Oral Answers to Questions

Josh Babarinde Excerpts

Monday 27th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

There should be no part of the United Kingdom in which we do not give young people the maximum opportunity. I had a good working relationship with the Northern Ireland Executive in my previous post, and I hope to have a good working relationship with them in this post, with the shared agenda of giving our young people the best possible chance in life.

[Josh Babarinde (Eastbourne) (LD)]

15. What steps his Department is taking to ensure that benefit sanctions are proportionate when considering neurodiverse claimants.

[The Minister for Social Security and Disability (Sir Stephen Timms)]

Work coaches are required to tailor work-related requirements to claimants’ capabilities and circumstances, and they can pause them if that is appropriate.

[Josh Babarinde]

My constituent Ross has neurodiversities and is in employment, working at a garden centre, but his income is supplemented by universal credit. After inadvertently missing a telephone appointment with a job coach, he was sanctioned, losing out on two months-worth of rent, and he risked being made homeless and losing his job if his parents had not been there to step in. Can the Minister assure folks such as Ross that they will be powered up by our benefits system, not punished when they make innocent mistakes?

[Sir Stephen Timms]

We certainly do want the system to support people such as Ross. If work-related requirements are missed, the reason for that should be asked for, with seven days allowed for an answer. There should also be a pre-referral check before a sanction referral takes place. If the hon. Gentleman would like to send me the details of what happened in that particular case, I will happily look into it.