Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of people living in relative poverty in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme, b) Staffordshire and c) England.

We are committed to tackling poverty and we know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty. The Get Britain Working White Paper set out plans to reform employment, health and skills support to tackle rising economic inactivity levels, support people into good work, and create an inclusive labour market based on the unique needs of local communities, in which everybody can participate and progress in work.

Through our plan to Make Work Pay, we will, improve job security and boost living standards. From April, the National Living Wage increased by 6.7 per cent to £12.21 an hour, boosting the pay of 2.4 million workers. This represents an increase of £900 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage.

Universal Credit has a critical role to play in tackling poverty and making work pay and we have already taken steps to help those in need. The Universal Credit Act 2025, which came into force on 6 April 2026, delivered the first sustained, above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced. And the introduction of the Fair Repayment Rate in Universal Credit, from April 2025, means that around 1.2 million of the poorest households will retain more of their award, on average £420 a year.

The Child Poverty Strategy has looked at how the government can boost families' incomes through employment and the social security system, drive down the cost of essentials so parents can meet their children’s fundamental needs, and strengthen local support to ensure families can access vital services when they need them. The removal of the two child limit will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures set out in our Strategy, such as the expansion of free school meals. These interventions will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.

We have also introduced the new Crisis and Resilience Fund with £842 million per annum (£1 billion including Barnett consequential) to reform crisis support in England from 1 April 2026. This longer-term funding approach aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis. We have allocated £28.2 million to Staffordshire over three years, (£9.3 million in 2026/27, £9.3 million in 2027/28 and £9.5 million in 2028/29) alongside £451,295 in 2026/27 to support heating oil households, with funding covering both the County and District Councils.