Kim Johnson

All decisions to exclude a pupil must be lawful, reasonable and fair. Permanent exclusion should only be used as a last resort.

There are legal duties on schools and local authorities to provide suitable full-time education from the sixth day of a suspension or permanent exclusion. Where children are permanently excluded, they are frequently placed in alternative provision schools (also known as pupil referral units) so that they can receive the dedicated support they require to return to a new mainstream school or a sustained post-16 educational destination.

The department does not hold statistics centrally on the number of children registered at pupil referral units who have previously been excluded from school. The department is not currently planning to develop this data.

Our aim is to reduce numbers of preventable exclusions, including by using the expertise of alternative provision schools to support pupils whilst they are in mainstream school, before behaviour issues or other barriers to learning escalate.

The department does not hold statistics centrally showing how many children who attended special schools were then registered at pupil referral units in each of the last ten years.

The government is committed to making quick progress to deliver on its commitment to offer breakfast clubs in every primary school with primary aged pupils whilst ensuring effective implementation.

Departmental officials are working closely with schools and sector experts on various matters, including facilities and space, to develop a programme that effectively meets the needs of children, schools and parents.

From April 2025, free breakfast clubs will be available in up to 750 early adopter schools, as part of a test and learn phase in advance of national roll out.

The department does not currently hold statistics showing how many children who had been excluded from school were then registered at Pupil Referral Units. However, there are legal duties on schools and local authorities to provide suitable full-time education from the sixth day of a suspension or permanent exclusion.

The duties on schools and local authorities to provide alternative provision, and the standards that this should meet, are also set out in statutory guidance. This guidance can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alternative-provision.

The government has committed to taking a community-wide approach to improving inclusion of all children in mainstream schools, whatever their background. The department will see alternative providers working with mainstream schools to provide high quality early interventions and targeted support for children and young people that is targeted at their specific needs, which will ultimately reduce the numbers of referrals into alternative provision.

Every child, regardless of background, deserves the opportunity to progress and succeed in school and beyond. This government is committed to breaking the link between young people’s backgrounds and their future success.

The department recognises the issues faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) children and young people and has an active GRT stakeholder group, which includes representatives from GRT communities and the education sector. The group is a valuable source of information and challenge for the department and works to inform thinking, policy and delivery, addressing barriers faced by GRT pupils.

In line with the recommendations of the Education Policy Institute’s annual report, the government has committed to developing an ambitious Child Poverty strategy, implementing several initiatives aimed at boosting children’s mental health and wellbeing, as well as investing in improving inclusivity and expertise to support children with special educational needs and disabilities in mainstream schools.

To support all young people to achieve and thrive, the department has started work to recruit an additional 6,500 expert teachers and launched an independent, expert-led curriculum and assessment review that will look closely at the key challenges to attainment. The department has also committed to provide breakfast clubs in all state funded primary schools, ensuring every primary school child is well prepared for school.

In the 2024/25 financial year, over £7.8 billion of the schools’ national funding formula funding has been allocated based on deprivation and other additional needs. In addition, in the last academic year, of the £7 billion allocated to support 16 to 18 year olds in education, nearly £600 million was targeted to support the needs of disadvantaged students.

Information on children attending special schools is reported within the school census, with the most recent publication available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. To access the data, use a table builder to find the required information. An example of the outputs from the table builder is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/06951e44-abeb-4c2b-4111-08dce44cbd16.

Information on pupil referral units is reported within the school census. The most recent publication is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. By following this link you will be able to use a table builder to find the information that you require. One example of the outputs from the table builder can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/90137e0b-149c-42fc-410d-08dce44cbd16.

The department is committed to introducing an Alternative Student Finance (ASF) product, compatible with Islamic finance principles, as quickly as it can. To support this, in November we are reconvening the ASF working group, made up of representatives from the Islamic community and finance sector. We have also appointed a secretariat to take forward the Sharia-certification of the ASF product. The department is currently considering how it can best drive forward further progress on ASF and will provide an update on plans in due course.

The government’s announcement to remove Ofsted’s single headline grades with immediate effect included state-funded alternative provision schools. The government is committed to removing single headline grades in all the remits that Ofsted inspects and replacing them with report cards.

The requested statistics are not available as the Department does not hold information on the maternity leave status of single parents that have had benefit payments capped.

The Disability Confident scheme has over 19,000 members and they report over 12 million employees working in their organisations. The scheme is designed as a learning journey with all employers starting at Level 1 and encouraged to progress through the scheme to Levels 2 and 3. As they progress on their learning journey, we expect they will continue to increase and share their understanding with employees and put in place effective and inclusive policies and procedures in support of disability employment.

