Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the York Cost of Living Summit, held on 31 October 2022, what recent steps her Department has taken to reduce levels of poverty in York in the context of the City of York Council estimating that up to 14,700 households in York could be experience poverty this year.

The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. We will spend over £242bn through the welfare system in 2022/23 including £108bn on people of working age and over £134 billion on pensioners. Of the total amount, around £64 billion will be spent on supporting disabled people and people with health conditions in Great Britain.

From 10 April 2023 we are uprating benefits for working age households and disabled people, as well as the basic and new State Pensions, all by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions the benefit cap will also be increased by 10.1%.

With over 1.22 million job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting people to move into, and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of poverty.  The government is increasing the National Living Wage by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour from April 2023, representing an increase of over £1,600 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National living wage, benefitting over 2 million low paid workers.

For those who require additional support the current Household Support Fund in England, running from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, is providing £421m of funding for those most in need. York City council has been allocated £1,037,906.47 for this period.