Department for Work and Pensions

This Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820 million for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy.

Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, including:

• Support to find a job: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are introducing a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach. This new support will identify specific work, training, or learning opportunities locally for each young person and ensure they are supported to take those up. This support could be delivered at a Youth Hub.
• Further expansion of Youth Hubs: We are expanding our network of Youth Hubs to over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support.
• c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers – Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.
• Guaranteeing jobs: For long-term unemployed 18–21-year-olds on Universal Credit, the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment. This will reach around 55,000 young people over the next three years. We know young people need support quickly and that is why we will begin delivery of the Jobs Guarantee in six areas from spring 2026 in: Birmingham & Solihull, East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire & Essex, Central & East Scotland, Southwest & Southeast Wales. We will deliver over 1,000 job starts in the first six months. This will be followed by national roll-out of the Jobs Guarantee across Great Britain.
• Prevention: We are also making it easier to identify young people who need support, by investing in better data sharing for those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), further education attendance monitoring, and new risk of NEET data tools giving local areas more accurate insights to target support where it's needed most. We are also investing in work experience opportunities for young people at particular risk of becoming NEET, focused on pupils in state-funded Alternative Provision settings, (education provided outside mainstream or special schools for children who cannot attend a regular school, often due to exclusion, health needs, or other circumstances). This builds on measures announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper earlier this autumn.

The Growth and Skills Levy’s £725 million investment will deliver more apprenticeships for young people and help match skills training with local job opportunities. Young people will benefit from:

• increased access to training with full cost of apprenticeships at SMEs covered by Government.
• A new wave of foundation apprenticeships in sectors such as retail and hospitality sectors to get young people into work.
• Thousands more apprenticeship starts through a £140 million partnership with local leaders.

50,000 young people across the country will be better equipped for jobs of the future through a major investment to create more apprenticeships and training courses.

As this programme is across Great Britian, my honourable friend will be assured that it will have an effect on his constituency. Specifically in Poole, we also have a project supporting Youth Skills and Careers Builders, delivering through DWP and local organisations. Young people can also access the local Wellbeing Hub.

A full summary Equalities Analysis was published alongside the Strategy and is available at: Child Poverty Strategy: Summary Equalities Analysis - GOV.UK.

The impacts of policies contributing to the Child Poverty Strategy will be kept under review and monitored on an ongoing basis by departments using their own established approaches to considerations made under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

The ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation of the Child Poverty Strategy will also continue to assess the poverty risk and prevalence for groups with protected characteristics, as far as the data and evidence gathering allow. The Monitoring and Evaluation framework published alongside the Strategy set out that a baseline report will be published in Summer 2026, with annual reporting on progress thereafter.

As set out in our Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, we will continue to work closely with the devolved governments to complement existing monitoring and evaluation activity, and consider how best to feed in their own findings to track progress at both the local and national level, particularly where powers are devolved.

Our Child Poverty Strategy fulfils our commitment to reducing poverty this Parliament and sets out our ambition to fundamentally fix the structural drivers of child poverty as part of a long-term, 10-year strategy for lasting change. From the beginning of our time in government we have acted on child poverty including through increasing the minimum wage, the Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and the removal of the two child limit from April 2026.

In addition to the existing statutory duty on Government to publish poverty statistics annually, we will be monitoring progress using two complementary headline metrics. These will measure overall child poverty using our leading measure of relative low income and our new measure of deep material poverty that looks at families’ ability to afford essentials as well as their income and housing costs.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, sets out our plans to track progress against these metrics as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and continued learning. There will continue to be a dedicated team in government that, with Ministerial oversight, will work across government, the public and private sectors and civil society as we develop milestones and plans for delivering, monitoring and evaluating our strategy.

We will publish a baseline report next summer which will set out the latest statistics and evidence, with annual reporting thereafter to monitor and evaluate progress.

Our Child Poverty Strategy fulfils our commitment to reducing poverty this Parliament and sets out our ambition to fundamentally fix the structural drivers of child poverty as part of a long-term, 10-year strategy for lasting change. From the beginning of our time in government we have acted on child poverty including through increasing the minimum wage, the Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and the removal of the two child limit from April 2026.

In addition to the existing statutory duty on Government to publish poverty statistics annually, we will be monitoring progress using two complementary headline metrics. These will measure overall child poverty using our leading measure of relative low income and our new measure of deep material poverty that looks at families’ ability to afford essentials as well as their income and housing costs.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, sets out our plans to track progress against these metrics as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and continued learning. There will continue to be a dedicated team in government that, with Ministerial oversight, will work across government, the public and private sectors and civil society as we develop milestones and plans for delivering, monitoring and evaluating our strategy.

