Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of people who will pay income tax on the state pension from April 2026.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The headline rates of the basic and new State Pensions are currently below the level of the Income Tax Personal Allowance, so pensioners for whom that is their sole income pay no income tax.
It is pensioners with larger than average State Pension entitlements, because of, for example, entitlement to additional earnings-related State Pension, inherited awards or Protected Payments under the new State Pension who will be liable for income tax on their State Pension income.
Utilising DWP’s pensioner benefit forecasting model and the State Pension caseload forecast published at Spring Statement 2025 (Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2025 - GOV.UK), it is estimated that around 30% (approximately 4m) of State Pension recipients will be liable for tax on their State Pension award administered by DWP in 2026/27. This figure is a modelled estimate from DWP’s pensioner benefit forecasting model and therefore should not be treated as an official statistic.
This is consistent with current personal tax allowance policy and the OBR’s Spring Statement 2025 State Pension forecasts. Tax liabilities considered are from DWP administered State Pension awards only.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to make reasonable adjustments for people with complex learning difficulties to complete Universal Credit applications.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to ensuring that Universal Credit is accessible to all, including individuals with complex learning difficulties. We recognise that some claimants may require additional support to make and maintain their claim. A range of reasonable adjustments and tailored support is available, including:
These measures are part of our broader commitment to equality and inclusion, ensuring that no one is disadvantaged in accessing the support they are entitled to. Where individuals cannot manage their own affairs sufficiently, DWP allows an appointee to undertake actions on the claimant’s behalf.
A range of reasonable adjustments are embedded across the UC service, supported by recent enhancements to improve visibility, responsiveness, and operational delivery.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to make reasonable adjustments for people with dyslexia to complete Universal Credit applications.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to ensuring that Universal Credit is accessible to all claimants, including those with dyslexia.
We recognise that some individuals may require reasonable adjustments to complete their Universal Credit application. A range of support is available to help claimants with additional needs:
Third party Support: The claimant can give explicit consent for Universal Credit to speak with a third party to help with the management of a claim. The Department continues to review and improve the Universal Credit service to ensure it is inclusive and responsive to the needs of all users. We are committed to making reasonable adjustments where required, in line with our duties under the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to make reasonable adjustments for autistic people to complete Universal Credit applications.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to ensuring that the Universal Credit (UC) service is accessible to all, including autistic people and others with complex needs.
We recognise that some customers may require additional support to make and maintain a UC claim. A range of reasonable adjustments and tailored support is available, including:
The Department continues to work with stakeholders and user groups to improve accessibility and ensure that the UC service meets the needs of all claimants.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of data surveillance on recipients of Universal Credit.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made as the DWP does not currently or have any plans to use data surveillance to regulate, police or monitor the actions of individuals or groups in receipt of benefits.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential role of data surveillance in welfare policy.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made as the DWP does not currently or have any plans to use data surveillance to regulate, police or monitor the actions of individuals or groups in receipt of benefits.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of Personal Independence Payment claimants with a primary condition of arthritis.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There were 471,358 Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants with a primary medical condition of arthritis in April 2025. This information can be found on Stat Xplore in the ‘PIP Cases with Entitlement from 2019’ table. You can use the ‘Disability’ filter to select ‘osteoarthiritis’ and ‘inflammatory arthritis’ categories and the ‘Geography’ filter to select ‘DWP policy ownership’.
You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support her Department has provided to help people with arthritis to (a) remain in and (b) return to work.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Good work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Disabled people and people with health conditions, including arthritis, are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, 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. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual including through Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care.
Building on our WorkWell, Employment Advisers in Talking Therapies and Connect to Work programmes, we will ensure people with a health condition have access to the holistic support they need. In the Government’s Pathways to Work Green Paper, we further committed to developing a support guarantee, so that disabled people and those with a health condition get the work, health and skills support they need to access and thrive in employment.
And we are delivering the biggest investment in support for disabled people and people with health conditions in at least a generation. Our support guarantee announced as part of the Green Paper is backed up by £2.2bn over four years, including £200m in 2026/27 when our benefit changes begin to take effect and, as announced in the statement on Welfare Reform (30 June) by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, an additional £300m over the next 3 years. This brings our total investment in employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions to £3.8 billion over this Parliament.
We will further pilot the integration of employment advisers and work coaches into the neighbourhood health service, so that working age people with long term health conditions have an integrated public service offer. A patient’s employment goals will be part of care plans, to support more joined up service provision The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care have worked together on the 10 Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Health Plan will ensure a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. The Plan sets out the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of health and care needs, including for disabled people.
Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024, will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. In recognition of the key role employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent review, considering how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy workplaces, and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence. Sir Charlie will deliver his final report in the autumn. Employers are crucial in enhancing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to thrive in the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, a digital information service for employers and the Disability Confident scheme.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of uncoupling Carer’s Allowance and Blue Badges from PIP.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
It is a long-established principle that in order for an unpaid carer to receive Carer’s Allowance the person they are caring for should be receiving a “trigger” disability benefit. This link acts as a proxy for establishing that care needs exist. We have no plans to break this link. Support for unpaid carers is, of course, a devolved matter to the Scottish Parliament.
Access to Blue Badges is a matter for the Department for Transport and the Devolved Administrations.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to support autistic people into work.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We are committed to supporting neurodivergent people, including autistic people, get into and thrive in work. Our Jobcentres have a range of support available, including Disability Employment Advisors. On 6th March 2025 we announced that we will deploy 1000 work coaches to help people with health conditions and disabled people towards and into work. This will build and expand on existing measures like additional work coach support which delivers personalised support for some customers on the health journey.
In January this year we launched an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity. The panel will consider the reasons why neurodivergent people have poor experiences in the workplace, and a low overall employment rate, making their recommendations to government later this summer.
The Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade have asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent review. While not specific to neurodiversity, this review is considering how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more disabled people and people with health conditions, promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, and how to support more people to stay in or return to work. Sir Charlie Mayfield will deliver his final report in the autumn.
Our voluntary, locally led Supported Employment Programme, Connect to Work, is rolling out across England and Wales, as we agree local delivery plans with lead delivery authorities. The programme will provide specialist employment support to over 300,000 disabled people, people with health conditions and those with complex barriers to employment over the five-year duration of the programme. Connect to Work follows the Local Supported Employment programme, where £12.3 million has already been invested into 27 lead Local Authority areas to provide support to autistic, neurodivergent people and people with learning disabilities.
We are also supporting employers to be more inclusive in their workplace practices. Our support to employers includes a digital information service, called Support with Employee Health and Disability, which provides tailored guidance on supporting employees in common workplace scenarios involving health and disability, and the Disability Confident scheme, which as of May this year has 19,000 members employing approximately 12 million paid employees in total.