Mel Stride

We’ve been clear that WCA isn’t working and needs to be reformed or replaced.

We are working to develop proposals for reform to the system of health and disability benefits and will set them out in a green paper in the spring.

As part of the Get Britain Working plan, we will support more disabled people and those with health conditions to enter and stay in work, by devolving more power to local areas so they can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer that suits the needs of the people they serve.

The figures requested can be found in the table below:

Note – This reform was planned and made by the previous Government, but the figures reflect the latest OBR forecasts and assumptions.

Number of claimants affected by Work Capability Assessment Reform, Great Britain

Source: Internal Work Capability Assessment Reform Policy Costing model

Notes to tables:

• LCWRA, LCW and IWS are three groups within Universal Credit with different levels of labour market conditionality
• LCWRA refers to the ‘limited capability for work and work-related activity’ group. LCW refers to the ‘limited capability for work’ group. IWS refers to the ‘intensive work search’ group
• the number of claimants is rounded to the nearest 1,000. Figures may not sum due to rounding

Since the beginning of this Parliament the Department for Work and Pensions has taken steps to improve operational guidance and process to ensure Access to Work grants are awarded consistently and as quickly as possible.

Since July 2024, twenty-three additional staff have been deployed to support Access to Work. Of these, twenty-two were new recruits and one was redeployed from the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) team.

The department holds information on individual pensioners who do claim Pension Credit broken down geographically by ward, Local Authority, region, country, and also Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies 2010 and 2024. The department does not hold information on individual pensioners who do not claim Pension Credit.

The department publishes data on households in receipt of Pension Credit on Stat Xplore. This is broken down geographically by ward, Local Authority, region, country, and also Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies 2010 and 2024.

The department also publishes data on individuals receiving State Pension on Stat Xplore. However, these statistics are currently suspended due to issues with internal processing of State Pension data.

The Department already shares extensive data with local authorities for a variety of purposes. Local authorities have access to DWP data about households in receipt of DWP benefits, including people over State Pension age which includes those receiving Pension Credit. Furthermore, as part of the Pension Credit claim process, if claimants state they want to claim Housing Benefit, DWP gathers the claim information required for this and passes it onto the relevant local authority to assess.

Local authorities are allowed to re-use DWP data under the terms of a data sharing Memorandum of Understanding, subject to them seeking their own legal advice, and subject to them notifying the Department of their intent. This process can be used to include re-using data originating from DWP to help identify people eligible for Pension Credit. Many local authorities already undertake their own initiatives to identify eligible households and promote take-up and over 160 local authorities have responded positively to our ‘call for action’ following the Secretary of State and the Deputy Prime Minister’s letter to all local authorities in August.

The Department will also be writing directly to 120,000 pensioner households in receipt of Housing Benefit who may also be eligible for, but not currently claiming, Pension Credit. We will be inviting these pensioners to claim Pension Credit by the 21 December, which is the latest date for making a successful backdated Pension Credit claim and still qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment.

In line with the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty, an equality analysis was produced as part of the ministerial decision-making process. The Department will continue to monitor and review the impact of the policy, using this to inform any future decisions.

We welcome the observations and recommendations in the letter from the chair of the Social Security Advisory Committee, and the decision not to take the Regulations on formal reference. The Secretary of State replied to the SSAC letter and recommendations which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-social-fund-winter-fuel-payments-regulations-2024/the-social-fund-winter-fuel-payments-regulations-2024-secretary-of-state-for-work-and-pensions-reply-to-ssac

The urgency procedure was invoked as a means of making the necessary Exchequer savings in the current financial year, as the Regulations needed to come into force on 16 September 2024 (in time for the qualifying week for Winter Fuel Payments this winter).

DWP officials met the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) in August to discuss the Regulations, and the Committee had the opportunity to raise matters of interest to them, prior to formal scrutiny. The regulations were formally considered by SSAC on 11 September.