We will publish a baseline report next summer which will set out the latest statistics and evidence, with annual reporting thereafter to monitor and evaluate progress.

Our Child Poverty Strategy fulfils our commitment to reducing poverty this Parliament and sets out our ambition to fundamentally fix the structural drivers of child poverty as part of a long-term, 10-year strategy for lasting change. From the beginning of our time in government we have acted on child poverty including through increasing the minimum wage, the Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and the removal of the two child limit from April 2026.

In addition to the existing statutory duty on Government to publish poverty statistics annually, we will be monitoring progress using two complementary headline metrics. These will measure overall child poverty using our leading measure of relative low income and our new measure of deep material poverty that looks at families’ ability to afford essentials as well as their income and housing costs.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, sets out our plans to track progress against these metrics as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and continued learning. There will continue to be a dedicated team in government that, with Ministerial oversight, will work across government, the public and private sectors and civil society as we develop milestones and plans for delivering, monitoring and evaluating our strategy.

We will publish a baseline report next summer which will set out the latest statistics and evidence, with annual reporting thereafter to monitor and evaluate progress.

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Pathways to Work is a guaranteed offer of tailored work, health and skills support for all disabled people, including young people, and those with health conditions on out of work benefits. We are rolling out our new support offer, backed by new funding building to £1bn a year by the end of the decade, with much of our plan already in motion. There are now over 1,000 FTE Pathways to Work Advisors in Jobcentres across England, Scotland and Wales who are helping disabled people and people with health conditions towards and into work.

We are also testing how best to deliver and integrate work, health and skills support locally – including through Mayoral Strategic Authorities with 9 Economic Inactivity and 8 Youth Guarantee Trailblazers live across England and Wales. We are delivering the NHS 10 Year Plan, and have introduced WorkWell in 15 sites across England, testing a new way to integrate health and work support.

We are also expanding our support for all young people, by expanding Youth Hubs to every local area across Great Britian. These Hubs will provide comprehensive support, such as mental health, housing, skills training, and employer engagement, to all 16-24 year olds, regardless of their benefit status.

Finally, we are considering how we might go even further. The Right Honourable Alan Milburn will lead an investigation into the rise in young people not in employment, education, or training, with findings to be published by Summer 2026. The report launched its formal call for evidence this week, on 16 December, and will remain open until 30 January.

The Department does not hold data on the number of children in deep material poverty broken down by geographical region or constituency. Geographical analyses are usually presented as 3-year averages due to the volatility of single year estimates based on small sample sizes. We anticipate regional breakdowns being available in future years, once more data becomes available. More information can be found at: Deep material poverty: Financial year ending 2024 - GOV.UK.

As deep material poverty is impacted by a range of un-modellable factors, such as families’ broader resources, support networks and financial resilience, it is not possible to model reductions in deep material poverty in the same way as for relative low income. Instead, we have provided analysis on number of children in deep material poverty who will gain from the strategy, which can be found here: Child Poverty Strategy: Impact on low income poverty levels and children gaining in the UK: December 2025 - GOV.UK.

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

The Monitoring and Evaluation framework published alongside the Strategy set out that a baseline report will be published in Summer 2026 with annual reporting on progress thereafter and Government already has a statutory duty to publish poverty statistics annually. We have put these clear reporting arrangements in place so that the progress we make is transparent for all.

The Monitoring and Evaluation framework published alongside the Strategy set out that a baseline report will be published in Summer 2026 with annual reporting on progress thereafter and Government already has a statutory duty to publish poverty statistics annually. We have put these clear reporting arrangements in place so that the progress we make is transparent for all.

The Department monitors Jobcentre performance through an internal performance framework aligned with the priorities set out in Get Britain Working White Paper. The framework is designed for internal management purposes and the data is not published externally.

The Department recently published data on movements into work amongst people in the Universal Credit (UC) searching for work group - Get Britain Working: Labour Market Insights October 2025 - GOV.UK.

We are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers.

A full summary Equalities Analysis was published alongside the Strategy and is available at: Child Poverty Strategy: Summary Equalities Analysis - GOV.UK.

