Department for Work and Pensions

It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Policy teams within the Department for Work and Pensions are responsible for ensuring effective legislative practice within their area, including the management of uncommenced legislation, and considering when to bring forward commencement orders. Where needed, they work closely with lawyers and our central legislative strategy team. This work is undertaken alongside established postlegislative scrutiny processes.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

The Department has conducted a literature review to collate evidence on women’s employment and menopause, which was published in July 2025: Menopause in the Workplace Literature Review - GOV.UK

The economic costs of the menopause on the labour market has been estimated by the following study: Womens health economics investing in the 51 per cent

I refer my Hon. friend to the answer I gave on 13^th April to PQ 122869.

I refer my Hon. friend to the answer I gave on 13^th April to PQ 122869.

I refer my Hon. friend to the answer I gave on 13^th April to PQ 122869.

I refer my Hon. friend to the answer I gave on 13^th April to PQ 122869.

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on the 30 March 2026 to Question UIN 122660.

I refer the hon. Member for Torbay to the answer of 16 March 2026 to Question 115133.

The department is committed to ensuring that individuals with cystic fibrosis receive high-quality and accurate Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments.

All health professionals (HPs) carrying out PIP assessments receive comprehensive training in disability analysis, with a clear focus on understanding the functional effects of a claimant’s condition rather than the diagnosis itself.

To support this approach, the department provides assessment suppliers with core training and guidance materials on the varying symptoms of cystic fibrosis. These materials include clinical background information and detail the potential functional impacts of the condition, enabling HPs to deliver informed, consistent and accurate assessments.

In addition, all training and guidance materials are currently subject to a comprehensive review and update programme. A dedicated team is overseeing this work to ensure alignment with national best practice helping to ensure that guidance remains accurate, relevant and up to date.

Students are generally expected to access support for tuition fees and living costs through the student support system. This means most full‑time students are not usually eligible for Universal Credit, unless they fall into specified exception groups (e.g. disabled students, students with children, some young people without parental support).

Students who are eligible for Universal Credit have their maintenance loans treated as income for the purpose of Universal Credit. The student support system is designed to meet their living cost needs during study.

Tuition fee loans are disregarded in the calculation of a Universal Credit award, along with grants such as those recognising a disability or for childcare costs. Any Special Support Loan/Grant is also disregarded in these calculations.

The Department does not collect information centrally for analysis about whether a claimant’s condition is terminal. However, claimants claiming under the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL) are terminally ill and we can provide information about their awards. A PIP claimant is currently regarded as being end of life if they “suffer from a progressive disease, and the person’s death in consequence of that disease can reasonably be expected within 12 months.” [S.82 Welfare Reform Act 2012]

Claims by people with end of life are fast tracked – currently 3 days for new claimants; in the last five years to January 2026, 99% of special rule claims were successful, excluding withdrawn claims. The majority of awards are made for 3 years. The three-year awards given to SREL claims strikes a balance that recognises making a prognosis is not an exact science.

Someone already in receipt of PIP under the normal rules, where there is a wide variety of award lengths, can report a change in their circumstances that they are now terminally ill. This change of circumstances is similarly fast tracked.

The tables below detail the number or SREL claimant assessments for PIP over the last 12 months and fixed-term awards for SREL claimants for the same period.

Table 1: Volume of SREL claimant assessments over time

Table 2: Volume of SREL fixed-term awards by duration

Notes:

- Values have been rounded to the nearest 10. Where a value is less than 5 but not 0 it has been replaced by an X for disclosure control.

- Figures are for claimants under DWP Policy Ownership (England, Wales and Abroad) and exclude claimants where PIP has been devolved to the Scottish Government in Scotland or The Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) estimates how the prices of goods and services bought by households rise or fall and is used as an indication of inflation in Universal Credit uprating. Last year, The Secretary of State increased most working age benefits across Great Britain for 2026/27 by 3.8% in line with CPI in the year to September 2025.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a non‑means‑tested benefit intended as a contribution towards extra costs arising from a long‑term health condition or disability, and recipients are free to use it in the way that best meets their individual needs. The Department does not routinely collect data on how PIP is spent.

