Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to extend the consultation entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, for disabled people.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Hon. member to the answer I gave on 20 May 2025 to PQ 51603 [Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament].
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
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 reduce call waiting times for claimants.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP reviews forecasted telephony demand and plans resourcing accordingly to keep wait times down. Wait time performance is frequently reviewed and where DWP’s telephony is delivered by an outsourced provider we use the Key Performance Indicator of percentage of calls answered. All DWP customer telephone lines are Freephone numbers.
The Department is investing in a new capability that aims to better route customers to the right offer at the right time. This will help to reduce waiting times by supporting customers to utilise digital alternatives where appropriate, which enables telephony agents to speak to our customers that really need to speak to someone. If a customer indicates they may be at risk of physical or mental harm e.g. suicide, terminal illness, homelessness, and clinical mental health, they will be routed to a telephony agent in as short a journey as possible.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of false complaints to social services by parents paying child maintenance on the well-being of receiving parents and their children.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service is committed to ensuring that it delivers a safe service that is sensitive to the needs of all the parents that use its service. We recognise that some parents may face difficult circumstances, particularly at a time of separation.
All caseworkers receive extensive training and follow a well-managed process with clear steps to support vulnerable clients, including those facing domestic abuse. However, the department has no jurisdiction relating to Social Services investigations.
The CMS has access to a list of resources which helps caseworkers provide signposting to supporting organisations, which is regularly reviewed and strengthened on the basis of customer insight.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
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 enforcement against paying parents who repeatedly miss Child Maintenance Service payments.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring separated parents support their children financially, taking robust enforcement action against those who do not.
The CMS has a range of strong enforcement powers that can be used against those who consistently refuse to meet their obligations to provide financial support to their children including deducting directly from earnings, bank accounts and forcing the sale of a property.
The Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 proposed regulations to support the introduction of administrative liability orders (ALOs), removing the requirement to obtain a court issued liability order. Introducing this process should enable the Child Maintenance Service to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities and get money to children more quickly. We are working with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government to establish a process for implementing ALOs and plan to introduce regulations to Parliament by the end of this year.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
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 ensure that the Child Maintenance Service does not allow economic abuse through missed payments by the paying parent.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) takes the issue of domestic and economic abuse extremely seriously and is committed to ensuring that victims of abuse get the help and support they need.
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) possess robust enforcement powers and use them effectively in the collection of arrears. CMS has also implemented significant improvements to speed up action when payments break down, targeting enforcement actions more effectively.
A consultation on proposed reforms to the CMS was published by the previous Government on 8 May 2024. This included proposals to remove the Direct Pay service. These measures will allow the CMS to tackle non-compliance faster as monitoring all payments would enable the CMS to immediately identify any missed, late or partial payments and take swift enforcement action.
The consultation was extended by this Government at the end of July and ran until 30 September 2024. We are currently analysing the responses we have received, and the Government will publish a response in due course.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to provide additional support for young people with lifelong conditions following reforms to the Universal Credit health top-up.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pathways to Work Green Paper is an important staging post on a journey of reform. It sets out our vision, strategy and proposals for change. Before any decisions are made, we are consulting on the design options for a work, health and skills support package. We are specifically seeking input on the proposal to raise the age of eligibility for the health element of the Universal Credit (UC) award to 22. The government will actively engage with a diverse range of stakeholders, including young people with health conditions and disabilities. This consultation is now open and will close on 30th June.
As we set out at point 256 in the Pathways to Work Green Paper: “Delaying access to the UC health element would remove any potential disincentive to work during this time. Proceeding with this change would be on the basis that resources could be better spent on improving the quality and range of opportunities available to young people through the [Youth] guarantee, so they can sign up to work or training rather than long-term benefits.” Such a change could support the establishment of a distinct and active transition phase for young people, based on learning or earning for all.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
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 disabled people receive support following reforms to PIP.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There will be no immediate changes. Our intention is that the new eligibility requirement in Personal Independence Payment in which people must score a minimum of four points in one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living component, will apply to new claims and award reviews from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval.
The department already has processes in place to support and safeguard people who use our services, and we will continue to provide this support as changes are taken forward. We are mindful of the impact of this change and, as such, in the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working published on 18 March we are consulting on how best to support those who lose entitlement due to the reforms, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
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 the adequacy of Personal Independence Payment assessments in ensuring support for people in need.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It is important that all people claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are able to access our services and that they do not face obstacles in applying and communicating with the Department and its providers.
In the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working published on 18 March we outline plans to improve the experience for people who use the health and disability benefits system, including recording more assessments to improve people’s trust in the assessment process through greater transparency and using recordings as a learning opportunity to consider potential improvements to the quality of the assessment process and to be available to people who are appealing the initial award given.
We also announced plans to launch a process to review the PIP assessment. We will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.
The Health Transformation Programme is also transforming the entire PIP service, including introducing the option to apply and track applications online. The transformed service will improve how we gather health information, and tailor the process to the customer’s needs and circumstances, offering a better customer experience and improving trust in our services and decisions.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce child poverty in Stratford-on-Avon constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy which will deliver lasting change.
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.
The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, roll out free breakfast clubs at all primary schools, create 3,000 additional nurseries, and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Transport on the potential for data sharing with the DVLA to enable applications for reduced rate vehicle excise duty to be made (a) online and (b) in post offices.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State and I have regular discussions with Ministerial colleagues on a range of issues affecting those receiving social security benefits, including those which may bring with them an entitlement to additional support from other Departments, and how such services can be delivered more effectively.