The impacts of policies contributing to the Child Poverty Strategy will be kept under review and monitored on an ongoing basis by departments using their own established approaches to considerations made under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

The ongoing Monitoring and Evaluation of the Child Poverty Strategy will also continue to assess the poverty risk and prevalence for groups with protected characteristics, as far as the data and evidence gathering allow. The Monitoring and Evaluation framework published alongside the Strategy set out that a baseline report will be published in Summer 2026, with annual reporting on progress thereafter, this can be found here: Child Poverty Strategy: Monitoring and Evaluation Framework - GOV.UK.

We want to see an enduring reduction in child poverty over this parliament as part of long-term, 10-year strategy for lasting change.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, sets out how we will track progress and evaluate success as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability and continued learning. It can be found here: Child Poverty Strategy: Monitoring and Evaluation Framework - GOV.UK.

The Motability Scheme is a lifeline for many disabled people and families, supporting their independence by enabling them to lease a car, wheelchair accessible vehicle, scooter or powered wheelchair in exchange for an eligible disability benefit allowance.

Before any announcements were made, Motability Operations confirmed it will continue to offer a broad range of vehicles without an Advance Payment. This will ensure that people who elect to join the Scheme can access vehicles suited to their needs, whether that’s a larger vehicle or extra boot space to carry wheelchairs, whatever their health condition or disability, in exchange for all or part of their mobility allowance.

Motability Foundation will continue to offer means-tested grants to those most in need of financial help. These grants support eligible people who would otherwise struggle to afford the advance payment or adaptations for a vehicle, or a wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) through the Motability Scheme.

We inherited from the previous administration a welfare system that forced too many people out of work and on to long-term benefits, while leaving millions of children in poverty. We have begun to address that through reforms to universal credit, increased employment support, more help for children in poverty and, now, a youth guarantee to offer work and training to young people who are unemployed.

The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would be at disproportionate cost.

The monthly statistics for the number of Children in households on Universal Credit in Great Britain by Parliamentary Constituency and Local Authority are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore(opens in a new tab).

Universal Credit statistics are available from August 2015 to August 2025 in the Households on Universal Credit(opens in a new tab) dataset.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance(opens in a new tab) on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide(opens in a new tab)

Under health and safety legislation, it is the operator of the site who has a legal duty to assess and control the health and safety risks to staff and others. There is also an obligation to keep risk assessments and control measures under review. The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) role as a regulator is to make sure that those who create risk, take responsibility for controlling risk through proportionate enforcement and targeted regulatory work. HSE does not operate a permissioning regime for use and handling of substances hazardous to health, including wood dust. Wood dust is one of the most common causes of occupational asthma in Great Britain. This has been a focus of recent HSE proactive interventions to reduce workplace ill health. An inspection visit to Drax Power Ltd by HSE is planned for early 2026 to examinehow well the operator is currently controlling exposure to wood dust.

The Crisis and Resilience Fund will fall within the definition of public funds. We plan to publish scheme guidance in January 2026.

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 considering how to ensure the calculation reflects current and future societal trends.

The scope of the review does not include Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (REMO) or Maintenance Enforcement Business Centre (MEBC) processes. Responsibility for REMO falls within the Ministry of Justice, as it concerns the enforcement of maintenance orders across international jurisdictions that are subject to separate legislative frameworks.

Local agencies and local government are well placed to understand their local labour market, build connections with employers and coordinate services to increase employment and training opportunities. That is why we have asked all areas across England, including Berkshire, to develop local Get Britain Working plans in partnership with local stakeholders.

Local areas are also delivering Connect to Work, a Supported Employment programme aimed at disabled people and people with health conditions. Berkshire have had their plan approved and are due to go live in January.

Additionally, our Jobcentre teams in Slough work with local employers to help generate opportunities for customers. They also work with local and national providers to understand the needs of local areas and the skills gaps of UC customers related to the local area’s job market, and then request and develop suitable training.

To deliver local training opportunities, we are also spending £1.4 billion this academic year through the Adult Skills Fund, and we are also transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, including introducing new foundation apprenticeships.

This Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820 million for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 for the Growth and Skills Levy.

Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, including:

Support to find a job: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we are introducing a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, which over the next three years will offer nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds a dedicated session, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support with a Work Coach. This new support will identify specific work, training, or learning opportunities locally for each young person and ensure they are supported to take those up. This support could be delivered at a Youth Hub.