I refer my Hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 2 March 2026 in response to Question UIN 114204.

Universal Credit for self-employed individuals aims to encourage sustainable work choices and support self-employment where it is a realistic route to financial self-sufficiency.

The Minimum Income Floor is designed to encourage low-earning customers to increase their earnings and grow their business. The level of the Minimum Income Floor is calculated using the number of hours per week that a customer is expected to work, tailored specifically to customers individual circumstances, including for health conditions and caring responsibilities. It is set at a maximum of 35 hours for individuals with no limitations on their expected working hours.

To align with the offer of 30 hours of free childcare for working parents, self-employed individuals with children aged 3-12 typically have their Minimum Income Floor set using a maximum of 30 hours per week.

The Office for Budget Responsibility, in their Spring 2023 and October 2024 Economic and Fiscal Outlook, published their economic impacts of various policy measures, including childcare. These can be found here: The economic effects of policy measures - Office for Budget Responsibility, Monitoring and evaluating the supply-side effects of policy measures - Office for Budget Responsibility.

Parents who need help with their upfront childcare costs to move into work or increase their working hours may be eligible for support from the Flexible Support Fund.

The Flexible Support Fund’s Upfront Childcare Costs can be used to pay 100% of the upfront costs of up to one month of childcare. This is designed to ensure that any costs that the Universal Credit customer incurs in relation to childcare when starting work or increasing their hours is not a barrier to taking up this work.

We are streamlining the process and extending eligibility to parents returning from parental leave to improve access to upfront childcare support. We will also extend eligibility to parents returning from parental leave to ease the difficult transition back to work.

Good work is good for health, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work when they can including people who suffer from migraine. 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 are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support for every individual is key. 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 (DEAs) in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants. Our Supported Employment programme, Connect to Work, is supporting disabled people, people with health conditions and people with complex barriers to employment across England and Wales.

DEAs in the Jobcentres supporting the constituency hold in-depth Work Ability conversations that focus on strengths, suitable work options, workplace adjustments and confidence building.

Our Pathways to Work support offer will ensure a coherent and navigable offer of support, building on and bringing together initiatives such as Connect to Work, WorkWell and local Trailblazers. 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. We anticipate that the Pathways to Work offer, once fully rolled out, will include a support conversation to identify support needs and signpost to services, one-to-one caseworker support, periodic engagement and an offer of specialist long-term work, health and skills support.

The support that a customer will receive from Access to Work is dependent upon their needs and circumstances at the time they make an application or award renewal. Case managers will use the current guidance to ensure Access to Work principles are considered when making a decision on support.

Separate to the Access to Work scheme, we have a range of specialist initiatives to support disabled individuals, including those that join up employment and health systems.

Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, and WorkWell.

The Health Transformation Programme is transforming the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) service to improve efficiency, accessibility, and user experience, build trust in our decisions, and support people to enter or remain in work.

Customers can access an online service to submit their health information after calling us to start their claim and this is already available to over 90% of new PIP customers. This is benefiting customers by removing postage times and increasing accessibility.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions reviewed Local Housing Allowance rates and confirmed in his written statement on 26 November 2025 (HCWS1101) that rates would be maintained at their current levels for 2026/27.

Renters facing a shortfall in meeting their housing costs can apply for discretionary support through the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) Housing Payments from local authorities in England. In Wales and Scotland Discretionary Housing Payments apply.

Support for unpaid carers on low incomes is primarily provided through Universal Credit and Pension Credit, which include carer amounts in addition to the standard allowance or Standard Minimum Guarantee. These additions are worth up to £2,500 a year. In England and Wales, support is also available through Carer’s Allowance.

