Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to make work pay for young people in supported accommodation.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We acknowledge there is a challenge arising from the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit, particularly for working age customers living in supported and temporary accommodation. This issue is a complex one, and eradicating the financial cliff edge some individuals face as they incrementally increase their earnings could not be achieved by simply aligning the taper rates within the two benefits.
We are considering options to improve work incentives for residents of supported housing and temporary accommodation, while taking into account the views of stakeholders. As funding is required to allow a change, any future decisions will take account of the current fiscal context.
It remains the department’s priority to ensure that those who can work are supported to enter the labour market and to sustain employment.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many applications (a) by adults and (b) on behalf of children for Disability Living Allowance benefits are outstanding; and what is the average waiting time for these applications to be resolved.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
New claims for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) are only open to children under the age of 16. As of August 2025, there are 39,150 new claims for child DLA that are outstanding, with an average actual outstanding time of 33 days.
Points to note:
- Figures above capture the number of outstanding claims that have been registered onto our systems. We do not have figures on the number of outstanding claims that are waiting to be registered.
- Figure related to average actual outstanding time are median averages.
- Figures are for new child DLA claims under normal rules only.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 reduce the Child Disability Living Allowance claim time.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have seen unprecedented demand in new claims to the DLA Child service line. Additional resources have been deployed, and cases are cleared in date or to ensure fair customer service. As a result, we are seeing improvements in our processing times.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Pensions Regulator has issued guidance to trustees on the (a) financial and (b) reputational risks of holding equities in Hong Kong-listed companies named in overseas sanctions orders for human rights violations.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Pensions Regulator does not give investment advice, including on ethical grounds. It has not published specific guidance on these matters.
HMG offers Overseas Business Risk information for UK businesses on political, economic and security risks when trading overseas.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how her Department plans to monitor the effectiveness of the Crisis and Resilience Fund for reducing reliance on emergency food parcels.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The new Crisis and Resilience Fund will be introduced from 1 April 2026. This represents the first ever multi-year settlement for locally delivered crisis support. This longer-term funding approach enables local authorities to provide preventative support to communities, and to support our ambition to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.
We will be working closely with local authorities and external stakeholders on the detailed design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund, including on how we monitor effectiveness of the scheme. We will issue further information on our planned approach in due course.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Child Poverty Taskforce has had discussions with the Department for Education on family hubs.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce is co-chaired by the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Education. It has met nine times to discuss the critical issues that drive child poverty. One such meeting in January focused on the role of local services in reducing poverty, including family hubs.
The Taskforce will continue to explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term action across government to reduce child poverty, including family hubs.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of Universal Credit transitional protection rules on claimants migrating from legacy benefits.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such assessment has been made, however we publish Move to Universal statistics quarterly, which includes a breakdown of households paid Transitional Protection.. Stat-Xplore - Home -
All eligible customers who claim Universal Credit as part of managed migration will be considered for a Transitional Element, to ensure that they do not have a lower entitlement compared to their legacy benefits at the point they move to Universal Credit.
The Transitional Element is not intended to permanently replicate legacy benefit awards. Over time, it will be eroded by increases in other elements, except the childcare costs element and the housing element awarded to those previously living in specified or temporary accommodation, to gradually align the award with those of new customers who are in the same circumstances.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to make an assessment of the potential impact of Universal Credit transitional protection rules on claimants who were previously in receipt of the severe disability premium.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The purpose of the Transitional Severe Disability Premium Element (TSDPE) is to protect certain customers entitled to a severe disability premium who moved to Universal Credit from legacy benefits following a change in their circumstances.
The TSDPE is subject to erosion and termination, in line with managed migration rules. From the second assessment period onwards, the amount of the TSDPE will be reduced by the addition or increase of any Universal Credit element, other than the childcare costs element or the housing element awarded to those who have previously been entitled to Housing Benefit whilst living in specified or temporary accommodation.
Customers who are moved to Universal Credit by the Department for Work and Pensions will receive an amount of transitional protection if their circumstances remain the same and their Universal Credit entitlement is less than the amount they received on their legacy benefit.
The difference will be included as an award of transitional element as part of the overall Universal Credit award for the first assessment period. This transitional element will also be subject to erosion and termination as outlined above.
There are no current plans to evaluate the impact of Universal Credit transitional protection rules.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that the annual uprating of benefits does not result in a net loss of income for vulnerable claimants who are subject to transitional protection following migration to Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There has been no assessment on the rules relating to Universal Credit’s Transitional Protection.
Transitional Protection protects benefit entitlement levels at the point of moving to Universal Credit. It is a temporary measure to maintain benefit entitlement levels so that customers will have time to adjust to the new benefit system.
Transitional Protection is not intended to provide indefinite financial protection. The Transitional Element will erode with increases in other UC elements, except childcare costs, so to gradually align the customers UC award with those of new UC customers who were not managed migrated, in the same circumstances. This includes increases due to the annual uprating of benefits, and DWP is not seeking to change this or weaken this key principle of Transitional Protection.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 procuring used vehicles for the Motability Scheme.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Whilst the Department for Work and Pensions works closely with Motability, the Motability Scheme is overseen by Motability Foundation (the charity) and delivered by Motability Operations. Motability is independent of Government and is wholly responsible for the terms and administration of the Scheme.