We welcome the observations and recommendations in the letter from the SSAC chair, and the decision not to take the Regulations on formal reference. The Secretary of State replied to the SSAC letter and recommendations which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-social-fund-winter-fuel-payments-regulations-2024/the-social-fund-winter-fuel-payments-regulations-2024-secretary-of-state-for-work-and-pensions-reply-to-ssac

Universal Support money has been allocated to a new Supported Employment Programme. Figures from the most recent Business Case approved by HMT in October 2024 show a total spend of c.£1.4bn from 2023/24 to 29/30. However funding beyond the current spending review is not confirmed.

Annual breakdowns of spend will be determined by local delivery plans. This information is not available at this point in time while planning work continues with Local Authorities.

The WorkWell pilot areas began to go live from October 1^st. The majority of the 15 pilot areas are now taking referrals, with the remaining areas expected to begin over the coming weeks.

We launched a Call for Evidence to seek views on how the current fit note process works and the support required to facilitate meaningful work and health conversations to help people start, stay and succeed in work. It closed on the 8 July 2024. We received over 1,900 responses that are now being reviewed and will inform our approach moving forward.

As part of our Get Britain Working plan, more disabled people and those with health conditions will be supported to enter and stay in work, by devolving more power to local areas so they can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer that suits the needs of the people they serve.

My Department continues to work in collaboration with local areas to support their development and delivery of the new employment support programme, shaped around local services and priorities. The programme will primarily help economically inactive disabled people, people with long term conditions and people with additional barriers, to help them find and fulfil their potential to work.

We will shortly be launching the grant guidance for the programme, after which local authorities will work with DWP and local partners to design their local programmes. It is anticipated that some areas will begin delivery of the new programme from spring 2025 but this will be a phased roll out, led by local authorities.

The assessments undertaken by the Department and HM Treasury do not contradict each other. They are on a different basis. HM Treasury analysis is based on Census 2011 data and compares pensioners to the non-pensioner population. Whereas the Department’s analysis uses pensioner benefit administrative data to assess pensioners in receipt of Pension Credit at November 2023, compared to those who received a Winter Fuel Payment in 2022/23.

Where both documents consider the likelihood of receiving Pension Credit, both show that women are less likely to be impacted by changes to the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment, due to them being more likely to claim Pension Credit. The HM Treasury assessment states that “PC specifically is disproportionately claimed by older, single women.” Older, single women are, therefore, more likely to retain their eligibility for a Winter Fuel Payment and, as a result, are less likely to be affected by the policy. This chimes with the Department’s conclusion that “this policy will have the highest proportional impact on couples, and a marginally greater impact on men than women.”

As part of the Public Sector Equality Duty, the Department will continue to monitor and review the impact of the policy, using this to inform future decisions.

We are committed to delivering on our manifesto pledge to give disabled people the confidence to start working without the fear of an immediate benefit reassessment if it does not work out. We will set out plans for this in due course.

The Access to Work Scheme provides grant funding for disabled people, and those with a health condition, who are in or about to start work. The grant supports with workplace adjustments that go beyond what would normally be expected from an employer through their duty to provide reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010

The Department for Work and Pensions is committed to reducing waiting times for new applications for Access to Work, as well as renewals. We are considering the best way to deliver that for customers. We have increased the number of staff processing Access to Work claims and have prioritised applications from customers who are about to start a job, and renewals.

This government is committed to breaking down the barriers to opportunity for disabled people and people with health conditions, improving our employment and health support offer and tackling rising levels of economic inactivity. We will replace or reform the Work Capability Assessment alongside putting in place a proper plan to support disabled people into work, and continue to engage with stakeholders to keep the views of disabled people and people with health conditions at the heart of what we do. We will be considering our own approach to social security in due course.

Labour’s manifesto is clear that we intend to reform the Work Capability Assessment alongside a proper plan to support disabled people to work. We will say more about these plans in the months ahead, including genuine employment support for disabled people.