Further expansion of Youth Hubs: We are expanding our network of Youth Hubs to over 360 locations so that all young people – including those not on benefits – can access opportunities and wider support in every local area of Great Britain. Youth Hubs will bring together partners from health, skills and the voluntary sector, working closely with Mayors and local authorities to deliver joined-up community-based support.

c300,000 additional opportunities for workplace experience and training: For young people on Universal Credit who are looking for work, we will create up to 150,000 additional work experience placements and up to 145,000 additional bespoke training opportunities designed in partnership with employers – Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs). At the end of each SWAP, employers offer a guaranteed job interview to participants.

Guaranteeing jobs: Too many young people are spending the first years of their adult life out of work or education. Long periods of unemployment in these early years have lifelong negative impacts.

As part of the Youth Guarantee, we are breaking the cycle of unemployment by guaranteeing paid work for every eligible 18-21 year-old who has been on Universal Credit, looking for work, for 18 months.

The Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide six months of paid employment, for 25 hours a week, at the relevant minimum wage, with the government covering 100% of employment costs. This, will help young people take that crucial first step into sustained employment, supporting the government’s long-term ambition for an 80% employment rate.

The Jobs Guarantee will also provide wraparound support to further develop the required skills and experience needed for the move into sustained employment.

Appropriate safeguards will be built into the scheme to ensure that opportunities are high quality, fair and deliver the intended outcomes for young people.

The Jobs Guarantee will reach around 55,000 young people over the next three years.

Prevention: We are also making it easier to identify young people who need support, by investing in better data sharing for those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), further education attendance monitoring, and new risk of NEET data tools giving local areas more accurate insights to target support where it's needed most. We are also investing in work experience opportunities for young people at particular risk of becoming NEET, focused on pupils in state-funded Alternative Provision settings, (education provided outside mainstream or special schools for children who cannot attend a regular school, often due to exclusion, health needs, or other circumstances). This builds on measures announced in the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper earlier this autumn.

Growth and Skills Levy A £725 million package of reforms includes a change to fully fund SME apprenticeships for eligible people aged under 25. We will make available £140 million to pilot new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities. These are important steps in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people.

In Slough specifically, we already have innovative programmes for young people:

The Football Association Programme, funded by the FA, is a 12 week course to promote different roles within football;

Engage Lime is a project delivered in association with London School of Economics focusing on skills; and

Start-Up UK will encourage young people to think about starting their own businesses.

The Office for National Statistics publishes figures each month on the number of long-term unemployed people and what proportion of people who are unemployed are long-term unemployed in tab 9 of table A01 - A01: Summary of labour market statistics - Office for National Statistics

My Department has engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Fund through a structured co-design process, including eligibility requirements. We are considering feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in January 2026.

As at end of October 2025, there were 61,000 outstanding mandatory reconsiderations (MR) for Universal Credit (UC).

Notes:

1. Each UC claim can have more than one reconsideration registered against it. The above includes all MRs.
2. The data supplied is based on bespoke analysis of departmental datasets, and has not been certified as National Statistics or Official Statistics.

The Department regularly publishes the number of people on Universal Credit by age and claim duration on Stat-Xplore. The provisional statistics for the number of people aged 18 to 21 who have been claiming UC for up to 18 months and for 18 months or more in October 2025 is shown in table 1.

Table 1: Number of People aged 18 to 21 on Universal Credit for up to 18 months and for 18 months or more, October 2025

Source: DWP Universal Credit Full Service (UCFS) Extract

Notes:

1. Cells in this table have had statistical disclosure control applied to avoid the release of confidential data. Due to adjustments totals may not be the sum of the individual cells.
2. Figures are a count of the number of people on Universal Credit on the second Thursday of each month, by age on that date, and are provisional.
3. The duration of an individual's current claim is calculated using the difference between the date the claimant signed their claimant commitment and the count date, and for this table is given in the following bands: Up to 18 months (0 to 547 days) and 18 months and above (548 days or more).
4. Users are advised that these statistics have ongoing work to improve the data quality and so are subject to revision.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments are not medical assessments and do not require health professionals (HPs) to diagnose conditions or recommend treatment. Instead, they are functional assessments designed to evaluate how an individual’s health condition (such as sickle cell disease) or impairment(s) affects their ability to carry out daily living activities. HPs conducting assessments are trained specialists in disability analysis, focusing on understanding the functional impact of a claimant’s condition rather than its clinical diagnosis.

All HPs conducting these assessments receive comprehensive training on assessing the effects of both physical and mental health conditions. HPs have access to a broad suite of Core Training and Guidance Materials. These include Condition Insight Reports and Continuing Professional Development documents, which provide detailed, quality-assured information on many of the symptoms commonly associated with sickle cell disease.