The range of suitable validators of organisations seeking Disability Confident Leader status or renewal of that status is explained in the scheme guidance. Most validations are undertaken by existing Disability Confident Leaders, although the full list is:

• existing Disability Confident Leaders
• disabled employees, customers or people in the local community
• local diversity and inclusion groups
• local disability organisations or network groups
• disabled people’s user led organisations (DPULOs)
• recognised accreditation organisations whose accreditation covers the components of the Disability Confident Employer self- assessment
• disabled stakeholder groups or forums
• national disability network groups
• national disability organisations
• internal diversity and inclusions groups/forums

The scheme encourages businesses to choose an organisation suited to their business size, that can provide a proportionate level of challenge based on their own knowledge, lived experience, skills and expertise.

Disability Confident Leaders have had their own self-assessment independently validated and demonstrated a high level of commitment and success in creating inclusive workplaces. This experience equips them to be able to support others through the process sharing their knowledge and skills, to assess and validate other organisations effectively.

Other organisations able to validate businesses seeking to become or renew Disability Confident Leader status have specific expert knowledge of disability related issues in the workplace and / or have lived experience of disability.

As part of the work, we have begun to strengthen the scheme, we are considering options to make the validation process more robust, including improving the guidance for validators and reviewing the types of bodies permitted to undertake validations.

The overall number of complaints received by the Disability Confident policy team in the period 2022 to 2024 is approximately 220. Where the Department is made aware of any complaint raised against a Disability Confident employer for not meeting the scheme criteria, we would apply the process described in the Disability Complaints procedure. If after further examination, we consider the employer is failing to comply with any of the scheme criteria, the Department will give the employer an opportunity to remedy the situation. There have been no instances where an employer was given the opportunity to remedy the situation and failed to respond.

The Disability Confident scheme has over 19,000 members and they report over 12 million employees working in their organisations. The scheme is designed as a learning journey with all employers starting at Level 1 and encouraged to progress through the scheme to Levels 2 and 3. As they progress on their learning journey, we expect they will continue to increase and share their understanding with employees and put in place effective and inclusive policies and procedures in support of disability employment.

The range of suitable validators of organisations seeking Disability Confident Leader status or renewal of that status is explained in the scheme guidance. Most validations are undertaken by existing Disability Confident Leaders, although the full list is:

• existing Disability Confident Leaders
• disabled employees, customers or people in the local community
• local diversity and inclusion groups
• local disability organisations or network groups
• disabled people’s user led organisations (DPULOs)
• recognised accreditation organisations whose accreditation covers the components of the Disability Confident Employer self- assessment
• disabled stakeholder groups or forums
• national disability network groups
• national disability organisations
• internal diversity and inclusions groups/forums

The scheme encourages businesses to choose an organisation suited to their business size, that can provide a proportionate level of challenge based on their own knowledge, lived experience, skills and expertise.

Disability Confident Leaders have had their own self-assessment independently validated and demonstrated a high level of commitment and success in creating inclusive workplaces. This experience equips them to be able to support others through the process sharing their knowledge and skills, to assess and validate other organisations effectively.

Other organisations able to validate businesses seeking to become or renew Disability Confident Leader status have specific expert knowledge of disability related issues in the workplace and / or have lived experience of disability.

As part of the work, we have begun to strengthen the scheme, we are considering options to make the validation process more robust, including improving the guidance for validators and reviewing the types of bodies permitted to undertake validations.

The overall number of complaints received by the Disability Confident policy team in the period 2022 to 2024 is approximately 220. Where the Department is made aware of any complaint raised against a Disability Confident employer for not meeting the scheme criteria, we would apply the process described in the Disability Complaints procedure. If after further examination, we consider the employer is failing to comply with any of the scheme criteria, the Department will give the employer an opportunity to remedy the situation. There have been no instances where an employer was given the opportunity to remedy the situation and failed to respond.

The Disability Confident scheme has over 19,000 members and they report over 12 million employees working in their organisations. The scheme is designed as a learning journey with all employers starting at Level 1 and encouraged to progress through the scheme to Levels 2 and 3. As they progress on their learning journey, we expect they will continue to increase and share their understanding with employees and put in place effective and inclusive policies and procedures in support of disability employment.

The range of suitable validators of organisations seeking Disability Confident Leader status or renewal of that status is explained in the scheme guidance. Most validations are undertaken by existing Disability Confident Leaders, although the full list is:

• existing Disability Confident Leaders
• disabled employees, customers or people in the local community
• local diversity and inclusion groups
• local disability organisations or network groups
• disabled people’s user led organisations (DPULOs)
• recognised accreditation organisations whose accreditation covers the components of the Disability Confident Employer self- assessment
• disabled stakeholder groups or forums
• national disability network groups
• national disability organisations
• internal diversity and inclusions groups/forums

The scheme encourages businesses to choose an organisation suited to their business size, that can provide a proportionate level of challenge based on their own knowledge, lived experience, skills and expertise.