We will be considering our own response to social security in due course, informed by a range of evidence. This Government is committed to championing the rights of disabled people and to the principle of working with them, so that their views and voices will be at the heart of all that we do.

A full Impact Assessment has not been prepared for the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2024 because there is no significant new impact on business, charities or voluntary bodies beyond their existing obligations, because they are out of scope of the legislation.

The evidential basis was based on best assessment at the time that the change would impact individual households and have no significant impact on charities or voluntary bodies.

An equality analysis was produced as part of the Government’s decision-making process in line with the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duties.

A regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this legislation because the effect is on individuals and private households rather than businesses or voluntary sector organisations.

A Family Test assessment, an environmental principles assessment and an equality analysis were produced as part of the Governments decision-making process in line with the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duties.

For the latest year 2022/23, 1.9 million pensioners were in relative poverty after housing costs (AHC) in the UK. Of these, 300,000 pensioners were in receipt of Pension Credit, approximately 15%. A household is in relative poverty if its income is less than 60 per cent of the median household income in a given financial year. ​

For the latest year 2022/23, 1.4 million pensioners were in absolute poverty AHC in the UK. Of these, 200,000 pensioners were in receipt of Pension Credit, approximately 14%. A household is in absolute poverty if its income is less than 60% of median household income in 2010/11, uprated by inflation.​

‘Households Below Average Income’ provides estimates on the number of and percentage of people living in low-income households based on their household disposable income. As an income measure, it does not include other available resources that might impact on a household’s poverty levels such as savings.

These numbers have been rounded to the nearest 100,000 and percentages rounded to the nearest whole per cent.

This data is available on Stat-Xplore at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk in the ‘Households Below Average Income’ dataset.

More Information on the data included in the ‘Households Below Average Income’ dataset can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023/households-below-average-income-series-quality-and-methodology-information-report-fye-2023#income-definition.

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html.

An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.

Around an estimated 10 million people in Great Britain previously entitled to Winter Fuel Payment will not receive it due to the policy reform. These are based on the 22/23 Winter Fuel Payment statistics and Feb-24 Pension Credit statistics (sources shown below).

This estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of Pension Credit recipients for Great Britain from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients for Great Britain. This is essentially the number of Winter Fuel Payment claimants pre-policy change not claiming Pension Credit, as an estimate of those who will no longer receive Winter fuel payment.

Please note that the above figures do not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up we might see as a result of the Governments Pension Credit Awareness Campaign. We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies or local authorities.

Also, the published Pension Credit figures refer to households, so the number of individuals will be higher (i.e., taking account of households where it is a couple claiming Pension Credit).

Furthermore, Pension Credit claimants are the majority of those that will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments, not all. There are other pensioners who are eligible for Winter Fuel Payments (as they claim other means tested benefits) but they are not considered in these figures as it is not possible to do so.

Source:

The Winter Fuel Payments statistics are published here: Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Pension Credit data is published here: Pension Credit – Data from May 2018

Benefit combinations statistics are routinely published and made publicly available via DWP Stat-xplore. Due to the suspension of State Pension statistics, the latest available data covers the period up to May 2023. At May 2023, there were 1,228,563 people in receipt of the State Pension and Pension Credit in England and Wales and 127,219 people in receipt of the State Pension and Pension Credit in Scotland. This represents around 12% of all people in receipt of the State Pension in England and Wales at May 2023 and around 13% of all people in receipt of the State Pension in Scotland at May 2023.

Information relating to Pension Credit eligibility is only available via take-up statistics. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2021 to 2022 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates oftake-up: financial year ending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). It is estimated that up to 880,000 families who were entitled to receive Pension Credit did not claim the benefit. However, from this data, we are unable to estimate how many of those who are eligible for Pension Credit are also in receipt of the State Pension.