Polygamous households are not recognised in Universal Credit. In claims where the claimant identifies as polygamous, the first spousal couple (the two partners who have been married longest) in the relationship could form a claim as a couple. However, all extant members of the relationship living in the household would need to make separate claims.

Benefits such as Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and Housing Benefit do recognise a small number of polygamous marriages which took place in a jurisdiction where polygamy is permitted. This number is very small and declining. Since the Immigration Act 1988, it has not been possible for people polygamously married overseas to bring second wives to the UK through the spouse visa route.

As such, statistics are not held regarding numbers of claimants presenting as part of a polygamous household and would be disproportionate in cost to produce.

The Motability Scheme is a lifeline for many disabled people and families, supporting their independence by enabling them to lease a car, wheelchair accessible vehicle, scooter or powered wheelchair in exchange for an eligible disability benefit allowance.

The government announced a package of reforms to the Motability Scheme at Autumn Budget 2025, which will ensure the scheme delivers value for money for the taxpayer, while continuing to support disabled people.

An Equality Impact Assessment was undertaken and published by HMT as part of the Autumn Budget and can be found here: Motability Scheme: reforming tax reliefs - GOV.UK

The Department will be introducing new earned income disregards for Housing Benefit claimants in Supported Housing and Temporary Accommodation from Autumn 2026. This will help smooth the transition between the two benefit systems and remove the financial cliff edge for individuals in supported housing and temporary accommodation.

We continue to keep the Funeral Expenses Payment scheme under review to ensure it remains effective and sustainable within current budgetary constraints.

Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is available to children under the age of 16 who, due to a disability or health condition, have mobility issues and/or have care needs which are substantially in excess of a child the same age without the disability or health condition.

Entitlement to DLA depends on the extent to which a child needs help with personal care, needs supervision or has difficulties with walking. It is the effects of the condition and the needs arising from those effects that are important, rather than the child’s particular diagnosis.

The Department’s internal performance metric is to aim to provide a response to MP and Customer enquiries or complaints within 15 working days or to advise them when to expect a response, if the matter is complex and will take longer. To embed quality and consistency into our handling of complaints and enquiries, DWP implemented a Complaints Quality Standards Framework in 2022, which is supported by internal quality assurance measures, and aligned to the Cross Government Complaints Standards.

The Department publishes annual accounts for the client funds relating to the statutory child maintenance schemes. The latest accounts for financial year ending 2025 provide relevant figures in Table 1: Analysis of unpaid maintenance by year they originate.

The Department for Work and Pensions recognises the importance of the effective and timely handling of written parliamentary questions (PQs).

Data on response times to PQs is published following the end of every session by the House of Commons Procedure Committee as part of their continued monitoring and reporting of departmental PQ performance.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 October 2025 to Question UIN 80759.

The number of Access to Work applications increased from approximately 5,340 in April 2021 to 42,403 in June 2024.

We are committed to reducing waiting times for new applications and have increased the number of staff processing Access to Work claims. Applications from customers who are about to start a job or who are renewing are prioritised.

In March 2025, the Department published the Pathways to Work Green Paper, launching a consultation on the future of Access to Work and how the scheme can better support disabled people in employment. We are reviewing all aspects of Access to Work as we develop plans for reform following the conclusion of the consultation.

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.

The aim of shared care arrangements is to make an allowance for direct costs incurred by ‘non-resident parents’ when children are staying with them for part of the time. For shared care to be considered in child maintenance calculations, the paying parent must have the child or children stay overnight at the same address as them.

This requirement is set out in Regulation 46 of the Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012, which provides that:

• A night counts where the non-resident parent has care of the qualifying child overnight and the child stays at the same address as that parent.
• The non-resident parent is regarded as having care when they are looking after the child.
• If, on a particular night, the child is a boarder at a boarding school or an in-patient in hospital, the person who would normally have care of the child for that night is treated as having care.

If a parent feels that a decision taken by the Child Maintenance Service is incorrect, they can ask it to look at the decision again. This is known as a mandatory reconsideration. This can include the CMS looking at variation decisions and decisions to refuse a variation. If a parent still feels that the decision taken is incorrect after they receive a mandatory reconsideration notice, they will be able to appeal to an independent tribunal.

DWP is fully committed to the Armed Forces Covenant and CMS engages regularly with defence stakeholders to make sure its policies, caseworker training, and communications reflect Service specific constraints.

This information is not held centrally.