Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what (a) guidance, (b) training and (c) minimum standards are provided to work coaches supporting clients with learning difficulties.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All Work Coaches new to DWP receive mandatory learning to support vulnerable customers and complex needs as part of their induction and onboarding, this includes helping customer who need additional support.
DWP Work Coaches also receive comprehensive training to support individuals with additional needs. This learning begins with the core Work Coach learning journey, and is reinforced through ongoing, point-of-need learning throughout their role. Key topics include:
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
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 the 5 week wait for Universal Credit on housing arrears owed to (a) local authorities and (b) social housing providers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such assessment has been made.
The Government is reviewing Universal Credit, to make sure it is doing the job we want it to. Procedures are in place to support customers having difficulty in managing their housing payments. Payment of housing costs and rent arrears can be made direct to landlords. Direct payment requests are considered on a case-by-case basis and can be considered at the start or at any point during the UC claim to support the tenancy for the home the customer currently lives in. The need may be identified in the Service Centre, Jobcentre or requested by the claimant, their appointee, caseworker, or landlord advising of a vulnerability, rent arrears or risk of eviction.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the mean processing time was for Carer's Allowance applications in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Carer’s Allowance application Average Actual Clearance Times are measured weekly. For the Carer’s Allowance figures shown here, Average Actual Clearance Time (AACT) is calculated as the average length of time (working days) from the receipt of a claim to the date the first payment was issued. Please see attached annex for details of weekly Carer’s Allowance application Average Actual Clearance Times from week commencing 2 January 2023 to week commencing 2 June 2025.
Special Notes:
The Average Actual Clearance Time figures are unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications for Care's Allowance have been processed by her Department in each month since 1 November 2023; and how many and what proportion of those applications took (a) between six and nine months and (b) more than nine months to be processed.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of Carer’s Allowance new claim applications cleared in each month, starting November 2023, is shown below in Table 1 below. This is based upon weekly data, starting week commencing 30th October 2023 (see ‘Notes to Table 1’ for more information).
For all other questions, the information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Table 1: Number of Carer’s Allowance new claim applications cleared, by month, November 2023 to April 2025.
Month | Number of Carer’s Allowance New Claim Applications Cleared |
Nov-23 | 36,300 |
Dec-23 | 21,800 |
Jan-24 | 33,800 |
Feb-24 | 29,700 |
Mar-24 | 28,700 |
Apr-24 | 25,700 |
May-24 | 37,400 |
Jun-24 | 30,400 |
Jul-24 | 35,600 |
Aug-24 | 25,600 |
Sep-24 | 28,200 |
Oct-24 | 35,500 |
Nov-24 | 29,900 |
Dec-24 | 25,200 |
Jan-25 | 32,400 |
Feb-25 | 26,200 |
Mar-25 | 26,000 |
Apr-25 | 33,700 |
Source: DWP Management Information
Notes to Table 1:
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the median processing time for Carer's Allowance applications was in each of the first five months of 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of Carer’s Allowance new claim applications cleared in each month, starting November 2023, is shown below in Table 1 below. This is based upon weekly data, starting week commencing 30th October 2023 (see ‘Notes to Table 1’ for more information).
For all other questions, the information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Table 1: Number of Carer’s Allowance new claim applications cleared, by month, November 2023 to April 2025.
Month | Number of Carer’s Allowance New Claim Applications Cleared |
Nov-23 | 36,300 |
Dec-23 | 21,800 |
Jan-24 | 33,800 |
Feb-24 | 29,700 |
Mar-24 | 28,700 |
Apr-24 | 25,700 |
May-24 | 37,400 |
Jun-24 | 30,400 |
Jul-24 | 35,600 |
Aug-24 | 25,600 |
Sep-24 | 28,200 |
Oct-24 | 35,500 |
Nov-24 | 29,900 |
Dec-24 | 25,200 |
Jan-25 | 32,400 |
Feb-25 | 26,200 |
Mar-25 | 26,000 |
Apr-25 | 33,700 |
Source: DWP Management Information
Notes to Table 1:
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of applications for Carer's Allowance received in each month since 1 November 2025 were processed in (a) under 20, (b) 21 to 40, (c) 41 to 50, (d) 51 to 60, (e) 61 to 70, (f) 71 to 80, (g) 81 to 90, (h) 91 to 100, (i) 101 to 110, (j) 111 to 120, and (k) 121 or more days.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of Carer’s Allowance new claim applications cleared in each month, starting November 2023, is shown below in Table 1 below. This is based upon weekly data, starting week commencing 30th October 2023 (see ‘Notes to Table 1’ for more information).
