Richard Burgon

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.

As part of the Strategy's development, the Taskforce is considering the potential impact of policies across government on child poverty.

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.

As part of the Strategy's development, the Taskforce is considering the potential impact of policies across government on child poverty.

Estimates of the levels of fraud and error in the benefit system for the financial year 2023-24 can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system, Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2024 - GOV.UK

Estimates of the levels of fraud and error in the benefit system for the financial years requested can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK

Please see the requested information in the attached document.

Mandatory Reconsideration clearances can fluctuate for many reasons, but we expect to recover the current backlog of cases by March 2025.

The role of a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) decision maker is to make a robust decision, supported by the law and available evidence.

In law there is no time limit within which a MR decision must be made. This reflects the overarching policy that the focus should be on making the right decision and not the speed of clearance. Decisions should always be made without delay, but if the decision maker considers that more time is needed to gather or consider evidence, then they will give themselves that time to ensure they are confident that the decision made is correct.

Mandatory Reconsideration clearances can fluctuate for many reasons, but we expect to recover the current backlog of cases by March 2025.

The role of a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) decision maker is to make a robust decision, supported by the law and available evidence.

In law there is no time limit within which a MR decision must be made. This reflects the overarching policy that the focus should be on making the right decision and not the speed of clearance. Decisions should always be made without delay, but if the decision maker considers that more time is needed to gather or consider evidence, then they will give themselves that time to ensure they are confident that the decision made is correct.

From April 2025, around 12.5 million people receiving either the basic or new State Pension will see it increased by 4.1%, in line with our commitment to the Triple Lock. Some people will receive an increase of 1.7% (in line with price inflation) on other elements of their State Pension, including Protected Payments and additional State Pension.

Under both the basic and new State Pensions, the amount people are entitled to, and the annual increases, vary according to the individual’s National Insurance record, but both reflect the National Insurance contributions they have made.

Whilst we aim to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey, Mandatory Reconsideration is a key element of the Department’s decision-making process. It offers customers an opportunity to challenge decisions and provide any additional information which may be relevant to their claim.

We recognise that the most recent data shows an increase in Mandatory Reconsideration clearance times, from 37 calendar days in December 2023 to 71 calendar days in July 2024. To address this, we are recruiting Mandatory Reconsideration Decision Makers and have made overtime available to increase productivity.

Whilst we aim to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey, Mandatory Reconsideration is a key element of the Department’s decision-making process. It offers customers an opportunity to challenge decisions and provide any additional information which may be relevant to their claim.

We recognise that the most recent data shows an increase in Mandatory Reconsideration clearance times, from 37 calendar days in December 2023 to 71 calendar days in July 2024. To address this, we are recruiting Mandatory Reconsideration Decision Makers and have made overtime available to increase productivity.

Computers allocated to DWP staff in jobcentres are equipped with the suite of software that comes with the operating system, augmented by specialist software as determined through the reasonable adjustments process on an individual basis to meet the specific needs of the staff member in question.

As part of its commitment to make services accessible to all customers, the Department provides computers for customer use in Jobcentres. All the computers have assistive technology built into those Operating Systems such as screen readers and screen magnification and are managed separately from the wider DWP IT estate.

The Department also provides a range of other items in Jobcentres such as alternative keyboards. Computers for customer use with assistive technology are currently in 634 permanent jobcentres.

As part of our reforms to jobcentres outlined in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we will explore how we can use assistive digital technology and modern premises design to support greater accessibility and inclusiveness. We will also ensure we offer a range of channels to meet people’s differing needs, whether online, on the phone or in person.

I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 December to PQ17569 in relation to poverty and living standards.

We are committed to tackling poverty and raising living standards.

We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will target and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment and join up employment, health and skills support to meet the needs of local communities.

Alongside this, we are committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do. We started this work with the announcement of the Fair Repayment Rate in the Budget and will continue to work with stakeholders as the review progresses.

We are taking further steps to tackle poverty through our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers.

The Child Poverty Taskforce also continues its urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy and will explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change. The taskforce is exploring a range of metrics and will make decisions alongside the publication of the strategy in Spring 2025.

Estimates of the levels of fraud and error in the benefit system for financial year 2023-24 can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK

Below is an extract:

The Department will publish the figures for 2024 – 25 in the upcoming year.

The savings from the Eligibility Verification Measure (EVM) come from both fraud and error, and it is not possible to separate the components.

The measures referred to have now been scrutinised by the Office for Budget Responsibility and included in the Budget (table 2.1 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672b98bb40f7da695c921c61/Autumn_Budget_2024_Print.pdf) that sets out the year by year savings and estimates £1.5bn over five years from 25/26.

The proportions coming from a) fraud and error which comes from EVM and b) debt which comes from the new debt recovery powers in each year is as follows:

Ministers across Government value the insights that can be gained from meeting with people with experience and the organisations that represent them. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions demonstrated this recently, sharing her experience of visiting a severe mental illness Individual Placement and Support programme.