For those who are able to balance paid work with their caring responsibilities, this is also a means of increasing household income. It also contributes to the wellbeing of the carer, and to the skills available to employers. The Carer’s Leave Act 2023 gives employees a right to time off to provide care, and the Government will be consulting on further changes to care leave. The Employment Rights Act 2025 contains provisions to support improved work‑life balance, including measures to strengthen access to flexible working.

Unpaid carers receiving Carer’s Allowance receive a Class 1 National Insurance Credit which helps protect entitlement to the State Pension and contributory working-age benefits. Those receiving Universal Credit or a Carer’s Credit receive a Class 3 National Insurance Credit which helps protect entitlement to the State Pension. In all cases other contributions and entitlement conditions for the benefits or pension concerned would also need to be satisfied.

The department is committed to ensuring that individuals with cystic fibrosis receive high-quality and accurate Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments. All health professionals (HPs) carrying out PIP assessments receive comprehensive training in disability analysis, with a clear focus on understanding the functional effects of a claimant’s condition rather than the diagnosis itself.

To support this approach, the department provides assessment suppliers with core training and guidance materials on the varying symptoms of cystic fibrosis. These materials include clinical background information and detail the potential functional impacts of the condition, enabling HPs to deliver informed, consistent and accurate assessments.

In addition, all training and guidance materials are currently subject to a comprehensive review and update programme. A dedicated team is overseeing this work to ensure alignment with national best practice helping to ensure that guidance remains accurate, relevant and up to date.

The Pensions Regulator has published guidance on trustee duties and expects trustees, when considering discretionary benefit increases, to assess whether doing so would be in members’ interests, including any consistent history or practice of making such awards.

DWP’s recent consultation, “Trust based pension schemes: Trustees and governance, building a stronger future” sought views on ensuring that trustee boards take into account the perspectives of members in their decision making. We are currently analysing responses to the consultation.

We have taken the PHSO’s report seriously and given the findings the close examination that they deserved. We have set out the detailed reasons for our decision in our new response, on the 29 January, which has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

We have taken the PHSO’s report seriously and given the findings the close examination that they deserved. We have set out the detailed reasons for our decision in our new response, on the 29 January, which has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Ensuring a decent State Pension for pensioners as a foundation for a secure retirement is a priority for this Government.

The Government is committed to protecting the value of the State Pension in real terms. That is why, for the duration of this Parliament, we have committed to maintaining the Triple Lock, which increases the basic and new State Pension each year by the highest of earnings growth, price inflation or 2.5 per cent. This ensures that pensioners’ incomes keep pace with the cost of living and benefit from rising wages. In addition, Pension Credit is uprated in line with earnings, providing extra protection for pensioners on the lowest incomes. This year, the State Pension increased by 4.8%, boosting incomes for over 12 million pensioners.

The typical duration from apprenticeship start date to apprenticeship gateway and the maximum funding available for standards (a) to (c) are in the below table. This information is published at Apprenticeship search / Skills England.

The department regularly reviews the apprenticeship funding rules, often in consultation with others, including the Home Office and the Department for Education.

This includes the requirements for ordinary residency. This three-year residency requirement is longstanding within the apprenticeship programme. It applies to both UK and non-UK nationals. It is applied consistently to ensure that the individuals have a connection to the UK and are committed to living in the country before they are eligible for training funded by the taxpayer.

I refer the Honourable Member to the answer I gave on 24 March 2026 to Question UIN 114579 which provides details of the Government’s recent announcements on the Youth Guarantee.

As part of the Youth Guarantee, the Government is expanding support for young people looking for work on Universal Credit. This includes tailored employment support and a structured path into a job, apprenticeship, work experience, a Sector‑based Work Academy Programme, learning or training from their first appointment in the Jobcentre. Rollout of this support began this month on a phased basis and will be in place in all Jobcentres across Great Britain by the end of the year. Young people in Newcastle‑under‑Lyme and across Staffordshire will benefit through this national rollout.

Youth Guarantee also includes the Jobs Guarantee. This will provide every eligible 18–24-year-old who has been claiming Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months a guaranteed, fully subsidised six-month paid job, alongside a wraparound employability and in-work support to help them move into sustained employment. National roll out of the Jobs Guarantee will begin across Great Britain later in 2026, providing a total of 90,000 jobs over the next three years.

