer than we would like. To address this, we are working to improve the efficiency of our customer interactions through both telephone and digital channels.
In September, we introduced the Digital Assist Telephony Service, which has been a significant step forward in our mission to support and encourage customers to use our online services. In October, we restructured our call routing to make more caseworkers available to answer telephone calls. By promoting self-service options online and efficient call routing, we have freed up valuable resources to deliver a more responsive service and allow caseworkers more time to better assist customers who need to reach out to us via telephone.
Additionally, we have extended the hours of the telephony service to 6pm on weekdays in order to meet demand, and our online services are available to all customers 24/7. This has been extremely successful with just over 1 million customers logging on to their online My Child Maintenance Case account in November. As a result, we have seen a reduction in call volumes, as well as improved customer service delivery through the combination of telephone and digital channels.
We will continue to review, evaluate, and enhance our telephony service to meet demand and deliver a quality customer service.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people access their state pension online.
Answered by Guy Opperman
On-line take up figures are published on the Gov.uk internet site.
The links to the Gov.uk pages are updated regularly:
Check your State Pension
https://www.gov.uk/performance/state-pension-statement
Get your State Pension
https://www.gov.uk/performance/state-pension-new-claims