Asked by: Lord Bishop of Manchester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the Crisis and Resilience Fund will help local authorities to address the causes of financial crisis instead of the symptoms.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Crisis and Resilience Fund 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. The Fund will support local interventions that prevent people from falling into crisis and improve their citizens’ long-term financial resilience, reducing the need for crisis support in the long-term.
My Department has engaged extensively with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process involving a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in January 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of furniture provision, through the Crisis and Resilience Fund, on the likelihood of low-income households entering unmanageable debt.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
My Department has engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process including furniture provision. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in January 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Shawcross-Wolfson (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sherlock on 24 November (HL11931), whether the report into young people and work will also examine reasons for the increase in the number of young people with disabilities and health conditions, and if not, what plans they have to investigate the reasons for this increase.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The rising number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is a crisis of opportunity that demands more action to give them the chance to learn or earn.
To truly address the root causes of youth inactivity, we need a deeper understanding of the barriers that disabled young people and those with health conditions face. The Report will examine the drivers behind the rise in NEET rates and economic inactivity among young disabled people and those with health conditions.
On the 4th of December my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Department for Health and Social Care launched an Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism.
The review will look to understand the similarities and differences between mental health conditions, ADHD and autism. It will look at prevalence, early intervention and treatment, and the current challenges facing clinical services.
The review will also seek to identify opportunities to provide different models of support and pathways, within and beyond the NHS, that promote prevention and early intervention, supplementing clinical support.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the new Crisis and Resilience Fund guidance will make furniture and appliance provision an integral part of the support offered by local authorities to those lacking essential furniture.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
My Department has engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process involving a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in January 2026.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of overpaid benefits they have recouped in each of the past 10 financial years.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The recovery of overpayments cannot be attributed to the year in which the benefit was overpaid, as many of those overpayments will have occurred over more than one year.
Furthermore, many of the overpayments that occurred in previous years are still undergoing recovery or are likely to be identified and recovered some time in the future.
The annual National Statistics publication Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK compares the amount of money recovered in each financial year from overpayment debts with its estimate of the money that was overpaid in that financial year – with the understanding that much of that recovered money each year would have been from benefits that were overpaid in past years. Figures from the National Statistics publications are provided in the annex.
The overall amount that can be recovered by deduction from benefit is set by regulations, and priority is given to a number of other deductions above those for recovery of an overpayment of benefit.
We encourage anyone who is finding recovery difficult to get in touch with DWP Debt Management, who can consider a lower rate of recovery or temporary suspension.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, further to question 95498 if he will make an assessment of the impact for his policies of the findings of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation entitled Guarantee our Essentials: reforming Universal Credit to ensure we can all afford the essentials in hard time, published on 4 March 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As I set out in the response I gave on 4 December 2025 to PQ UIN 95498, this government is taking important steps to tackle child poverty and improve the support we provide people with their living costs.
There is no overall agreed approach to benchmark benefit levels. Each household will always have different requirements depending on their circumstances. We will continue to consider evidence and insights from a range of organisations to ensure the social security system provides the support people need.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to section 5.3: Tackling child poverty and reforming welfare of the Budget 2025, when he expects to bring forward legislative changes.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our Autumn Budget emphasised our commitment to a fairer welfare system that is fit for the future and provides value for taxpayers. This includes removing the two child limit from April 2026. This will lead to a substantial reduction in child poverty, helping to break the cycle of disadvantage. Given the requirement for primary legislation, we are progressing this as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
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 Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the adequacy of financial support for parents of critically and terminally ill children.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State regularly meets with colleagues across Government to discuss a range of issues.
Many parents caring for children and young people with serious illnesses are likely to need additional support through social security. Financial support is available through Universal Credit (UC), a means tested benefit, which if needed, can offer support available on day one through a UC advance. There is also Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children aged under 16 and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for those over 16. They are available if a child or young person’s condition or illness is of a long-term nature and gives rise to care, daily living or mobility needs. These are not means-tested.
For claimants at the end of life, the Government’s priority is to provide financial support quickly and compassionately through special benefit rules – called the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL). For parents with children nearing the end of life these enable families to get faster, and guaranteed, access to the care component of DLA or the daily living components of PIP, without having to undergo a functional assessment or serve a qualifying period.
People caring for a child in these circumstances can use an independent, free and anonymous benefits calculator to check what they could be entitled to. These are available on Gov.uk and provide estimates of the benefits someone could get, how these payments are affected by re-starting work or by a change in circumstances change.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton West)
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 reduce waiting times for child maintenance enforcement actions.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will do everything it can to address the non-payment of child maintenance and ensure appropriate enforcement action is taken in a timely manner.
Enforcement action can include deductions from earnings orders, or from bank accounts. Where that is not effective, CMS can apply to Court for a liability order, which legally recognises the debt. That is currently required before other enforcement action can be taken, including removal of driving licenses, disqualification from holding a passport, and committal to prison.
We are working to introduce administrative liability orders (ALO) which will replace the current requirement for the CMS to apply to the court for a liability order. Introducing a simpler administrative process will enable the CMS to take faster action against those paying parents who actively avoid their responsibilities and will get money to children more quickly.
Once it is introduced, we expect the new liability order process in the majority of cases to take around 6 weeks. Changes will mean the CMS can use its strong enforcement powers more quickly to go after those who wilfully avoid their financial obligations to their children.
We are working with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government to establish a process for implementing ALOs and plan to introduce regulations to Parliament as soon as possible
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what quality assurance mechanisms are in place to ensure consistent decision-making across Access to Work caseworkers.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Access to Work has a range of quality assurance processes in place to ensure consistency in decision-making. These include: