Asked by: Lola McEvoy (Labour - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2025, what his planned timetable is for the implementation of the earned income disregards; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of these changes.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As announced at Autumn Budget, the Department will be introducing new earned income disregards for those in receipt of Housing Benefit and live in Supported Housing and Temporary Accommodation. These disregards will help smooth the transition between the Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for individuals in Supported Housing and Temporary Accommodation as they move into work or increase their earnings, ensuring work always pays.
The new disregards will be in place from Autumn 2026. This will require legislative changes and be accompanied by IT changes made to local authority IT systems. In preparation for this, we have already begun engagement with stakeholders to ensure that the implementation meets the needs of those affected. This is accompanied by clear communications to support local authorities, housing providers and third sector organisations to ensure that eligible customers are aware of and able to utilise this change.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the publication of Trussell’s End of Year food bank stats, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Universal Credit’s standard allowance covers essential costs.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has taken important steps to improve the support available to help people with the cost of essentials and has legislated to deliver the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced. In April 2026, the standard allowance rose by 3.8% in line with the Consumer Prices Index to September 2025, followed by a further 2.3%, meaning a single person aged 25 or over will receive around £295 more this year - over £110 more than if uprated by inflation alone.
Additional amounts are added to provide for individual needs such as housing, disability, and childcare costs. Each household will always have different requirements depending on their circumstances.
We will continue to consider evidence and insights from a range of organisations and people with lived experiences, to ensure the social security system provides the support people need.
The Government recognises that the level of household food insecurity in the UK is unacceptable. We have announced action to expand free school meals, support parents with the cost of healthy food in the school holidays with the Holidays and Activities and Food Programme and transform our food system to ensure it delivers access to affordable, healthy food. Over £600m has been confirmed for the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme for the next three financial years from 2026/27.
Government has also taken further action to support low-income households including through the increase in the National Living Wage to £12.71 an hour from April 2026.
On 1 April 2026 we launched a new Crisis and Resilience Fund. This longer-term funding approach aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities – working with the voluntary and community sector – as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis, to support our ambition to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has considered commissioning independent advice, including from people with direct experience of living on a low income, on the adequacy of Universal Credit’s standard allowance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has taken important steps to improve the support available to help people with the cost of essentials and has legislated to deliver the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced. In April 2026, the standard allowance rose by 3.8% in line with the Consumer Prices Index to September 2025, followed by a further 2.3%, meaning a single person aged 25 or over will receive around £295 more this year - over £110 more than if uprated by inflation alone.
Additional amounts are added to provide for individual needs such as housing, disability, and childcare costs. Each household will always have different requirements depending on their circumstances.
We will continue to consider evidence and insights from a range of organisations and people with lived experiences, to ensure the social security system provides the support people need.
The Government recognises that the level of household food insecurity in the UK is unacceptable. We have announced action to expand free school meals, support parents with the cost of healthy food in the school holidays with the Holidays and Activities and Food Programme and transform our food system to ensure it delivers access to affordable, healthy food. Over £600m has been confirmed for the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme for the next three financial years from 2026/27.
Government has also taken further action to support low-income households including through the increase in the National Living Wage to £12.71 an hour from April 2026.
On 1 April 2026 we launched a new Crisis and Resilience Fund. This longer-term funding approach aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities – working with the voluntary and community sector – as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis, to support our ambition to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.
Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff have (a) had their employment contract terminated and (b) resigned in (i) Jobcentre Plus, (ii) the Pension Service, and (iii) the Child Maintenance Service since January 2025.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The data relates to DWP leavers within Child Maintenance Service, Retirement Services, and Universal Credit Operations. It includes both paid and unpaid leavers and covers the period from 1 January 2025 to 31 March 2026.
Directorates | Dismissal | Resignation | Grand Total |
CHILD MAINTENANCE SERVICE | 41 | 206 | 247 |
RETIREMENT SERVICES | 53 | 151 | 204 |
UC OPERATIONS | 441 | 1579 | 2020 |
Grand Total | 535 | 1936 | 2471 |
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of ensuring free school meals provide (a) sustainable, (b) nutritious and (c) locally sourced food.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The action we are taking to extend free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit will ensure that over 500,000 additional children will receive a free and nutritious lunchtime meal, pulling 100,000 children out of poverty.
We are consulting on proposed updates to the School Food Standards in England to ensure that all food served at school, including at breakfast and lunch, better reflects current nutritional guidance and support children’s health, wellbeing and learning. Details of this consultation are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/school-food-standards-updating-the-legislative-framework We will consider guidance for the new standards in due course.
The government remains committed to our ambition that half of all food served in public settings is either locally sourced or certified to higher environmental standards and we are open to considering all lawful means of achieving this. We are working closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as they develop the Good Food Cycle vision.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that veterans have access to childcare options.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
It is the department’s ambition that all families, including those from Armed Forces and Veteran communities, have access to high-quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, giving every child the best start in life and delivering on our Plan for Change.
In April 2026, over 200 new Best Start Family Hubs in areas not previously funded are now open to families, backed by over £900 million of investment. These hubs act as welcoming, one-stop shops rooted in local communities, supporting families from pregnancy through to early childhood with everything from infant feeding support and parenting advice to help with the cost of living and early identification of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Support will also extend beyond dedicated hubs into up to 2,000 community venues, known as Best Start Network Sites, by 2028, ensuring families can access help.
The department's guidance for Best Start Family Hubs sets out minimum expectations for supporting Armed Forces and Veteran families. Hub staff are expected to be aware of the unique challenges these families can face, including the cumulative impact of mobility, separation, deployment, life after service and bereavement, and to signpost families to relevant support services including the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Education Advisory Team and the dedicated Armed Forces Families Federations.
Best Start Family Hub staff are also expected to be familiar with the joint non-statutory guidance 'Service Pupils in Schools' (April 2025) and the MOD Local Authority Partnership (MODLAP) principles for supporting Service children with SEND through school transitions. The guidance also encourages the establishment of a dedicated military champion in every hub, linked to existing Armed Forces Covenant commitments.
Veteran families who are based in England can apply for government funded childcare through the Childcare Service or through their local authorities. Families may also be eligible for support if they receive Universal Credit.
Current service families may be eligible for 30 hours (over 38 weeks of the year) funded childcare support, which is available to eligible working parents from the term after their child turns nine months old until they start school. Parents must earn at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the national minimum wage and under £100,000 adjusted net income per year to be eligible. In a two-parent household, both parents must meet the eligibility criteria.
All three- and four-year-olds are eligible for 15 hours free early education per week (over 38 weeks of the year), regardless of family circumstances. This is available the term after the child’s third birthday. Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit Childcare are also available to families to help with childcare costs.
The department wants to ensure that parents are aware of and are accessing all the government funded childcare support they are eligible for. The department is raising awareness of the government funded childcare support available via the Best Start in Life Parent Hub website to stimulate increased take up by eligible families, because we know this could make a significant financial difference to families. The website can be accessed here: https://www.beststartinlife.gov.uk/.
Asked by: Claire Young (Liberal Democrat - Thornbury and Yate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help increase the number of welding apprenticeship starts in England.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are a number of apprenticeship standards relevant to welding, including the Level 2 Welder standard and the Level 3 Plate Welder standard.
To support employers, including those in welding and associated occupations, to take on apprentices, the government provides a range of financial support. We are introducing a new hiring grant of £2,000 for non-levy paying employers (essentially SMEs) that take on 16–24-year-old apprentices as new employees. It will apply to apprenticeship starts from October, as long as the apprentice has joined their employer within the past three months. Employers hiring apprentices aged 18-24 who have been on Universal Credit for over six months will also be eligible for the new £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant from June 2026.
Additionally, from August 2026 we will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers, including those in welding occupations, for eligible people aged 16-24. At the moment, this only happens for apprentices aged 16-21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in local authority care.
The government also pays £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16-18, and for apprentices aged 19-24 who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in local authority care. On top of this, employers are not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 (when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year).
To give employers greater flexibility and help them respond quickly to emerging skills gaps, we have also launched the first apprenticeship units, funded from the Growth and Skills Levy, and one of these is on mechanised welding.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that jobseekers with professional experience are supported to secure employment reflecting their skills and experience.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is committed to delivering an employment support system that is personalised to individual needs. All jobseekers are entitled to tailored and flexible support through Jobcentre Plus. Work Coaches offer personalised advice to help individuals secure roles which reflect their skills, qualifications and prior experience, alongside targeted job‑search support. The Department for Work and Pensions provides job‑seeking support through a range of channels that can benefit those already with professional experience, including the Find a Job website and financial assistance, for interviews or starting work, through the Flexible Support Fund. Furthermore, the reformed Jobs and Careers Service will place greater focus on career advice and progression and better matching of people’s experience with employer’s needs.
Where appropriate, Work Coaches also identify any skills gaps and signpost jobseekers to relevant training and provision, including Skills Bootcamps, apprenticeships, sector‑based work academy programmes (SWAPs), and free courses for jobs, as well as essential English, maths and digital skills. This flexible offer allows experienced jobseekers to update, adapt or build on existing skills to meet current labour market demand. Programmes such as SWAPs can be set up for any sector, allowing them to be responsive to local labour market needs and tailored to priority and emerging sectors across Districts in England and Scotland.
The Restart Scheme provides 12 months of personalised and tailored support targeted at those who have been on Universal Credit for 6 months or more and in the Intensive Work Search regime. Providers support participants to break down their employment barriers by developing a bespoke action plan built on understanding their employment history, skills and needs.
Additionally, many providers offer a dedicated pathway, providing participants with professional or executive experience access to specialist advisors and tailored support.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the three month relevant period for LCWRA on applications; and what the reason for that period is.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The LCWRA element will be paid from the start of the Assessment Period following the Assessment Period in which the ‘relevant period’ ended. This replicates the 13-week assessment period applied to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claims and is used to establish that the customer has a long-term health condition or disability.
Throughout the period before the award of the LCWRA addition, claimants will receive the applicable standard allowance plus any eligible additions, such as housing costs.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
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.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.