Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the estimated cost of (a) fraud and (b) error in Universal Credit claims was in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Estimates of the overpayment cost of fraud and error in the benefit system for the past five financial years can be found at: Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 ensure immigration status is recorded on digital systems when Universal Credit claims are processed.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Universal Credit records the immigration status of a claimant.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much their Department has spent on translating documents into languages other than (a) English and (b) other native UK languages in each year since 2023; and what these languages were.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Spend:
Year | Total |
2023 | £ 707,777.12 |
2024 | £ 882,118.00 |
2025 | £ 546,323.38 |
|
|
Languages:
Albanian | Hebrew | Croatian |
Amharic | Tamil | Somali |
Arabic | Urdu | Italian |
Bahasa Indonesia | Nepali | Catalan |
Bengali | Farsi (Persian) | Swedish |
BSL (British Sign Language) | Somali | Portuguese (Brazilian) |
Bulgarian | Romanian | Lithuanian |
Croatian | Japanese | Serbian |
Czech | Norwegian | Ukrainian |
Danish | Ukrainian | Norwegian |
Dari | Welsh | Estonian |
Dutch | Bulgarian | French |
Estonian | Traditional Chinese | Thai |
Farsi (Persian) | Bengali | Farsi (Persian) |
Finnish | Latvian (Lettish) | Hungarian |
French | French | Romanian |
German | German | German |
Greek | Swedish | Turkish |
Gujarati | Pashtu | Bahasa Indonesia |
Hebrew | Dari | Dari |
Hindi | Vietnamese | Vietnamese |
Hungarian | Hungarian | Russian |
Icelandic | Catalan | Hebrew |
Indian Punjabi | Icelandic | Gujarati |
Italian | Italian | Urdu |
Japanese | Estonian | Indian Punjabi |
Korean | Hindi | Welsh |
Kurdish / Kurdish Sorani | Sinhalese | Korean |
Kurdish Kurmanji | Slovenian | Georgian |
Latvian (Lettish) | Turkish | Danish |
Lithuanian | Portuguese | Portuguese |
Macedonian | Bosnian | Oromo ( Afan) |
Malay (Malaysian) | Kurdish / Kurdish Sorani | Albanian |
Maltese | Amharic | Kazakh |
Norwegian | Dutch | Czech |
Oromo ( Afan) | Bahasa Indonesia | Kinyarwanda |
Pakistani Punjabi | Indian Punjabi | Pakistani Punjabi |
Pashtu | Gujarati | Malay (Malaysian) |
Polish | Polish | Polish |
Portuguese | Lithuanian | Bulgarian |
Portuguese (Brazilian) | Braille (Unified English) | Macedonian |
Romanian | Danish | Greek |
Russian | Portuguese (Brazilian) | Traditional Chinese |
Serbian | Castilian | Nepali |
Simplified Chinese | Simplified Chinese | Bosnian |
Sinhalese | Croatian | Kurdish / Kurdish Sorani |
Slovak | Slovak | Slovak |
Somali | Pakistani Punjabi | Pashtu |
Spanish | Spanish | Spanish |
Swedish | Greek | Latvian (Lettish) |
Tamil | BSL (British Sign Language) | Simplified Chinese |
Thai | Russian | Japanese |
Tigrinya | English (Easy Read) | Slovenian |
Traditional Chinese | Thai | Bengali |
Turkish | Finnish | Finnish |
Ukrainian | Arabic | Arabic |
Urdu | Czech | Dutch |
Vietnamese | Serbian | Sinhalese |
Welsh | Albanian | BSL (British Sign Language) |
| Flemish | Tagalog (Filipino) |
| Galician | Tamil |
| Korean | Tanzanian Swahili |
| Macedonian | Uzbek |
| Malay (Malaysian) |
|
| Sindhi |
|
| Spanish (LatAm) |
|
| Tagalog (Filipino) |
|
| Tanzanian Swahili |
|
| Tigrinya |
|
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 proposed changes to (a) Universal Credit and (b) Personal Independence Payment on veterans.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made. Information on previous occupations is not systematically recorded on DWP IT systems and is not readily available for analysis.
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper has been published here: Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill publications - Parliamentary Bills - UK Parliament.
The number of people currently on PIP who did not score 4 points in one category in their last assessment should not be equated with the number who are likely to not to be awarded the daily living component of PIP in future. Our intention is that changes will start to come into effect from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval. After that date, people already in receipt of PIP will continue to be treated under the current rules, with only new claimants having the new criterion applied. As a result of behavioural responses to the change, we expect that a higher proportion of new claimants will score 4 points against at least one activity than happens currently.
We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including ensuring health and care needs are met. We have also announced a wider review of the PIP assessment to make it fair and fit for purpose, which I am leading. We are bringing together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this. We will provide further details as plans progress.