Benefit expenditure and caseload tables are published annually and are available at: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The table below shows the estimate of the Pension Credit caseload in Great Britain for the next five years. These estimates will include those who are in receipt of the State Pension, as well as those who are not.

We do not hold data about Pension Credit eligibility for the next five years.

The savings were estimated in Fixing the Foundations as Annually Managed Expenditure (AME) Winter Fuel Payments (WFP) savings of £1.4bn, for 2024/2025, for Great Britain. These included an assumption about increased take-up of Pension Credit which is in line with the highest levels it has achieved historically. WFPs are classified as AME. Estimated savings are sensitive to forecasted take up of Pension Credit. Final savings will be certified and published by the Office for Budget responsibility at the Autumn Budget on the 30^th October Budget, taking account of any behavioural response.

The Government estimates that linking entitlement to receipt of Pension Credit and other relevant DWP income-related benefits will reduce expenditure by around £1.4 billion in 2024/25 and £1.5 billion in 2025/26, based on the assumption of a 5% increase of Pension Credit take-up.

Winter Fuel Payments are classified as Annual Managed Expenditure (AME). The estimated savings are sensitive to forecasted take up of Pension Credit. The final savings will be certified and published by the Office for Budget responsibility at the Autumn Budget on the 30th October, taking account of any behavioural response.

With regards to the associated passported benefits in this financial year and each of the next four financial years, the DWP does not hold this information.

DWP provides Authorities with a variety of data to assist in the identification of vulnerable pensioner households, which they may use in their targeting of the Household Support Fund. This includes, but is not limited to:

• the National Insurance number, names, addresses and contact telephone numbers of those in receipt of the Guarantee Credit and/or Savings Credit element of Pension Credit and their appointees if appropriate, as well as for all claimants on ESA (IR)
• the National Insurance number, names, addresses and contact telephone numbers of customers who are in receipt of HB but not in receipt of a means tested benefit (for example: UC, Income based Jobseekers Allowance, ESA (IR), Income Support and Pension Credit) or Tax Credits

Authorities are also encouraged to use their own data, local knowledge and networks to identify and target households in need, including those with pensioners.

The Government has announced funding to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) for a further 6 months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025.

An additional £500 million will be provided to enable the extension of the HSF, including funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual.

As with previous HSF schemes, the Fund will be made available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to provide discretionary support to those most in need.

The HSF scheme guidance and individual Local Authority funding allocations for the forthcoming extension will be announced as soon as possible ahead of the scheme beginning on 1 October 2024.

Statistics showing how many households are in receipt of Pension credit in each Parliamentary constituency can be obtained from the published data on Stat Xplore here: Pension Credit – Data from May 2018. Please note that the published Pension Credit figures refer to households, so the number of individuals will be higher (i.e., taking account of households where it is a couple claiming Pension Credit).

In published DWP Pension Credit Take-up statistics, it is estimated that up to 880,000 households who were entitled to receive Pension Credit did not claim the benefit. However, these statistics are only available at Great Britain level and cannot be broken down to smaller geographical areas. The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics for Great Britain cover the financial year 2021 to 2022 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The published Pension Credit caseload for Great Britain, for financial year 2021/2022 shows that an estimated eligible 1,410,000 households received pension credit. This is obtained from the latest published Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 and is available at: Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The income threshold for eligibility for the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit is dependent on personal circumstances. Therefore it is not possible to produce a robust estimate of how many pensioners exceed this due to State Pension income.

Pension Credit recipients can be used as an indicator of those pensioners who will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments following the change to Winter Fuel Payment entitlement. Information on pensioners’ income bands based on whether they are in receipt of Pension Credit is available via published HBAI (Households below average income) statistics.

The statistics can be found using: Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) (File name: pensioners-hbai-detailed-breakdown-2022-23-tables, Table name: Table 6.2db (BHC): Quintile distribution of income for pensioners3 by various family and household characteristics, United Kingdom).

The value of savings by income band is not available.

