Baroness Stedman-Scott

The call for input, published under the previous Government, closed on 26 June. We are currently reviewing the responses and considering the next steps. We will share further details, including the number of valid responses, in due course.

Government departments and arm’s-length bodies are responsible for decisions about whether to buy services from third sector organisations to support equality, diversity and inclusion in their organisations. Currently no government department is a member of Stonewall.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to employer NICs. The TIIN sets out the impact of the policy on the exchequer, the economic impacts of the policy, and the impacts on individuals, businesses, and civil society organisations, as well as an overview of the equality impacts. A full Impact Assessment on NMW was published and received a Green ‘fit for purpose’ from the Regulatory Policy Committee on Tuesday 4 February 2025.

The Government will protect the smallest businesses by increasing the Employment Allowance to £10,500. This means that this year, 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all, more than half of employers see no change or gain overall from this package and employers will be able to employ up to four full-time workers on the National Living Wage and pay no employer NICs.

The Hospitality Sector Council and the Retail Sector Council continue to consider key issues and opportunities, including employment and how to encourage growth across both sectors.

The Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education consultation received over 143,000 responses. These are currently being analysed and the findings, including analytics about the respondents, will be published once my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has had an opportunity to look at them carefully, alongside discussing with stakeholders and considering the relevant evidence, including the Cass Review which has since been published, before setting out next steps.

The consultation did not ask respondents to disclose the organisation they represent, and responses from organisations were only categorised by type, such as school, local authority, union or charity so we are unable to provide a comprehensive list.

(1) 254,000 people aged 18 to 24 who started a Universal Credit claim in the 12 months to May-2026 and had no employment earnings recorded in the assessment period in which their claim began, were in the Intensive Work Search conditionality regime.

(2) 26,000 people aged 18 to 24 who started a Universal Credit claim in the 12 months to May-2026 and had no employment earnings recorded in the assessment period in which their claim began, had no work-related requirements.

Of those 254,000 in the Intensive Work Search conditionality regime, 25,000 had PAYE employment earnings recorded in each of at least six consecutive months during the

preceding 12 months.

Notes:

1. A starter to Universal Credit is defined as an individual who has completed the Universal Credit claim process and accepted their Claimant Commitment.
2. Those who have no work-related requirements are defined here as those not expected to work at present. Health or caring responsibility prevents claimant from working or preparing for work. Examples of people in this regime include those in full time education, over state pension age, have a child under 1 years old and those with no prospect to work.
3. Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000.

Of the 440,000 people aged 18 to 24 who started a Universal Credit claim in the 12 months to May 2026:

(1) 4,000 were found to have limited capability for work, and 20,000 were found to have limited capability for work and work-related activity within 3 months of the start of their claim.

(2) 5,000 were found to have limited capability for work, and 21,000 were found to have limited capability for work and work-related activity within 6 months of the start of their claim.

(3) 5,000 were found to have limited capability for work, and 22,000 were found to have limited capability for work and work-related activity within 12 months of the start of their claim.

Notes:

1. A starter to Universal Credit is defined as an individual who has completed the Universal Credit claim process and accepted their Claimant Commitment.
2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000.

Of the 440,000 people aged 18 to 24 who started a Universal Credit claim in the 12 months to May 2026:

(1) 202,000 had PAYE employment earnings recorded through HMRC's Real Time Information system in at least one month of the 12 months preceding the start of their claim.

(2) 154,000 had PAYE employment earnings recorded through HMRC's Real Time Information system in at least three months of the 12 months preceding the start of their claim.

(3) 57,000 had PAYE employment earnings recorded through HMRC's Real Time Information system in at least six months of the 12 months preceding the start of their claim. 42,000 had PAYE employment earnings recorded in each of at least six consecutive months during that period.

Notes:

1. A starter to Universal Credit is defined as an individual who has completed the Universal Credit claim process and accepted their Claimant Commitment.
2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000.

440,000 people aged 18 to 24 started a Universal Credit claim in the 12 months to May 2026. Of these:

(1) 112,000 had PAYE earnings recorded in the assessment period in which their claim began.

(2) 7,000 had self-employment earnings recorded in the assessment period in which their claim began.

Notes:

1. A starter to Universal Credit is defined as an individual who has completed the Universal Credit claim process and accepted their Claimant Commitment.
2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 1,000.

Safeguarding is of the utmost importance and is embedded throughout the day-to-day delivery of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). All CMS colleagues are required to complete mandatory domestic abuse training every two years. In the intervening year, colleagues complete a knowledge check, and refresher training is provided where needed. This ensures they maintain the right skills and knowledge when dealing with customers who have experienced domestic abuse. CMS has collaborated with specialist charities and stakeholder organisations to modernise its domestic abuse training so caseworkers can better recognise coercive and controlling behaviour and signpost parents appropriately. The Department continues to work with these stakeholders to review and enhance its guidance, training and signposting resources.