We are also introducing a new hiring grant of £2,000 for non-levy paying employers, typically SMEs, that take on 16–24-year-old apprentices as new employees. It will apply to apprenticeship starts from October, as long as they have joined their employer within the past 3 months i.e. from July 2026.

Delivery of the Youth Guarantee is a partnership between central government, Jobcentres, employers, and local partners. Local DWP teams are responsible for delivery in their areas, working closely with employers and stakeholders. As a Member of Parliament, the Honourable Member can support young people locally by encouraging employers in Newcastle‑under‑Lyme and Staffordshire to engage with the Youth Guarantee. Your most useful contact will be your local DWP team – details of local DWP Service Leaders are published online.

Getting more young people into work is a priority of this Government. As such, we are transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy in England to improve access to opportunities. The new levy will give employers greater flexibility, including those in the independent advice sector, and will support the delivery of the Industrial Strategy.

We are investing in young people’s futures and reversing the sharp decline in apprenticeship starts amongst young people, which have fallen by 40% over the last decade, emphasised by our ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships.

There are several apprenticeship standards available that employers in the independent advice sector can take advantage of, including the Level 3 Learning and Development Practitioner and Level 4 Employability Practitioner standards.

Eligible employers within the independent advice sector will be able to benefit from the new £2,000 apprenticeship hiring grant for non-levy paying employers, typically SMEs, that take on 16–24-year-old apprentices as new employees. It will apply to apprenticeship starts from October as long as they have joined their employer within the past 3 months i.e. from July 2026. This is in addition to fully funding apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers for all eligible 16–24-year-olds from the start of the next academic year.

Employers in the sector will also be able to benefit from the Youth Guarantee, which will offer fully funded training, financial incentives and a pipeline of young talent to help fill skills gaps and build their workforce.

In addition, the Adult Skills Fund which is worth around £1.4bn this year, funds education and skills training up to and including Level 3, for eligible adults aged 19+ which can include learning to support individuals to work in the independent advice sector. Skills Bootcamps also support reskilling and upskilling in a range of priority skills areas that could help learners and employers in the independent advice sector.

The number of private sector publicly funded providers for 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 was:

The number of private sector publicly funded providers with learners participating in both 2018/19 and 2024/25 was 540.

The number of private sector publicly funded providers with learners participating in both 2021/22 and 2024/25 was 762.

In 2025, 37% of levy payers spent more than 50 per cent of the funds in their apprenticeship service accounts.

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has reformed its approach to employer support by replacing Training Groups with Employer Networks, which the CITB has assessed as a more accessible, responsive and cost-effective model.

Employers who are within scope of CITB’s industry levy can continue to access CITB funded support for their skills needs through their local Employer Network. This includes direct adviser support, funding contributions for skills training, and locally determined training aligned to employer need.

Employers who are not currently participating in an Employer Network can continue to engage directly with CITB for information, advice and guidance, and may choose to join or establish a Network in future where there is sufficient employer interest.

The Government is conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose. This includes updating the underlying research and ensuring it is fair for both parents and encourages willing and able compliance.

The outcome of the review and next steps will be announced in due course.

The Department is clear that timely responses to correspondence are important. Recent delays have arisen from increased volumes and complexity of cases, including as customers move onto Universal Credit as part of our planned migration from legacy benefits.

We are taking active steps to improve performance, including recruiting and training additional staff to handle correspondence and complaints. These measures are already helping to reduce backlogs and will continue to improve response times as capacity builds.

We are committed to tackling poverty and ending mass dependence on emergency food parcels.

In the Good Food Cycle, published last July, we made improving access to healthy and affordable food, targeting costs that lead to food price inflation, and supporting those who most need access to healthy affordable nutrition, key priorities for Government.

The Crisis and Resilience Fund will also support people on low incomes and in need of immediate financial support.