For all other questions, the information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Table 1: Number of Carer’s Allowance new claim applications cleared, by month, November 2023 to April 2025.
Month | Number of Carer’s Allowance New Claim Applications Cleared |
Nov-23 | 36,300 |
Dec-23 | 21,800 |
Jan-24 | 33,800 |
Feb-24 | 29,700 |
Mar-24 | 28,700 |
Apr-24 | 25,700 |
May-24 | 37,400 |
Jun-24 | 30,400 |
Jul-24 | 35,600 |
Aug-24 | 25,600 |
Sep-24 | 28,200 |
Oct-24 | 35,500 |
Nov-24 | 29,900 |
Dec-24 | 25,200 |
Jan-25 | 32,400 |
Feb-25 | 26,200 |
Mar-25 | 26,000 |
Apr-25 | 33,700 |
Source: DWP Management Information
Notes to Table 1:
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the median processing time for Carer's Allowance applications was in (a) 2023, (b) 2024 and (c) 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, how Scottish claimants would access the health element of Universal Credit, in the context of the planned use of the single Personal Independence Payment assessment for this purpose.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pathways to Work Green Paper, published in March 2025, sets out our plans to reform health and disability benefits and employment support and opened a consultation on certain reforms. The consultation extends to Scotland, but the proposals will only apply to UK Government’s areas of responsibility. DWP Ministers are engaging with Scottish Government throughout the consultation period and beyond.
The interactions of the reformed system, in particular the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment and the introduction of a PIP passporting model and the implications for Devolved Governments, will need to be fully considered before being implemented. This will be particularly important in Scotland as PIP is devolved and has been replaced by Adult Disability Payment, so we will carefully consider how entitlement to the UC health element will be determined for people in Scotland.
DWP currently treats Scottish Government’s disability benefits in the same way as the equivalent DWP benefits for the purposes of reserved premia and additions. Whilst this will be kept under review, it will in any event be necessary for the UK Government to ensure that people in Scotland are not disadvantaged in the reserved benefit system compared with people in England and Wales.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her Department's consultation Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, updated 7 April 2025, whether she plans to amend eligibility to (a) disability premiums and (b) other passported benefits in Scotland.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pathways to Work Green Paper, published in March 2025, sets out our plans to reform health and disability benefits and employment support and opened a consultation on certain reforms. The consultation extends to Scotland, but the proposals will only apply to UK Government’s areas of responsibility. DWP Ministers are engaging with Scottish Government throughout the consultation period and beyond.
The interactions of the reformed system, in particular the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment and the introduction of a PIP passporting model and the implications for Devolved Governments, will need to be fully considered before being implemented. This will be particularly important in Scotland as PIP is devolved and has been replaced by Adult Disability Payment, so we will carefully consider how entitlement to the UC health element will be determined for people in Scotland.
DWP currently treats Scottish Government’s disability benefits in the same way as the equivalent DWP benefits for the purposes of reserved premia and additions. Whilst this will be kept under review, it will in any event be necessary for the UK Government to ensure that people in Scotland are not disadvantaged in the reserved benefit system compared with people in England and Wales.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with her counterpart in the Scottish government on the proposed changes to eligibility for the Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pathways to Work Green Paper, published in March 2025, sets out our plans to reform health and disability benefits and employment support and opened a consultation on certain reforms. The consultation extends to Scotland, but the proposals will only apply to UK Government’s areas of responsibility. DWP Ministers are engaging with Scottish Government throughout the consultation period and beyond.
The interactions of the reformed system, in particular the abolition of the Work Capability Assessment and the introduction of a PIP passporting model and the implications for Devolved Governments, will need to be fully considered before being implemented. This will be particularly important in Scotland as PIP is devolved and has been replaced by Adult Disability Payment, so we will carefully consider how entitlement to the UC health element will be determined for people in Scotland.
DWP currently treats Scottish Government’s disability benefits in the same way as the equivalent DWP benefits for the purposes of reserved premia and additions. Whilst this will be kept under review, it will in any event be necessary for the UK Government to ensure that people in Scotland are not disadvantaged in the reserved benefit system compared with people in England and Wales.