All CMS staff know to refer certain cases to the dedicated Specialist Caseworker team, which provides targeted support for customers experiencing the most challenging or complex domestic abuse situations.

Once the CMS has moved a customer’s case into the Specialist Caseworker team, all inbound calls from that customer will route directly to that team. If the automated call routing cannot identify the customer, their call will go to a different team, but all caseworkers are trained to identify this and will reroute the call to the Specialist Caseworker Team.

CMS has strengthened telephony quality assurance arrangements and provided targeted training for team leaders on service standards, coaching and feedback. These measures are designed to support consistent service delivery and help ensure customers requiring specialist support are identified and transferred appropriately.

Safeguarding is of the utmost importance and is embedded throughout the day-to-day delivery of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). All CMS colleagues are required to complete mandatory domestic abuse training every two years. In the intervening year, colleagues complete a knowledge check, and refresher training is provided where needed. This ensures they maintain the right skills and knowledge when dealing with customers who have experienced domestic abuse. CMS has collaborated with specialist charities and stakeholder organisations to modernise its domestic abuse training so caseworkers can better recognise coercive and controlling behaviour and signpost parents appropriately. The Department continues to work with these stakeholders to review and enhance its guidance, training and signposting resources.

All CMS staff know to refer certain cases to the dedicated Specialist Caseworker team, which provides targeted support for customers experiencing the most challenging or complex domestic abuse situations.

Once the CMS has moved a customer’s case into the Specialist Caseworker team, all inbound calls from that customer will route directly to that team. If the automated call routing cannot identify the customer, their call will go to a different team, but all caseworkers are trained to identify this and will reroute the call to the Specialist Caseworker Team.

CMS has strengthened telephony quality assurance arrangements and provided targeted training for team leaders on service standards, coaching and feedback. These measures are designed to support consistent service delivery and help ensure customers requiring specialist support are identified and transferred appropriately.

Safeguarding is of the utmost importance and is embedded throughout the day-to-day delivery of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). All CMS colleagues are required to complete mandatory domestic abuse training every two years. In the intervening year, colleagues complete a knowledge check, and refresher training is provided where needed. This ensures they maintain the right skills and knowledge when dealing with customers who have experienced domestic abuse. CMS has collaborated with specialist charities and stakeholder organisations to modernise its domestic abuse training so caseworkers can better recognise coercive and controlling behaviour and signpost parents appropriately. The Department continues to work with these stakeholders to review and enhance its guidance, training and signposting resources.

All CMS staff know to refer certain cases to the dedicated Specialist Caseworker team, which provides targeted support for customers experiencing the most challenging or complex domestic abuse situations.

Once the CMS has moved a customer’s case into the Specialist Caseworker team, all inbound calls from that customer will route directly to that team. If the automated call routing cannot identify the customer, their call will go to a different team, but all caseworkers are trained to identify this and will reroute the call to the Specialist Caseworker Team.

CMS has strengthened telephony quality assurance arrangements and provided targeted training for team leaders on service standards, coaching and feedback. These measures are designed to support consistent service delivery and help ensure customers requiring specialist support are identified and transferred appropriately.

Safeguarding is of the utmost importance and is embedded throughout the day-to-day delivery of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS). All CMS colleagues are required to complete mandatory domestic abuse training every two years. In the intervening year, colleagues complete a knowledge check, and refresher training is provided where needed. This ensures they maintain the right skills and knowledge when dealing with customers who have experienced domestic abuse. CMS has collaborated with specialist charities and stakeholder organisations to modernise its domestic abuse training so caseworkers can better recognise coercive and controlling behaviour and signpost parents appropriately. The Department continues to work with these stakeholders to review and enhance its guidance, training and signposting resources.

All CMS staff know to refer certain cases to the dedicated Specialist Caseworker team, which provides targeted support for customers experiencing the most challenging or complex domestic abuse situations.

Once the CMS has moved a customer’s case into the Specialist Caseworker team, all inbound calls from that customer will route directly to that team. If the automated call routing cannot identify the customer, their call will go to a different team, but all caseworkers are trained to identify this and will reroute the call to the Specialist Caseworker Team.

CMS has strengthened telephony quality assurance arrangements and provided targeted training for team leaders on service standards, coaching and feedback. These measures are designed to support consistent service delivery and help ensure customers requiring specialist support are identified and transferred appropriately.

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

Figures are routinely published of the number of non ‘Common Travel Area’ (CTA) nationals in the Universal Credit statistics available on GOV.UK.