The Individual Placement and Support employment model is internationally recognised as one of the most effective ways to support people with mental health problems to gain and keep paid employment. IPS services offer intensive, individually tailored support to help people choose and find the right job, with ongoing support for the employer and employee to help ensure the person sustains their employment.

Policy responsibility for the severe mental illness Individual Placement and Support programme rests with Ministerial colleagues at the Department for Health and Social Care.

No such estimate has been made.

For Pension Credit claims received up to 22 September 2024, the following report contains weekly figures: Weekly Pension Credit claims received from 1 April 2024 to 22 September 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

No such estimate has been made.

Estimates for pensioner households who are eligible for but not receiving Pension Credit in 2022/23 can be found at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Starting this month pensioners in England and Wales will receive a letter informing them of the change in eligibility to the Winter Fuel Payment and encouraging them to check their eligibility for Pension Credit. Similar letters to pensioners in Scotland and Northern Ireland will follow during November.

In November we will also be writing to approximately 120,000 pensioners who are in receipt of Housing Benefit and who may also be eligible for, but not currently claiming, Pension Credit. We will be inviting these pensioners to claim Pension Credit by the 21 December, which is the latest date for making a successful backdated Pension Credit claim and still qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment.

The Department’s current paid marketing activity to promote Pension Credit which includes radio, national and regional press, paid social media and GP and Post Office screens, has been live since 16^th September and is ongoing. It is not possible to provide an accurate cost for this paid activity until it is concluded.

We remain committed to the Mental Health Investment Standard. All integrated care boards (ICBs) met the Standard for 2023/24 meaning that their investment in mental health services increased in line with their overall increase in funding for the year.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will set out expectations for mental health funding, including share of overall National Health Service expenditure in 2025/26, in due course, as required under section 3(2) of the Health and Care Act 2022. NHS England is also expected to confirm allocations of financial resources for 2025/26 to ICBs and issue its priorities and operational planning guidance for the NHS for 2025/26 shortly.

As part of our discussions on mental health funding, the Department and NHS England have taken into consideration the ability of ICBs to meet Mental Health Investment Standard requirements, the role that it has played in delivering the Government’s priorities for mental health services and the progress made in achieving greater parity between mental and physical health services and reducing mental health inequalities.

Ministers and officials hold discussions regularly with mental health partners on a range of issues, including the Mental Health Investment Standard.

We remain committed to the Mental Health Investment Standard. All integrated care boards (ICBs) met the Standard for 2023/24 meaning that their investment in mental health services increased in line with their overall increase in funding for the year.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will set out expectations for mental health funding, including share of overall National Health Service expenditure in 2025/26, in due course, as required under section 3(2) of the Health and Care Act 2022. NHS England is also expected to confirm allocations of financial resources for 2025/26 to ICBs and issue its priorities and operational planning guidance for the NHS for 2025/26 shortly.

As part of our discussions on mental health funding, the Department and NHS England have taken into consideration the ability of ICBs to meet Mental Health Investment Standard requirements, the role that it has played in delivering the Government’s priorities for mental health services and the progress made in achieving greater parity between mental and physical health services and reducing mental health inequalities.

Ministers and officials hold discussions regularly with mental health partners on a range of issues, including the Mental Health Investment Standard.

We remain committed to the Mental Health Investment Standard. All integrated care boards (ICBs) met the Standard for 2023/24 meaning that their investment in mental health services increased in line with their overall increase in funding for the year.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will set out expectations for mental health funding, including share of overall National Health Service expenditure in 2025/26, in due course, as required under section 3(2) of the Health and Care Act 2022. NHS England is also expected to confirm allocations of financial resources for 2025/26 to ICBs and issue its priorities and operational planning guidance for the NHS for 2025/26 shortly.

As part of our discussions on mental health funding, the Department and NHS England have taken into consideration the ability of ICBs to meet Mental Health Investment Standard requirements, the role that it has played in delivering the Government’s priorities for mental health services and the progress made in achieving greater parity between mental and physical health services and reducing mental health inequalities.

Ministers and officials hold discussions regularly with mental health partners on a range of issues, including the Mental Health Investment Standard.

All health and social care employers are expected to comply with employment legislation such as the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Equality Act 2010, which includes considerations for reasonable adjustments. Most social care workers are employed by private sector providers who set their pay, and terms and conditions, including any occupational health or wellbeing support, independent of the Government.

NHS Employers and Skills for Care provide comprehensive guidance to help employers in health and social care understand their legal obligations and how best to support employees with disabilities to have the best working experience possible.

Since 2019, NHS England has published the NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) which sets out metrics to enable organisations to understand the experiences of disabled staff. National Health Service trusts are required to report each year and publish a WDES annual report, which includes local data and an action plan.

To enable local authorities to provide vital services such as adult social care, the Government is making up to £3.7 billion of additional funding available for social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes an £880 million increase in the Social Care Grant, which can be used to address the range of pressures facing the adult social care sector. This is alongside an £86 million uplift to the Disabled Facilities Grant to support an approximate additional 7,800 adaptations to homes for those with social care needs, to reduce hospitalisations and prolong independence.

Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the needs of their population, and are responsible for how they use the available funding to fulfil their duties under the Care Act (2014).

We are launching an independent commission into adult social care as part of our critical first steps towards delivering a National Care Service. The commission is expected to begin in April 2025.

The commission will be comprehensive and will build on the expert proposals of other reviews, including that of Sir Andrew Dilnot, into care funding and support. It will be broader and wider than ever before, asking essential questions about the shape and future of the social care sector, including what long-term and sustainable funding solutions should look like.

All National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers in England are required to meet the Accessible Information Standard in order to meet the communication needs of patients and carers with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss.

Patients are able to request general practice appointments and manage secondary care appointments through local online tools and the NHS App, which can also be accessed through a web browser. The NHS App is designed to meet international accessibility standards and the services are routinely tested with a range of people with accessibility issues. User reviews and research show the NHS App and website to be highly usable and simple to use. Local online tools must also meet minimum accessibility standards.

Digital healthcare services are part of a multi-channel offering, and patients unable to use digital channels can continue to access services via telephone and through traditional face to face services. Digital services must be designed to alleviate healthcare inequalities rather than exacerbate them. Our goal is to ensure that reducing healthcare inequalities and improving digital inclusion have due focus in wider inclusive user design and delivery for all digital health products and services, including through implementation of the NHS England Digital Inclusion Framework.

The Department has made no assessment on the potential impact of changes in the number of people working in the social care sector on services for people with disabilities. Although the Department does not collect statistics on the number of people working in social care on services for people with disabilities, the latest data from Skills for Care shows that in 2023/24, there were 1.705 million filled posts for the adult social care sector. This marks an increase of 4.2% on the previous year.

The Department is continuing the development of the Care Workforce Pathway, the first national career structure for adult social care. The first phase of the pathway was published on 10 January 2024, following a call for evidence and development with a sector specific expert consultation group.

Enhancing skills for staff working in social care is of critical importance. The pathway sets out the knowledge, skills, behaviours, and values needed to work in adult social care, as well as a clear career structure. The pathway includes suggested learning programmes which are available for funding through the Adult Social Care Learning and Development Support Scheme (LDSS), which launched in September. The LDSS course list provides a variety of sector specific training courses and qualifications.

We are introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement to the adult social care sector. This will empower worker representatives, employers, and others to negotiate pay, and terms and conditions in a regulated and responsible manner. We will engage those who draw upon, work in, and provide care and support, as well as local authorities, unions, and others from across the sector. The exact structure of that agreement is subject to consultation and negotiation.

This work in combination will be an important part of the first step towards a National Care Service.

The Department has made no assessment on the potential impact of changes in the number of people working in the social care sector on services for people with disabilities. Although the Department does not collect statistics on the number of people working in social care on services for people with disabilities, the latest data from Skills for Care shows that in 2023/24, there were 1.705 million filled posts for the adult social care sector. This marks an increase of 4.2% on the previous year.

The Department is continuing the development of the Care Workforce Pathway, the first national career structure for adult social care. The first phase of the pathway was published on 10 January 2024, following a call for evidence and development with a sector specific expert consultation group.

Enhancing skills for staff working in social care is of critical importance. The pathway sets out the knowledge, skills, behaviours, and values needed to work in adult social care, as well as a clear career structure. The pathway includes suggested learning programmes which are available for funding through the Adult Social Care Learning and Development Support Scheme (LDSS), which launched in September. The LDSS course list provides a variety of sector specific training courses and qualifications.

We are introducing the first ever Fair Pay Agreement to the adult social care sector. This will empower worker representatives, employers, and others to negotiate pay, and terms and conditions in a regulated and responsible manner. We will engage those who draw upon, work in, and provide care and support, as well as local authorities, unions, and others from across the sector. The exact structure of that agreement is subject to consultation and negotiation.

This work in combination will be an important part of the first step towards a National Care Service.

We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting and hospices will have a big role to play in that shift.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding from the National Health Service. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by integrated care board (ICB) area, and will, in part, be dependent on the local population need and a system-wide approach using a range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.

We have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver an NHS fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff and our stakeholders as we develop the plan.

More information about how members of the public, patients, healthcare staff and stakeholder organisations can input into the 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:

http://change.nhs.uk

The Government announced last week that £70million will be spent on new radiotherapy machines, which will help ensure that the most advanced treatment is available to patients who need it.

We are discussing our future investment in children and young people’s mental health services. Departmental budgets for 2025/26 will be confirmed at the next Budget on 30 October 2024.

We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting and hospices will have a big role to play in that shift.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding from the National Health Service. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by integrated care board (ICB) area, and will, in part, be dependent on the local population need and a system-wide approach using a range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.

We have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver an NHS fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff and our stakeholders as we develop the plan.

More information about how members of the public, patients, healthcare staff and stakeholder organisations can input into the 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:

http://change.nhs.uk