Asked by: Stephen Gethins (Scottish National Party - Arbroath and Broughty Ferry)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department provides for young disabled people who are transitioning to adult benefits and Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP notifies young people who are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) 5 months before they reach age 16 to advise them they will need to apply for Personal Independence Payment after they reach their sixteenth birthday. This is to establish if they will require an appointee and to ensure that benefits continue to be paid into the right bank account. If necessary, DLA can continue to be paid until a decision on their PIP application is made.
Where applying for Universal Credit, which can usually only be accessed from the age of 18, disabled people can access tailored support, including the independent ‘Help to Claim’ service delivered by Citizens Advice, assisted digital support, and the option to claim by phone where needed. DWP also provides reasonable adjustments, alternative communication formats, home visits, and claimants can choose to use an appointee; ensuring disabled people can access Universal Credit safely and fairly. Universal Credit Work Coaches are trained to support disabled claimants and to tailor conditionality to reflect health conditions and individual capability.
Asked by: Alison Bennett (Liberal Democrat - Mid Sussex)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what detailed breakdown he has made of planned expenditure of allocated funding for the Carer's Allowance review of £20m in 2026-27, £35m in 2027-28 and £20m in 2028-29, including (a) reductions in overpayments made to carers, (b) staffing and administrative costs associated with the reassessment of overpayments and (c) IT and system changes following recommendations made by the Independent Review of Carer's Allowance overpayments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Available information is set out on page 19 of the Treasury Budget 2025 Policy Costings: Budget_2025-Policy_Costings.pdf.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many hardship payments were made to benefit claimants in the Great Yarmouth constituency in each of the last three years.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested information is not readily available and to provide it would be at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Bayo Alaba (Labour - Southend East and Rochford)
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 support young people into employment, education or training.
Answered by Pat McFadden - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Too many young people are not in employment, education or training, something we are addressing and which the previous Government did nothing about.
We are investing £2.5 billion into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy to support nearly one million 16–24-year-olds into work, education or training.
Over the next three years, this investment will unlock up to 300,000 opportunities for workplace experience and training, along with 200,000 jobs through the £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant, the £2,000 apprenticeship incentive, and guaranteeing jobs for long-term unemployed young people on Universal Credit.
Asked by: Sarah Edwards (Labour - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
What steps he is taking to support young people into employment, education or training.
Answered by Pat McFadden - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Too many young people are not in employment, education or training, something we are addressing and which the previous Government did nothing about.
We are investing £2.5 billion into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy to support nearly one million 16–24-year-olds into work, education or training.
Over the next three years, this investment will unlock up to 300,000 opportunities for workplace experience and training, along with 200,000 jobs through the £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant, the £2,000 apprenticeship incentive, and guaranteeing jobs for long-term unemployed young people on Universal Credit.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help tackle food poverty.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to improve his Department's response times to correspondence.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to Answer of 2 June 2025 on Question 56485 on the limited capability for work and work-related activity element of Universal Credit, what progress has been made in reviewing the Child Maintenance calculation.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
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.
Asked by: Jayne Kirkham (Labour (Co-op) - Truro and Falmouth)
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 allowing the Child Maintenance Service to issue a deduction from earnings order rather than a deduction of earnings request to HM Paymaster General when the paying parent is a member of the armed forces.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Deduction from Earnings Orders (DEO) are applied as a method of payment where the Child Maintenance Service deducts maintenance directly from the Paying Parent’s wages. The DEO is primarily used to enforce payments but can be set up voluntarily. Deduction from Earnings Requests are similar to a Deduction from Earnings Order but used for Paying Parents who are serving members of the Armed Forces. The Child Maintenance Service can only request a deduction to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and, unlike with civilian employers, they cannot order or enforce payments. MOD policy aims to comply with requests; however, if the Paying Parent is committed to operational duties MOD may suspend the collection of debt.
The Child Maintenance Service takes action to ensure the correct method of payment is applied by identifying whether a Paying Parent is in the Armed Forces through its use of Real Team Information (RTI) Data taken from HMRC. This provides up to date information about Pay As You Earn income as the information submitted by employers online is displayed in RTI immediately. To ensure that the correct method of payment is used for a Paying Parent who is serving in the Armed Forces, caseworkers are provided with step-by-step procedural instructions and training.
Asked by: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the Minister for Child Maintenance has declined requests to meet with STOPSuicides UK.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The minister regularly meets with key stakeholders and undertakes extensive engagement via correspondence with organisations who have an interest in the Child Maintenance Service, including with STOPSuicide UK and will continue to do so.