There have been five separate iterations of the Household Support Fund (HSF). Since the first iteration was introduced, over £2.5 billion has been allocated to Local Authorities in England to support those most in need through the HSF (October 2021- September 2024).

The Government has announced funding to extend the HSF for a further 6 months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025.

DWP requires that Local Authorities provide Management Information (MI) returns to the Department, which demonstrate that they are delivering the scheme in accordance with the guidance and grant determination that the Department have set out for the scheme. This includes information on the type of household supported, category of spending, types of support and how support has been accessed.

MI has been published for the first three iterations of HSF following their completion. For HSF2 and HSF3, the information shows the proportion of each round spent on energy and water, essentials linked to energy and water and households with pensioners. This information is not available for HSF1. It is not possible to determine the proportion spent on energy support for households with pensioners or the total amount spent in any category for any round of the fund due to data limitations.

The information can be found at the following links:

For HSF1: Household Support Fund management information for 6 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

For HSF2: Household Support Fund 2 management information for 1 April to 30 September 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

For HSF3: Household Support Fund 3management information for 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023 - GOV.UK(www.gov.uk)

MI for HSF4 is due to be released later this year. MI for HSF5 and HSF6 will be published once the schemes conclude and subject to the usual quality assurance process.

The number of pensioners in receipt of state pension only is too small for robust analysis. Any pensioners in receipt of low amounts of State Pension would likely be eligible for other state support, subject to their individual financial and personal circumstances.

We know there are low-income pensioners who aren’t claiming Pension Credit, and we urge those people to apply.

In response to feedback from the Office for Budget Responsibility, the government made amendments to the policy parameters of the changes to the Universal Credit health element. The government is freezing the reduced Universal Credit health element level for new claimants, in line with our objectives to rebalance the system, rather than uprating it by Consumer Price Index inflation.

This update was made after the statement to the House delivered by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 18 March 2025, once the Office for Budget Responsibility had given its final assessment of the costing and behavioural assumptions associated with the measure. The adjustments were made to ensure we continue to strike the right balance between setting strong work incentives and fiscal sustainability.

In response to feedback from the Office for Budget Responsibility, the government made amendments to the policy parameters of the Universal Credit standard allowance change. The UC standard allowance will reach £106 per week in 2029-30, an increase above inflation.

This update was made after the statement delivered to the House by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 18 March 2025, once the Office for Budget Responsibility had given its final assessment of the costing and behavioural assumptions associated with the measure. The adjustments were made to ensure we continue to strike the right balance between setting strong work incentives and fiscal sustainability.

The last financial year for which the current budget was in surplus was 2018-19, when there was a surplus of £0.8 billion. This was the only surplus since 2001-02, when the current budget was in surplus by £6.9 billion.

The OBR has today forecast that the current budget will be in surplus by £6.0 billion in 2027-28, £7.1 billion in 2028-29, and £9.9 billion in 2029-30.

This information is available in the Public Sector Finances publication, published by the Office for National Statistics and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s March Economic and Fiscal Outlook published on 26 March.

£13.4bn represents the increase in total NATO qualifying defence spending from 2024-25 to 2027-28 based on OBR forecasts. As the Prime Minister has announced, defence spending will reach 2.5% GDP in 2027-28. Our GDP percentage spent on defence is the key metric used in reference to defence spending, in line with our NATO commitments.

On 25 February 2025 the Prime Minister announced that NATO qualifying defence spending will increase to 2.5% GDP by 2027-28, with Official Development Assistance reducing from 0.5% GNI to 0.3% GNI by the same time point, meaning the uplift is fully funded and that additional funding will be sourced by a reduction in ODA. The final budgets for departments will be announced when the Spending Review concludes on 11 June 2025

£13.4bn represents the forecast increase in total NATO qualifying defence spending between 2024-25 to 2027-28. This increase comprises the reallocated ODA funding, as well as forecast increases to existing NATO qualifying spend based on OBR forecasts, over that timeframe.