Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they expect their proposed changes to welfare payments in England to encourage more people into the workforce; and what is their estimate of the number of individuals who will enter the workforce as a result of those changes.

The reform proposals set out in the Pathways to Work Green paper on 18 March 2025, mean that people will get more support into work. We will rebalance payments in Universal Credit, offer help for people to get into work as quickly as possible and deliver the first ever permanent, above inflation rise to the standard allowance of UC. As part of rebalancing spending towards work over welfare, we will invest an additional £1 billion a year by 2029/30 to shape a new package of employment, health and skills support to make the system pro-work and reduce perverse incentives.

The changes we are consulting on are intended to galvanise a cultural shift towards more inclusive and accessible workplaces. We want to ensure that we target Government support to maximise the number of people we support. Together with the wider range of measures announced in Get Britain Working, we aim to increase the overall number of people in work. As we develop the reform proposals, we want to ensure that we are maximising existing opportunities in Government and the Department to create accessible and inclusive workplaces. We will consider how any new model would work alongside existing schemes.

All our plans are based on strong evidence of how support can make a real difference to individuals and have enough of an employment impact to provide a healthy return on the investment. Crucially, there is now strong evidence about the types of support that are effective in improving employment outcomes – Work Choice, which provided intensive employment support to disabled people, had a significant and enduring impact with participants 40% more likely to still be in work after eight years had passed. More detail will be announced in due course.