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 help reduce poverty for people on the lowest incomes.

We are committed to tackling poverty and supporting people into good work will be the foundation of our approach. Our plan to Make Work Pay will tackle poor working conditions, poor job security and low pay.

To take crucial steps towards the creation of a genuine living wage that supports families the Government increased the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage rates on 1 April 2025, delivering a pay rise to over three million workers.

Our Get Britain Working White Paper, backed by £240 million investment, will target and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment and join up employment, health and skills support to meet the needs of local communities.

Alongside this, we are committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do, to make work pay and tackle poverty. We have begun this work with the announcement of the Fair Repayment Rate in April, giving 1.2 million of the poorest households an average of £420 per year. Furthermore, in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we announced that we will improve the adequacy of the standard allowance with the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced.

To further support struggling households, funding of £742 million has been provided to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 in England, plus additional funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion.