Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work of 17 November 2016, Official Report, columns 462 to 464, whether the hardship fund, flexible support fund and other third-party deals will compensate new claimants in full for the loss of the work-related activity group payments.

We remain committed to ensuring that people have the best support possible to move closer to the labour market and, when they are ready, into work. The change to the ESA work-related activity component will only apply to new claims. There will be no cash losers among those who are already in receipt of ESA and we aim to protect existing ESA claimants who temporarily leave the benefit to try out work and then return to ESA. We will bring forward draft regulations in due course setting out the detail.