From the most recently published Universal Credit statistics, there were 8.3 million people on Universal Credit in January 2026, and the percentage of those people by nationality group, compiled from Table 2 of the immigration and nationality data tables, is shown in the table below.

Table 1: Proportion of People on Universal Credit by Nationality group, Great Britain, January 2026

Source: DWP Universal Credit - Immigration Status and Nationality statistics

Notes:

1. The latest non-missing Nationality declared by the claimant, reported across all previous UC claims.
2. CTA – The Common Travel Area (CTA) is a special travel zone that allows for free movement between the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey).
3. “CTA – UK, Ireland, Right of Abode”: British nationals, Irish nationals, and people with right of abode in the UK do not need an immigration status to claim Universal Credit.
4. “EEA (Excluding Ireland)”: Those with nationalities from the 27 European Union (EU) member states, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
5. “Non-EEA”: A person who is not an EEA citizen and is not a British citizen.
6. “No nationality recorded on digital systems”: The individual has not provided their nationality during their claim.
7. If a claimant has dual nationality and one is CTA then they will be recorded as CTA - UK, Ireland, Right of Abode.
8. Right of Abode individuals include Commonwealth citizens.

This information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate costs.

As part of the Government’s investment of an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years in the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy, young people on Universal Credit are benefiting from enhanced support to help them get into employment, apprenticeships, work experience, Sector-based Work Academy Programme, learning or training from their first appointment in the Jobcentre.

Eligible young people can also benefit from the Jobs Guarantee, which will provide a guaranteed paid job offering regular hours of work of up to 25 hours per week for six months at the relevant National Minimum Wage. Participants will receive the same statutory employment rights and protections as other employees, alongside opportunities to develop skills and experience that support progression into sustained employment. The scheme aims to provide meaningful, secure and predictable employment opportunities for eligible young people who have experienced long-term unemployment. By offering a guaranteed paid job with regular hours, the scheme is designed to help the participants to develop the skills and experience they need to progress into sustained employment.

With over one million young people not in education, employment and training, this Government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. The Government is investing an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy.

This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn, including through expanded network of Youth Hubs, earlier intensive support in Jobs Centres through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, additional work experience and training opportunities, a £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant and £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment for employers, and a fully funded six month job for long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds.

We also recognise the crisis of participation that Alan Milburn has so clearly laid out in his interim report. We will use this interim report to continue to build our reforms and look forward to final recommendations in the Autumn.

The government recognises that temporary work can help young people, including those not in education, employment or training (NEET), to gain valuable experience and enter the labour market. Through the Youth Guarantee, the government is expanding access to work experience, training and employment support to help more young people move into work. For example, several Youth Guarantee Trailblazers are connecting young people who are NEET with work placement opportunities to help them gain the experience they need and develop the skills to get sustained employment.

The Employment Rights Act preserves flexibility for genuinely temporary work, including through limited-term contracts. The government is consulting employers, trade unions and wider civil society to ensure the right to guaranteed hours works for businesses and workers.

With over one million young people not in education, employment and training, this Government will not leave an entire generation of young people behind. The Government is investing an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy.

This investment will support almost one million young people and create up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn, including through expanded network of Youth Hubs, earlier intensive support in Jobs Centres through a new Youth Guarantee Gateway, additional work experience and training opportunities, a £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant and £2,000 apprenticeship hiring payment for employers, and a fully funded six month job for long-term unemployed 18–24-year-olds.

We also recognise the crisis of participation that Alan Milburn has so clearly laid out in his interim report. We will use this interim report to continue to build our reforms and look forward to final recommendations in the Autumn.

The government's Employment Rights Act 2025 is tackling one-sided flexibility partly through a right to guaranteed hours, where the number of hours offered reflects a qualifying worker’s working hours during a reference period.

The government has published a comprehensive assessment of the potential impacts of the zero hours contract measures in the Employment Rights Act 2025. This includes consideration of the potential impact of the right to guaranteed hours on employment for different types of roles or groups in the labour market.

The government is consulting on these measures, and will consider responses before finalising regulations and implementation.

The Department has recently completed a review of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) calculation. This was underpinned by a substantial programme of research the results of which have been published.

Following the review, the Government intends to reduce the income tolerance from 25 per cent to 15 per cent so that changes in income are reflected more quickly in maintenance calculations. The Government also intends to include unearned income within the standard calculation, helping to ensure liabilities more accurately reflect a parent's financial circumstances and that more money reaches children.

Secondary legislation is required before implementation, which is subject to parliamentary approval. Further details on legislation and implementation will be communicated in due course.

We remain committed to ensuring that the CMS provides an effective service for separated parents and their children and continue to keep the operation of the child maintenance system under review and will consider any future changes in the context of wider priorities for supporting children and families.