Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increases in the cost of living on staff working in (a) his Department and (b) Job Centres; and whether he is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to increase remuneration for those staff.

DWP recognises the difficulties that many colleagues are facing at present. DWP is bound by the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance that sets out limits on the pay uplifts DWP is able to implement. DWP has implemented the 2022 DWP pay award in July and we utilized the maximum permitted under the guidance. DWP is unable to make further changes to individual’s base pay outside of the annual pay award. DWP will review the reward offer to all staff within the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance when this is made available for 2023/24.

The Department continues to provide wellbeing support to staff who may be impacted by cost of living increases, including through its employee assistance programme and, where appropriate, signposting colleagues to additional financial support.