Disability Confident Leaders have had their own self-assessment independently validated and demonstrated a high level of commitment and success in creating inclusive workplaces. This experience equips them to be able to support others through the process sharing their knowledge and skills, to assess and validate other organisations effectively.

Other organisations able to validate businesses seeking to become or renew Disability Confident Leader status have specific expert knowledge of disability related issues in the workplace and / or have lived experience of disability.

As part of the work, we have begun to strengthen the scheme, we are considering options to make the validation process more robust, including improving the guidance for validators and reviewing the types of bodies permitted to undertake validations.

The overall number of complaints received by the Disability Confident policy team in the period 2022 to 2024 is approximately 220. Where the Department is made aware of any complaint raised against a Disability Confident employer for not meeting the scheme criteria, we would apply the process described in the Disability Complaints procedure. If after further examination, we consider the employer is failing to comply with any of the scheme criteria, the Department will give the employer an opportunity to remedy the situation. There have been no instances where an employer was given the opportunity to remedy the situation and failed to respond.

DWP is a demand led organisation which determines the level of staffing resource required to deliver our services. Workforce Plans, which include recruitment, set out detailed plans to deliver the required level of resource.

Workforce Plans are regularly reviewed to meet latest demand and new policy requirements, and the Department prioritises resource across operational areas.

Whilst the impact of changes to the Skilled Worker Salary threshold introduced in April 2024 are affecting a very small proportion of staff within the Department, visa expiry and potential options for obtaining a future work visa are specific to individuals’ circumstances and the Home Office legislation which applies at the time that their current visa expires.

As current employee’s Visa expiry dates span several years and not all will be impacted by the changes to the skilled worker salary thresholds, the DWP Visa Sponsorship Team meet with Trade Unions weekly to ensure impacted members are supported.

The Department has noted the recommendations made in the report, and values Marie Curie as a key stakeholder which engages with us constructively in this area. The primary way the Department supports people nearing the end of life is through special benefit rules which are known as the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL). 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 or serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit.

For many years, the Special Rules applied to people who have 6 months or less to live, they have now been changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live.  Changes to the Special Rules mean that thousands of people nearing the end of life are now able to claim fast-tracked financial support from the benefits system six months earlier than they were able to previously.

The Department does not hold the data requested.

DWP currently sponsors 169 employees.

The number of DWP staff that are currently sponsored by the department who will not meet the salary threshold at the end of their current visa is unknown. Each case will depend on the individuals’ specific circumstances, and the Home Office legislation at the time their current visa expires.

DWP currently sponsors 169 employees.

The number of DWP staff that are currently sponsored by the department who will not meet the salary threshold at the end of their current visa is unknown. Each case will depend on the individuals’ specific circumstances, and the Home Office legislation at the time their current visa expires.

a) The annual turnover rate for DWP ending in the last three months is 7.0% in September, 6.8% in October and 6.6% in November. Annual end of year turnover rates are published in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts.

b) DWP has had 2,063 new recruits between 2 September 2024 and 30 November 2024.

c) DWP has advertised 170 recruitment campaigns for up to 2147 roles.

The Secretary of State, and ministers, regularly meet with Cabinet and ministerial colleagues, regarding a range of matters.

DWP takes the welfare of its staff very seriously and continues to provide a range of support to colleagues employed on time limited visas who are impacted by the uplift to Skilled Worker salary thresholds for sponsorship introduced in April 2024.

The Government recognises that homelessness levels are too high and there are a range of contributing factors. We will look carefully at these issues as we develop our strategy for ending homelessness.

When reviewing the Local Housing Allowance (LHA), the Secretary of State considered a range of factors, including the private rental situation, the Government’s goals and missions, and the wider fiscal context and engaged with MHCLG.

DWP currently spends around £30bn annually on housing support and the April 2024 increase to LHA costs approximately £7bn over 5 years.

For those who need further support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. DHPs can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs.

As announced at the Budget, funding for homelessness services is increasing next year by £233m compared to this year (2024/25). The increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping. This brings the total spend to nearly a billion pounds in 2025/26.

We are committed to tackling poverty in all its forms and this includes tackling food insecurity by reducing mass dependence on emergency food parcels. Good work can significantly reduce the chances of people failing into poverty so will be the foundation of our approach.

The Child Poverty Taskforce has started urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring 2025. We will harness all available levers across government to bring about an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year strategy for lasting change.

