Asked by: Lorraine Beavers (Labour - Blackpool North and Fleetwood)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many outstanding Access to Work scheme payments there were in (a) February 2026, (b) October 2025 and (c) April 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Access to Work (AtW) operates as a reimbursement grant, which means that the service or support must be provided before any payment can be made. Once AtW support has been approved, the customer can then submit their claim for payment. Customers have up to nine months to submit claims for their approved costs. As a result, on any individual day, there will always be claims awaiting review and payment. On average, we are currently processing and clearing claims within 13 days. We have plans in place to reduce this to 10 days.
As of the 1st of February 2026, there were 16,389 payment claims being processed.
As of the 1st of October 2025, there were 9,103 payment claims being processed.
As of the 1st of April 2025, there were 28,499 payment claims being processed.
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics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.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2025 to Question 63906, what recent estimate he has made of the waiting times for Access to Work Applications.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have interpreted this question as referring to the average processing time from the date an application is submitted to the date a decision is made. The current average processing time for access to work is 100.5 days from April 2025 to January 2026.
We are committed to reducing processing times. We also prioritise applications from customers who are due to start work within the next four weeks, as well as renewals for existing grants, to minimise disruption to employment.
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 the programme 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.
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2025 to Question 91715, how many claimants were awarded a payment under the Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme in each financial year since 1993-94.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of pausing deductions being taken from Carer's Allowance payments as a result of earnings-related overpayments while the Department reassesses those cases.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have been clear that the Sayce review into earnings related Carer’s Allowance overpayments was not a substitute for legal proceedings. The report’s findings do not prejudice business-as-usual activity by DWP. The department must balance fairness for unpaid carers and its duty to taxpayers.
The department’s guidance on averaging earnings, for those with fluctuating earnings, did not accurately reflect the legislation between 2015 and summer 2025. We are, in response, planning a reassessment exercise. Overpayment recovery work will continue during the reassessment exercise. Should reassessment lead to an amended decision in an individual case, we will adjust entitlement to Carer’s Allowance and take the appropriate action depending on the customer’s circumstances. We will set out more details about the reassessment exercise in the coming weeks.
For anyone who has had an overpayment, DWP’s Debt Management Service is available to discuss their repayment terms.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
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 the potential impact of changes to Income Tax liabilities on the amount of (a) Housing Benefit and (b) Council Tax Reduction received by pensioners who retired before April 2016.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The assessment of entitlement to Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax Support takes into account a person’s net income plus the value of any DWP benefits they receive.
Taxation is a matter for HMRC. It treats pension income, whether State or occupational, in the same way as other taxable income. However, the Chancellor has said that over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.
The government will set out more detail in due course.
No new guidance has been issued to local authorities on this matter.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether Income Tax liabilities arising from simple assessment are taken into account when calculating (a) Housing Benefit and (b) Council Tax Reduction entitlement for pensioners.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The assessment of entitlement to Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax Support takes into account a person’s net income plus the value of any DWP benefits they receive.
Taxation is a matter for HMRC. It treats pension income, whether State or occupational, in the same way as other taxable income. However, the Chancellor has said that over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.
The government will set out more detail in due course.
No new guidance has been issued to local authorities on this matter.
Asked by: Julian Lewis (Conservative - New Forest East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of proposed reforms to Work Capability Assessments on severely immunocompromised people who are recovering from (a) stem cell transplants, (b) CAR-T immunotherapy and (c) other long-term conditions resulting from treatments; and if he make an assessment of the adequacy of (a) statutory sick pay and (B) time taken to access other potential state benefits for those patients.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Pathways to Work Green Paper outlined our plan to end the link between capacity to work and additional financial support and the binary categorisation of claimants as “can or can’t work” by abolishing the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). Instead, any extra financial support for health conditions in Universal Credit (UC) will be assessed via a single assessment – the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment (in England and Wales) – and be based on the impact of disability on daily living, not on capacity to work.
Due to its link with the PIP assessment, WCA abolition will not take place until after the Timms Review into PIP has reported. We are currently considering how the future system will operate and will provide further information in due course.
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is designed to balance support for an individual when they are unable to work due to sickness or ill health, with the costs to employers of providing this support. The Government is strengthening SSP as part of our plan to Make Work Pay, ensuring the safety net of sick pay is available to those who need it most. We are doing this through the Employment Rights Act. From 6 April this year the changes we are making include:
As a result, up to 1.3 million low-paid employees will become eligible for SSP. The removal of the three-day waiting period will mean that all employees receive at least £60 extra at the start of their sickness absence. According to the Government’s impact assessment, these changes will also increase the total amount of sick pay paid to employees by approximately £420 million per year.
For PIP awards, we always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence, including that from the claimant. In most instances PIP awards can be backdated to the date of claim.
PIP waiting times have decreased since August 2021, with the latest statistics showing that the average end-to-end journey has reduced from 26 weeks in August 2021 to 16 weeks at the end of October 2025.
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 estimated waiting times his Department is communicating to applicants to the Access to Work Programme.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is currently advising applicants submitting a new Access to Work grant that the estimated waiting time for their application to be reviewed is up to 30 weeks.
Applications from individuals who have a job starting in the next four weeks, or who are renewing existing support, are prioritised.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure pensioners issued with simple assessment tax demands are advised to contact their local authority to reassess their entitlement to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The assessment of entitlement to Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax Support takes into account a person’s net income plus the value of any DWP benefits they receive.
Taxation is a matter for HMRC. It treats pension income, whether State or occupational, in the same way as other taxable income. However, the Chancellor has said that over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.
The government will set out more detail in due course.
No new guidance has been issued to local authorities on this matter.
Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
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 ensure that local authorities are aware of the interaction between new tax liabilities for pre-2016 pensioners and the calculation of means-tested benefits.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The assessment of entitlement to Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax Support takes into account a person’s net income plus the value of any DWP benefits they receive.
Taxation is a matter for HMRC. It treats pension income, whether State or occupational, in the same way as other taxable income. However, the Chancellor has said that over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.
The government will set out more detail in due course.
No new guidance has been issued to local authorities on this matter.