Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help support women affected by increases in State Pension age in South Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government believes the best way to support women who will be affected by the rise in State Pension Age is to help them to retrain, return to or progress in work.
DWP currently offers employment support for eligible women of all ages, through the network of Jobcentres across the UK, and through contracted employment programmes. A dedicated offer for older customers seeks to provide tailored support for those affected by low confidence, health and disability or caring pressures, and out of date skills or qualifications.
Through initiatives like Midlife MOT reviews, delivered in Jobcentres across the UK, and online, we support older women to assess their health, finances and skills to support effective later life planning. As part of the Plan to Make Work Pay, the Government is also committed to supporting women experiencing menopause to stay in work.
In South Shropshire, Employer and Partnership Teams in Jobcentres work with a range of employers and partners to enhance the skills and employment support available locally for customers including women.
The Government is reforming employment support to ensure it helps everyone who needs it, including women affected by the increase in State Pension age. By bringing together Jobcentre Plus with the National Careers Service in England, there is an opportunity to create a greater awareness and focus on skills and careers as well as better join-up between employability and careers provision.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help improve farm safety.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Honourable Member to the previous answer 68659
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to increase apprenticeship opportunities within her Department.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We remain committed to supporting the use of apprenticeships across all government departments to break down barriers to opportunity.
A new cross-Government Level 3 apprenticeship programme in Business Administration, the ‘Civil Service Career Launch Apprenticeship’ (CLA), will see new apprentices kickstart their careers, across various departments, starting from January 2026. The Department for Work and Pensions has been supporting Cabinet Office with the development of this new scheme, sharing learning from our own school leaver Social Mobility Apprenticeship pilot, which has run successfully for the last two years, with our first cohort of school leavers all securing permanent employment within the Department.
In addition, in the Department for Work and Pensions we are developing an internal apprenticeship strategy, which will utilise the flexibility provided by the new Growth and Skills Levy to develop skills and support the future needs of the Department. Expansion of opportunities to recruit new apprentices are being explored, including continued use of our Social Mobility Apprenticeship schemes and direct recruitment of apprentices into entry level roles. We have recently run two Civil Service Jobs campaigns for Level 3 apprentices in Counter Fraud and Compliance across eight locations, with our latest campaign currently at sift stage and our first learners now starting on programme. Internally, we have also recently launched new apprenticeship opportunities for existing staff, including the Level 3 Data Technician apprenticeship designed to build digital and data skills within our workforce.
We are committed to Getting Britain Working, driving growth through employment. Our plan includes a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education are working closely with the eight Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England who have commenced phased delivery of the Youth Guarantee Trailblazers announced in the Get Britain Working white paper from May 2025. The Department is committed to offering high quality apprenticeships for all and working with professions to identify opportunities to fulfil business needs.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to increase awareness of the availability of Pension Credit in rural areas.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government wants all pensioners to get the support to which they are rightly entitled. That is why we ran the biggest ever Pension Credit take-up campaign across the whole of Great Britain. This included adverts on television; radio (including Greatest Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire, Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire, Classic FM Midlands, Smooth Radio); social media; on YouTube; on advertising screens in Pharmacies, Post Offices and leisure centres. The campaign also featured on train advertising panels as well as in national and regional press (including the Shropshire Star).
As part of the campaign, the Department engaged with all councils in Great Britain, through the regular Local Authority Welfare Direct bulletins. Shropshire Council supported the Pension Credit campaign during our ‘Week of Action’ in September 2024, and on social media.
More recently, around 11 million pensioners will have received a leaflet promoting Pension Credit along with their State Pension uprating letter.
Further campaign and promotional activity is planned for this year.
The latest Pension Credit applications and awards statistics were published on 27 February and are available at: Pension Credit applications and awards: February 2025 - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab). The statistics show that the Department made almost 50,000 extra awards on the comparable period in 2023/24.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
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 restricting eligibility for Winter Fuel Payments on levels of pensioner poverty in rural areas.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The last Labour Government lifted over one million pensioners out of poverty, and this Government – despite having to make the tough decisions to deal with our dire inheritance remains absolutely committed to supporting pensioners and giving them the dignity and security they deserve in retirement.
Winter Fuel Payments will continue to be paid to pensioner households with someone receiving Pension Credit or other qualifying means-tested benefits or tax credits. They will continue to be worth £200 for eligible households, or £300 for eligible households with someone aged 80 or over.
