Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to recommendation 90(f) of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities' Report on follow-up to the inquiry concerning the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, advance unedited version published on 22 March 2024, if he will (a) review the Universal Credit system and (b) take steps to (i) identify the additional costs of living with disabilities and (ii) ensure that the level of social security benefits take adequate account of such costs.

As requested by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Government will submit a report by March 2029 with information on how we are implementing the Committee’s recommendations outlined in their latest report published in April 2024. The Government, through the Disability Unit in the Cabinet Office, has already begun considering the recommendations from this report.

The Government continues to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Committee’s 2016 inquiry recommendations through many policies that improve disabled people’s lives.

These include the Disability Action Plan, the National Disability Strategy and providing unprecedented health and employment support through our £2.5bn Back to Work Plan as well as our Chance to Work Guarantee.

We are also improving the health and disability benefits system, enhancing the accessibility of homes and transport, and continuing other work outlined in our various published follow-up reports and in our dialogue with the Committee.

The Government is providing an unprecedented cost of living support package worth £108 billion over 2022 to 2025 which included £20 billion for two rounds of Cost of Living Payments. This support importantly helped to shield people from the impact of inflation, preventing 1.3 million people from falling into absolute poverty after housing costs in 2022/23.

Since 2010, the Government has overseen significant falls in poverty with 1.1 million fewer people in absolute low income after housing costs in 2022/23 compared to 2009/10