We will be making changes so no one currently on PIP will lose PIP as a result of the four-point change. The four point eligibility requirement will be implemented from November 2026 for new claims only, subject to Parliamentary approval.
We take our commitments under the Armed Forces Covenant very seriously. My department has taken steps to ensure that veterans with injuries or conditions arising from their service are appropriately supported when accessing statutory support, this includes the establishment of the Armed Forces Independence Payment and ensuring that those receiving War Disablement Pensions and guaranteed income payments made under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme do not have their Universal Credit (UC) reduced to take account of this income.
We have welcomed veterans and representative organisations to respond to our Green Paper consultation to share their views on how wounded, injured and sick veterans can best be supported. To promote further engagement, we recently held a specific consultation event for Armed Forces and veterans’ organisations on 25 June to hear their experiences and thoughts directly.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many veterans will be impacted by proposed changes to (a) Universal Credit and (b) Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such assessment has been made.
However, as we develop proposals further, we are carefully considering the potential impacts, including on veterans and their families, as part of our broader response to the Green Paper consultation. We would encourage organisations supporting and representing veterans, such as the Royal British Legion, the Soldiers', Sailors', and Airmen's Families Association (SSAFA), and many others, to contribute their views on how best to support wounded, injured, and sick veterans.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help support autistic people into the workplace.
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.
Connect to Work is our new, voluntary, locally led Supported Employment Programme that is helping disabled people, people with health conditions and those with complex barriers to employment, including learning disabled and autistic adults, to find sustained work. West London Alliance and East Sussex have now opened their local Connect to Work services, with roll out across England and Wales continuing throughout 2025.
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 people with health conditions and disabilities, 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.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 requiring Personal Independent Payment claimants to score four points in a single category on autistic people.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No assessment has been made.
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper has been published here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab).
Among those in receipt of Personal Independence Payment whose primary impairment is autism, 94% scored at least four points on one daily living activity at their most recent assessment. That suggests that only a very small proportion of autistic people will lose PIP as a result of the new eligibility threshold being introduced from November 2026.
Impacts of the proposed changes depend on many factors including how the mix of conditions among claimants evolves over time, and behavioural responses. These impacts are uncertain at an overall England and Wales level, and it would not be possible to make an informed assessment at such a granular level as individual primary medical conditions.
The number of people currently on PIP who did not score 4 points in one category in their last assessment should not be equated with the number who are likely to lose PIP in future. It’s important to make a clear distinction between the two, not least because we don’t want constituents to be unnecessarily fearful about their situation, when we understand many are already anxious. Someone who did not score 4 points in an activity in a previous assessment may well score 4 points in a future assessment as conditions change over time.
Changes to PIP eligibility aren’t coming into effect immediately. Our intention is these changes will start to come into effect from November 2026, subject to parliamentary approval. PIP changes will only apply at the next award review after November 2026. The average award review period is about three years.
We are consulting on how best to support those who are affected by the new eligibility changes, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. PIP is not based on condition diagnosis, but on functional disability as the result of one or more conditions and is awarded as a contribution to the additional costs which result.
We have also announced a wider review of the PIP assessment which I am leading, and we will bring together a range of experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience to consider how best to do this and to start the process as part of preparing for a review. We will provide further details as plans progress.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she plans to take to help support (a) seriously ill and (b) disabled people who may be affected by proposed changes to the Personal Independence Payment.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have committed to introduce a new requirement that claimants must score a minimum of four points in at least one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) to focus PIP on those with higher needs. We are mindful of the impact this change to PIP eligibility could have on people. That is why, in the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working (published on 18 March), we are consulting on how best to support those who lose entitlement due to the reforms, including ensuring health and care needs are met.
This Labour government will always protect the most vulnerable. Those with severe conditions will not be affected. There will be no change for a person claiming PIP under “Special Rules for End of Life” (SREL). They will not require a consultation and will automatically be awarded the enhanced rate of daily living as is the current process.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people began receiving Pension Credit after the announcement of changes to the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment in 2024.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 29 May 2025 we published Pension Credit applications and award statistics. This publication provides application volumes up to 25 May 2025. Pension Credit Statistics - May 2025
Comparing the period since the announcement on 29 July 2024 that Winter Fuel Payment (WFP) will be means tested (29 July 2024 to 25 May 2025) with the comparable period a year previous (31 July 2023 to 26 May 2024), DWP has:
Please note, the figures presented are from DWP’s Pension Credit system which has previously been collected for internal departmental operations use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics publication standards.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of changing the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Allowance to enable more people to claim it
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government wants to expand eligibility for Winter Fuel Payments, recognising the goals of supporting these pensioners, meeting need and of sustainable public finances. Any change will be announced to Parliament in the normal way.