The latest Pension Credit applications and awards statistics were published on 27 February and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/pension-credit-applications-and-awards-february-2025/pension-credit-applications-and-awards-february-2025
The statistics show that the Department received 235,000 Pension Credit applications in the 30 weeks since the Winter Fuel Payment announcement – an 81% increase on the comparable period in 2023/24 and made 117,800 new Pension Credit awards – a 64% increase or 45,800 extra awards on the comparable period in 2023/24.
We are honouring our commitment to the Triple Lock. In April, the basic and new State Pensions increased by 4.1% and some 12 million pensioners will see an increase of up to £470 over this financial year. Our commitment to the Triple Lock also means that spending on State Pensions is forecast to rise by around £31 billion over this Parliament.
And while the State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people, other help is also available for low-income pensioners. This includes Cold Weather Payments in England & Wales; help with energy bills via the Warm Home Discount scheme as well as the Household Support Fund in England which we extended for a further year with funding of £742 million, with corresponding funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she has taken to support women impacted by increases to the State Pension Age in South Shropshire.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government seeks to support people who can work, by helping them to retain, return to or progress in employment. That is why the Government is reforming employment support to ensure it helps everyone who needs it.
DWP currently offers employment support for eligible customers of all ages, through the network of Jobcentres across the UK, and through contracted employment programmes. A dedicated offer for older workers seeks to provide tailored support for those affected by low confidence, menopause, health and disability or caring pressures, and out of date skills or qualifications. Through Midlife reviews, delivered in Jobcentres across the UK, and online, we support older people to assess their health, finances and skills.
In South Shropshire, Employer and Partnership Teams in Jobcentres work with a range of employers and partners to enhance the skills and employment support available locally for customers.
We have also appointed a Menopause Employment Ambassador who will work closely with employers across the country to improve workplace support for women experiencing menopause and wider women’s health issues.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
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 expedite Pension Credit claims from South Shropshire constituency.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government put in place the biggest ever pension Credit take-up drive. To help ensure it has the capacity to assess all claims within reasonable timeframes, the Department deployed over 500 additional staff.
On 27 February 2025 we published Pension Credit Applications and Awards - February 2025 statistics up to 23 February 2025. This shows Pension Credit processing times have improved and outstanding volumes returned to normal levels, 33,700 in February 2025.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support older workers in rural settings.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is reforming jobcentres to better match people with the right jobs and provide employment, skills, and career-focused support to individuals, including those in rural and coastal areas.
A new national jobs and careers service will be introduced to help more people find work, as detailed in the Labour Market White Paper published on 26 November. The new service will cover Great Britain but will be flexible, operating differently in different areas to reflect local systems and needs – including rural areas and reflecting devolution settlements in Scotland and Wales.
DWP currently offers tailored employment support through Jobcentres including a review of health, finances and skills for eligible over 50s on Universal Credit, with an online offer available to all. Our 50plus Champions, provide support through Jobcentres, to drive localised activity. In rural communities this includes adapting delivery of tailored employment programs, and Midlife MOT sessions, to ensure attendees in rural communities, can access information on local employability training courses and job opportunities.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information her Department holds on the number of women impacted by changes to the State Pension Age in South Shropshire constituency; if she will take steps to establish a compensation scheme; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
All women born since 6 April 1950 have been affected by changes to State Pension age, through changes brought in by the Pensions Acts 1995, 2007, 2011 and 2014. As State Pension age is now the same for men and women, following equalisation, all men born since the 6 December 1953 have also been affected by changes to State Pension age, through the 2007, 2011 and 2014 Pensions Acts. The oldest of the women affected by changes to State Pension age would now be 74 years old, the oldest of the men affected by changes to State Pension age would now be 70 years old.
ONS population estimates suggest that in 2021 there were 41,095 females aged 74 or below currently resident in the South Shropshire constituency.
The Courts have considered the effect of the equalisation and increase of the State Pension age and found that there was no discrimination. Separately the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman investigated complaints into how the changes were communicated to 1950s born women. The Ombudsman published its final report: Women’s State Pension age: our findings on injustice and associated issues on 21 March this year, which we are now considering.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the (a) Chancellor of the Exchequer and (b) Minister for the Cabinet Office on establishing a compensation scheme for women affected by changes to the state pension age.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
In the course of conducting the business of her Department, the Secretary of State has many discussions with Cabinet colleagues.
As stated on 07 October (Women’s State Pension Age: Compensation - Hansard - UK Parliament), I am the first Minister in eight years to meet WASPI campaigners to hear their experiences directly.
The Ombudsman’s report took five years to complete and deserves serious consideration. This Government respects the work of the Ombudsman and we are currently working through all aspects of the Ombudsman’s final report along with the evidence provided during the investigation.