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 freezing the health element of Universal Credit for new claimants from April 2026 on (a) poverty rates, (b) the cost of living and (c) workforce participation in (i) Northern Ireland and (ii) Upper Bann constituency.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit (UC) are administered in Northern Ireland by the Department for Communities (DfC). DfC is responsible for producing analysis on how proposed reforms would impact claimants in Northern Ireland.