Our jobcentres support our customers, including in ethnic minority groups, to move into employment by providing access to mainstream services and bespoke programmes that are designed to be flexible to individual needs. We are also taking targeted action in 20 places with a high ethnic minority employment gap. The Get Britain Working White Paper, to be set out in the Autumn, will develop measures to reduce inactivity and help people to find better paid and more secure jobs.

Alongside this, we have committed to reviewing Universal Credit by listening to the full range of views on potential changes, so that our social security system is fit for purpose. As announced in the Autumn Budget, a new Fair Repayment Rate will be introduced from April 2025, reducing Universal Credit deductions overall cap from 25% to 15%. This measure will help approximately 1.2 million of the poorest households benefit by an average of £420 a year.

We also announced that, £1 billion, including Barnett impact, will be invested to extend the Household Support Fund in England by a full year until 31 March 2026, on top of the six months already announced, and to maintain Discretionary Housing Payments in England and Wales.

No assessment has been made of the impact of the Household Support Fund on poverty.

The Government announced funding to extend the Household Support Fund for a further 6 months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025.

An additional £421 million has been provided to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England, plus funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual. The objective of the Household Support Fund is to provide crisis support to vulnerable households in England in most need with the cost of essentials such as food and energy.

The Household Support Fund is intended to cover a wide range of low-income households in need, including households with children of all ages, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers and disabled people, larger households, single-person households, and those struggling with one-off financial shocks or unforeseen events.

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.

The Child Poverty Taskforce has started urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in Spring and will explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty. The taskforce is exploring a range of metrics and will make decisions alongside the publication of the strategy in Spring 2025.

It is our aim to make the right decision as early as possible in the process. To support this we have made improvements to our decision-making processes, giving Decision Makers additional time to proactively contact customers if they think additional evidence may support the claim.

We will continue to learn from decisions overturned at appeal, for example we regularly gather feedback from Presenting Officers who attend tribunal.

Further, the Health Transformation Programme is transforming health and disability benefit services over the longer term to improve the claimant experience, and improve trust in our services and decisions. It is creating a new customer-focussed Health Assessment Service and transforming the entire PIP service, from finding out about benefits and eligibility through to decisions and payments.

The table below provides information on the total number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeals, which were either lapsed or overturned at a tribunal hearing. It also includes the number of claimants who had no award prior to the appeal, and had their award changed to Enhanced for both daily living and mobility components post lapsed or overturned appeal. Data provided is for the last five financial years.

Table 1: Number of lapsed and overturned appeals for each financial year and how many subsequently went from nil to enhanced on both daily living and mobility components

The table below provides information on the proportion of PIP appeals which were either lapsed or overturned at a tribunal hearing, that previously had no award but had their award changed to enhanced for the daily living and mobility component post appeal. Data is provided for the last five financial years.

Table 2: Proportion of lapsed and overturned appeals whose award changed from nil to enhanced for each financial year

Notes:

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
2. Data provided is for England and Wales (excluding Scotland).
3. These figures include appeal clearances and decisions for PIP New Claims, Reassessments, Award Reviews and Change of Circumstances. These figures include appeals cleared from April 2019 to March 2024.
4. Appeals data has been taken from DWP PIP customer system’s management information. Therefore, this appeal data may differ from that held by His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service for various reasons such as delays in data recording and other methodological differences in collating and preparing statistics.
5. This data is unpublished data. It should be used with caution, and it may be subject to future revision.
6. A lapsed appeal is where DWP changed the decision in the customer’s favour after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at a tribunal hearing.
7. An overturned appeal is where the decision was changed in the customer’s favour after an appeal was lodged and was heard at tribunal hearing.

The tables below provide information on the number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeal clearances; and whether they were lapsed or overturned at a tribunal hearing.

Data provided is for the last five financial years.

Table 1: Number of appeals cleared for each financial year and how many were subsequently lapsed or overturned at a tribunal hearing

Table 2: Proportion of lapsed or overturned appeals for each financial year

Notes:

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
2. Data provided is for England and Wales (excluding Scotland).
3. These figures include appeal clearances and decisions for PIP New Claims, Reassessments, Award Reviews and Change of Circumstances. These figures include appeals cleared from April 2019 to March 2024.
4. Appeals data has been taken from DWP PIP customer system’s management information. Therefore, this appeal data may differ from that held by His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service for various reasons such as delays in data recording and other methodological differences in collating and preparing statistics.
5. This data is unpublished data. It should be used with caution, and it may be subject to future revision.
6. A lapsed appeal is where DWP changed the decision in the customer’s favour after an appeal was lodged but before it was heard at a tribunal hearing.
7. An overturned appeal is where the decision was changed in the customer’s favour after an appeal was lodged and was heard at tribunal hearing.
8. Appeals can have their decision upheld or may also be withdrawn by the claimant. These are not included in the above tables.