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, with which organisations she has held discussions on the proposed changes in rate of Universal Credit components.

We urgently need reform to stop people from falling into inactivity, restore trust and fairness in the system and promote the interests of disabled people. Therefore, there are some measures announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper on the 18 March 2025 that we will not be consulting on.

The Pathways to Work Green Paper sets out our wider plan to reform the system by rebalancing the levels of the UC standard allowance and the UC health element. Our objective is a social security system which is pro-work but provides adequate financial support for people when they are not working, regardless of the reason. The changes to UC payment rates will be introduced in primary legislation, and so will be fully debated in Parliament, and are not subject to consultation.

No additional engagement on the changes to UC payment rates was sought before the publication of the Green Paper. We are, however, consulting on a number of other measures in the Paper. We would like to hear views from disabled people and representative organisations, and encourage responses to the consultation through the online form, email and post.