Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what checks does his Department carry out into the ongoing circumstances of those claiming Carer's Allowance.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
When an award of Carer’s Allowance is made, the customer is issued with a written notification letter advising of changes in circumstances they need to declare that may affect their entitlement. This is to ensure DWP holds the correct details for them. This letter also details how to contact Carer’s Allowance to declare any change, via contact number, postal address and GOV.UK details for the online service.
Annual benefit uprating letters advise the customer on the new rates of Carer’s Allowance due to be paid, any change to earnings limits, and remind the customer of the changes they need to notify to DWP, and how to do so. DWP has been working with partners such as Carer’s UK to support customers better in understanding fully their obligation to report changes in their circumstances, including employment.
DWP takes a range of action to ensure the veracity of benefit awards, including:
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 92 of the Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, how many (a) public engagements and (b) private meetings Ministers in their Department have undertaken related to the national conversation on defence and security.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has regular discussions with officials, external experts and ministerial colleagues on a range of issues, including national security, defence and resilience, and associated public communications.
As set out in the Strategic Defence Review, the national conversation will be a multi-year engagement designed to embed a whole-of-society approach, where Government, businesses, and the public all play a part in strengthening our resilience. This addresses the risks we face, including threats below and above the threshold of an armed attack.
The Department for Work and Pensions is actively supporting this work.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the longest time it has taken was for a case to be assigned a caseworker at the Independent Case Examiner in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The average time taken from complaint receipt to allocation to an investigator (based on cases in investigation on 31 January 2026) was 26.62 weeks. Despite increased demand levels, this is a significant improvement compared to January 2024, when the average wait time was 56.08 weeks.
Of those cases in investigation on 31 January 2026, the case which had waited the longest took 45.29 weeks to be allocated to an investigator from the date it was received at ICE.
The Independent Case Examiner’s office continually seeks to improve further.
Asked by: Will Forster (Liberal Democrat - Woking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average waiting time was for a case to be assigned a caseworker at the Independent Case Examiner in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The average time taken from complaint receipt to allocation to an investigator (based on cases in investigation on 31 January 2026) was 26.62 weeks. Despite increased demand levels, this is a significant improvement compared to January 2024, when the average wait time was 56.08 weeks.
Of those cases in investigation on 31 January 2026, the case which had waited the longest took 45.29 weeks to be allocated to an investigator from the date it was received at ICE.
The Independent Case Examiner’s office continually seeks to improve further.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he is taking steps to help decrease the amount of time to assess Mandatory Reconsiderations for Disability Living Allowance for children.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Disability Living Allowance
From April 2025 to January 2026, the average actual clearance time for Mandatory Reconsiderations (MRs) for Disability Living Allowance for children was 121.7 working days.
We have approved overtime and reallocated decision makers to clear our outstanding Disability Living Allowance Child MR cases more quickly. This will help us to reduce our clearance times.
Attendance Allowance
From April 2025 to January 2026, the average actual clearance time for Mandatory Reconsiderations (MRs) for Attendance Allowance was 29.4 working days.
Personal Independence Payment
PIP MR clearance times are published at Personal Independence Payment statistics - GOV.UK. They can be found by accessing the latest release and opening the excel tables. Tables 4A – 4Biii contain information on PIP MR median clearance times.
Employment and Support Allowance
ESA Work Capability Assessment MR clearance times are available on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/. They can be found by going through “ESA Work Capability Assessments”, “Mandatory Reconsideration – Clearances” “Table 4 – Median Clearance Times by Date of Decision”.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he is taking steps to engage disabled people in the process of the Timms Review of the Personal Independence Payment system.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Timms Review is being co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, and other experts.
I am chairing the Review alongside my fellow co-chairs Sharon Brennan and Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE. We have appointed a steering group of a dozen people, responsible for overseeing co-production of the Review.
To ensure lived experience is at the heart of its work, almost all of the steering group has lived experience of a disability or long-term health condition.
The group benefits from diverse perspectives from a range of backgrounds, but it is not intended to be representative of the UK’s disabled community—no single group could represent all perspectives or experiences of disability. Instead, the steering group will shape a programme of participation that brings together the full range of views and voices. The steering group are currently shaping the programme of participation as a priority, and we will provide an update on this soon.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the component costs are to facilitate a social security appeal hearing.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information is not centrally recorded and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Esther McVey (Conservative - Tatton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are claiming a UK State Pension whilst living abroad by the country they are living in.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
There were around 1.1 million recipients of the UK State Pension living overseas outside the United Kingdom as of the quarter ending August 2025. DWP Stat-Xplore. A full breakdown by country of residence is also available via Stat-Xplore.
These figures relate to State Pension cases paid outside the UK, administered by the Department for Work and Pensions and cover State Pensions accrued in Great Britain only. State Pension cases administered separately in Northern Ireland by the Department for Communities are not included.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will publish (a) the total amount owed to parents in child maintenance payment arrears and (b) how much this has increased by over the last 10 years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service (CMS)and the latest statistics are currently available to September 2025. Table 5 of the latest National tables shows the total amount of child maintenance that Paying Parents should have paid since the CMS began, and how much of that has not been paid at the end of every quarter, from March 2015 to September 2025.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his department has made on the implementation of the Child Support (Enforcement) Act 2023 in England and Wales.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Work is ongoing to implement Administrative Liability Orders (ALO).
While Child Maintenance is reserved, enforcement of CM arrears in Scotland requires using the Scottish judicial system, which is devolved.
We are working closely with HM Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Government to ensure enforcement action resulting from ALOs operates effectively across the UK, and plan to introduce regulations to Parliament to implement the measures across England, Scotland and Wales, as soon as possible.