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, what steps are being taken to ensure those being migrated onto Universal Credit will receive transitional protection.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to ensuring that all eligible customers moving from legacy benefits to Universal Credit receive the Transitional Protection to which they are entitled. Transitional Protection is a safeguard designed to support a smooth financial transition from legacy benefits to Universal Credit for those required to move. Customers who make a Universal Credit claim in response to a Migration Notice, and who would otherwise receive a lower award on Universal Credit than they received on their legacy benefit, will receive Transitional Protection. To be eligible for Transitional Protection, customers must claim Universal Credit by the deadline set out in their Migration Notice, or within one month of that deadline (the “grace period”). The Department keeps detailed records of all customers who have been issued with a Migration Notice and their associated deadlines to ensure eligible customers are correctly identified.
Asked by: Alex Ballinger (Labour - Halesowen)
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 provide support for people who are disabled and on benefits when their condition deteriorates; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing an assessment mechanism to allow people to change from Limited Capability for Work to Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Individuals claiming Employment and Support Allowance or the health element of Universal Credit are encouraged to report any changes to their health condition to DWP immediately, whether an improvement or deterioration.
If an individual with Limited Capability for Work reports a deterioration or new condition, the mechanism for determining if they have Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity is a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) reassessment.
If, at reassessment, they are found to have Limited Capability for Work and Work-related activity and they are entitled to a higher rate of benefit, that rate will be backdated to the date they notified DWP of the change to their condition.
Asked by: Sarah Dyke (Liberal Democrat - Glastonbury and Somerton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether households reliant on alternative fuel sources other than heating oil, such as LPG, will be eligible for recently announced targeted Government support.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Crisis and Resilience Fund can be used to support households reliant on alternative fuel sources other than heating oil, such as LPG. Guidance to local authorities is clear that Crisis Payments can be used to support energy costs for any form of fuel used for domestic heating, cooking or lighting, including oil or portable gas cylinders. It is for local authorities to determine individual need and the most appropriate form of support, using a person-centred, needs based approach in line with the Fund’s guidance.
Asked by: Monica Harding (Liberal Democrat - Esher and Walton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his Department's policies of the report by Christians Against Poverty entitled 'Barriers to work: Challenges, support and solutions, published on 25th February 2026; and what steps his Department is taking to help support people with (a) mental health conditions and (b) disabilities into employment.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Good work is good for health, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. In our Pathways to Work Green Paper we set out our Pathways to Work offer, backed by £1 billion a year of new funding by the end of the decade.
Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including people with mental health conditions, with their employment journey.
We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Existing measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants. Through Pathways to Work we are building towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and people with health conditions on out of work benefits, building on and bringing together initiatives such as Connect to Work, WorkWell and Employment Advisers in Talking Therapies.
The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, builds on existing work to better integrate health with employment support and incentivise greater cross-system collaboration, recognising good work is good for health. The Plan states our intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. It outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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 food poverty in (a) Stockport constituency and (b) Greater Manchester.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our plan to Make Work Pay is part of the mission to grow the economy, raise living standards across the country and create opportunities for all. This is why we committed in our manifesto to ending mass dependence on emergency food parcels.
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.
From 1 April 2026, we are introducing 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: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Government's response to Recommendation 4 of the Work and Pensions Committee's Get Britain Working, Reforming Jobcentres report, against what objectives the claimant commitment pathfinder tests will be evaluated.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Evaluation of the claimant commitment pathfinder will focus on how well the approach enables more tailored conditionality, clearer communication of expectations, and improved engagement between claimants and work coaches. It will also assess claimant understanding of their commitments and whether the approach leads to a better overall experience.
These objectives align with the reform testing outlined in response to Recommendation 4 and we are committed to publishing evaluation findings in line with Government Social Research processes.
Asked by: Zarah Sultana (Your Party - Coventry South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Government's response to Recommendation 4 of the Work and Pensions Committee's Get Britain Working, Reforming Jobcentres report, how he plans to work with Universal Credit claimants and advice and advocacy organisations to ensure that the claimant commitment pathfinder tests are informed by their insights and experience.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The claimant commitment pathfinder is being developed using direct insight from Universal Credit claimants and work coaches. Through structured user research activity and ongoing feedback, we are assessing how the new approach operates in practice and whether it provides a clearer and improved experience from both a user and operational perspective.
This engagement forms part of wider improvements to conditionality and claimant communication set out in the Government’s response to Recommendation 4. We are committed to publishing evaluation findings in line with Government Social Research processes.
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, pursuant to UIN 107421, if he will provide a nationality breakdown of people with Universal Credit claims that failed the Habitual Residence Test.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
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 adequacy of the 25p per week pension uplift for over eighties, introduced in the National insurance Bill of 1971.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The 25 pence a week Age Addition is part of the old State Pension, for those who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, and is paid with their State Pension, when they reach the age of 80.
The Age Addition is not part of the new State Pension, but for those people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, the 25 pence Age Addition under the existing rules will continue.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what monitoring arrangements are in place to evaluate whether the Jobs Guarantee achieves its target of providing six-month paid employment opportunities for all eligible 18–24-year-olds.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have previously set out our approach for monitoring arrangements and expected outputs for Phase One of the Jobs Guarantee in the response I gave on 9 February 2026 to Question UIN 109869.
For the national rollout of the Jobs Guarantee, the scheme will be available to all eligible 18–24-year-olds. We will use learning from Phase One to inform and establish appropriate outcome and performance monitoring arrangements. This will ensure we are delivering the scheme as intended for all eligible young people.