Asked by: Steve Darling (Liberal Democrat - Torbay)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applicants for (a) new Access to Work awards and (b) the renewal of existing awards who undertook holistic workplace assessments received support in line with the recommendations of those assessments in each of the last three years.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold data on how many applicants for (a) new Access to Work awards and (b) the renewal of existing awards who undertook holistic workplace assessments received support in line with the recommendations of those assessments in each of the last three years. Determining this information would require manually reviewing individual applications which would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Kate Osamor (Labour (Co-op) - Edmonton and Winchmore Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans his Department has to review the treatment of assumed and notional income in Universal Credit calculations for self‑employed claimants.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department routinely keeps its policies under review and we are always interested in views from customers and stakeholders.
The current review of Universal Credit is looking closely at how the benefit supports self-employed people.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Access to Work awards for blind and partially sighted customers had support worker hours reduced at the point of renewal, in each of the last three years.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not hold this data. Determining this information would require manually reviewing individual applications which would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat - Newton Abbot)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Department for Education on assessing the potential impact of reducing assistive technology support during higher education on disabled people’s employment outcomes.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions maintains regular dialogue with the Department for Education (DfE) to ensure disabled students are supported as they transition into the labour market. Assistive and accessible technology (ATech) is key to enabling independence, greater inclusion, and participation for disabled people. While this technology is already creating opportunities, this government believes there is potential to do much more.
The Access to Work Scheme has been operating in Great Britain since June 1994 and provides grant funding to disabled people, as well as those with a health condition. The grant supports workplace adjustments that go beyond what would normally be expected from an employer through their duty to provide reasonable adjustments as outlined in the Equality Act 2010. The grant cap was increased in April 2024 to £69,920. To further support sustainable employment, the DWP is also investing in the “Connect to Work” initiative, which is expected to support around 100,000 disabled people and those with health conditions in 2026/2027.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
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 help reduce waiting times for Access to Work Applications; and what plans his Department has to introduce new measures to reduce waiting times for Access to Work Applications in 2026.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to reducing waiting times in Access to Work so that people can access the support they need. We have increased the number of staff processing Access to Work applications and prioritise cases where someone has a job starting in the next four weeks or who are renewing existing support.
The Pathways to Work Green Paper launched a consultation on the future of Access to Work which has now concluded. Following over 47,500 responses from individuals, charities and other stakeholders, as well as 18 consultation events, we published our summary of the responses to the Pathways to Work Green Paper consultation on 30 October 2025.
We are now considering the responses, and will bring forward our proposals for reforming Access to Work as soon as we are able to.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Pensions Ombudsman operating on a voluntary basis, in the context of (a) its statutory responsibilities and (b) its role in resolving pension disputes.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
We have interpreted this question as being about complaints that are resolved through The Pension Ombudsman’s (TPO) Resolution Service (RS). TPO operates independently to deliver its statutory responsibilities. Its RS includes 22 employed pension specialists and 150 industry experts working on a voluntary basis. RS provides an informal route for resolving disputes and reducing pressure on formal investigations. In 2024/25, the RS resolved 1,512 complaints, 80% of the 1905 received, without the requirement for a formal ombudsman investigation. Where early resolution is not possible, the Pensions Ombudsman retains full statutory authority to investigate and determine cases.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of trends in (a) pensioner poverty and (b) child poverty across the UK.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics on the number of pensioners living in absolute and relative poverty in the UK are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication, the latest available being Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2024 - GOV.UK. The table showing the percentage of pensioners in relative poverty over time by region is published as “table 6.10ts” of “pensioners- hbai-timeseries-1994-95-2023-24-tables”.
Statistics on the number of children living in absolute and relative poverty in the UK are pub-lished annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication, the latest available being Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2024 - GOV.UK. The table showing the percentage of children in relative poverty over time is published as “table 4.1tr” of “children-trends-hbai-1994-95-2023-24-tables”.
Statistics on the number of children living in absolute and relative poverty on a before housing costs basis at local level are published annually in the “Children in low income families: local area statistics” publication, the latest available being Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2024 - GOV.UK.
The latest statistics published on 27 March 2025 are up to and including 2023/24. The latest available data can also be found on https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. Guidance on how to use it can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/User-Guide.html.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the expenditure on the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment is, including payments to external contractors and panel members.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Members of the Timms Review steering group will be paid at a rate of £300 a day, with an expected time commitment of up to 5 days a month. The Review’s two external co-chairs, who were appointed in October 2025, are paid at a rate of £400 a day, with the same expected time commitment. In addition to their fees, members of the steering group and the co-chairs will be reimbursed for any reasonable expenses, including travel, accommodation and the costs of any accessibility requirements required in the course of their work on the Review.
This approach is to remove financial barriers to participation, ensuring no one is excluded due to cost, and is based on strong feedback from disabled people and other experts.
The Department also put in a contract with The Public Service Consultants (PSC) to support the Review. This is the first time that the Government has undertaken co-production on this scale, and we want to ensure we have the expertise to get it right. The contract was signed by the Department on 29th December 2025. To date, there have been no payments through this contract to them as external contractors.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much has been paid in fees and expenses to external members appointed to the Timms Review.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Members of the Timms Review steering group will be paid at a rate of £300 a day, with an expected time commitment of up to 5 days a month. The Review’s two external co-chairs, who were appointed in October 2025, are paid at a rate of £400 a day, with the same expected time commitment. In addition to their fees, members of the steering group and the co-chairs will be reimbursed for any reasonable expenses, including travel, accommodation and the costs of any accessibility requirements required in the course of their work on the Review.
This approach is to remove financial barriers to participation, ensuring no one is excluded due to cost, and is based on strong feedback from disabled people and other experts.
The Department also put in a contract with The Public Service Consultants (PSC) to support the Review. This is the first time that the Government has undertaken co-production on this scale, and we want to ensure we have the expertise to get it right. The contract was signed by the Department on 29th December 2025. To date, there have been no payments through this contract to them as external contractors.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what capacity his Department has made available for Work Capability Assessments in the next six months; and what the backlog of cases is.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
During the second half of 2024, DWP experienced a much higher level of demand for new Work Capability Assessments (WCA) than envisaged. As a result, 34,000 reassessments built up from individuals reporting a change in their condition before May 2025. We have worked with suppliers to rapidly increase capacity to clear this, including by accelerating the recruitment and training of additional assessors. As of 31 January 2026, 14,000 of these cases remain, and we expect the remainder to be cleared in the coming months.
In the meantime, claimants awaiting a reassessment will continue to receive their current rate. Where a reassessment leads to entitlement to a higher rate of benefit, that rate will be backdated accordingly.
Please note: