Asked by: Paulette Hamilton (Labour - Birmingham Erdington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to introduce new (a) opportunities and (b) training for PIP claimants who will lose their entitlement to PIP due to the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill in addition to those announced in the (i) Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 18 March 2025 and (ii) White Paper entitled Get Britain Working, published on 26 November 2024.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government has listened and committed to making changes to the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill. We will take forward reforms to PIP in a different way through the Timms review, and only make changes to PIP eligibility, activities and descriptors once the review has completed. The aim of the review is to make sure it is fair and fit for the future in a changing world and helps support disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence.
As announced in the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’ statement on Welfare Reform on 30 June, we have increased the funding for employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions, investing an additional £300m over the next 3 years. This means our ‘Pathways to Work Guarantee’ is now an investment of £2.2 billion by 2030. This brings our total investment in employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions to £3.8 billion over this Parliament.
In addition to our Pathways to Work Guarantee announced in the Green Paper, our Access to Work Scheme provides practical support to help disabled people get into and stay in work.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Personal Independence Payment claimants are veterans with service-related health conditions in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department does not centrally hold data on Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants’ previous occupation, so we are not able to determine which claimants are veterans.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of graduate-level jobs currently available, and whether the increased use of artificial intelligence is affecting those employment opportunities.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data from the Department for Education (Graduate labour market statistics, Calendar year 2024 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK) shows that graduates aged 16-64 years old in 2024 in England continue to have high employment rates, which exceed the employment rates of non-graduates:
Graduates are also more likely than non-graduates to be in high-skilled work than non-graduates and the proportion of working-age graduates in high-skilled work has increased on the year:
This data also refers to people who are aged 16-64 years old in England in 2024. High-skilled employment is defined as being in Standard Occupational Classification 2020 major occupation groups 1-3.
The Office for National Statistics publish data on labour demand by occupation and how it is changing over time, which can be found here:
Textkernel new online job adverts - Office for National Statistics
No current assessment has been made on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on graduate job opportunities.
The Department for Education has published research on the potential impact of AI on different occupations:
GOV.UK Impact of AI on UK jobs and training
Asked by: Lord Agnew of Oulton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many times since 2020 the Pension Protection Fund has had to replace an external fund manager for reasons of performance, governance failure, or credit downgrade and what the financial and administrative cost of each replacement was to the Fund.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The day-to-day fund management of Pension Protection Fund (PPF) assets is performed both by the Chief Investment Officer (with authority to delegate to an in-house team of investment professionals) and by reputable external professional fund managers (each of which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority or a similar local regulatory authority as required).
At any point in time, PPF will have approximately 70-80 external fund managers working on its behalf, across 140 different strategies within 15 separate asset classes.
Since 2020, PPF has changed 10 external managers on performance grounds. PPF has not replaced any managers on grounds of governance failure or credit downgrade.
The administration cost of changing a manager varies between strategies. However, PPF works to a budget of approximately £30,000 per change of manager.
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, with reference to her letter on the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill, dated 26 June 2025, whether the exemption from reassessment for existing Personal Independence Payment claimants will apply to people whose claim is under review.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As I set out in the House of Commons on 1 July 2025, this Government has listened to the concerns raised by Members from across the House regarding the proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Clause 5 of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill would have amended the legal framework underpinning PIP assessments, specifically by changing the eligibility criteria through adjustments to the activities and descriptors used to determine entitlement.
In light of the concerns raised, I confirmed during the debate that we are going to remove clause 5 from the Bill in Committee.
(Hansard, 1 July, col 219)
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
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 ensure that armed forces veterans with service-related health conditions are appropriately identified for additional support under the proposed changes to the Universal Credit health element.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is carefully considering the implications for veterans and their families in the welfare Green Paper consultation, and is actively engaging with Armed Forces groups to ensure that veterans with service-related health conditions are appropriately identified and supported under the proposed changes to the Universal Credit (UC) health element.
As part of welfare reform, the DWP has committed to a dedicated consultation process with Armed Forces stakeholders. This includes direct meetings with service charities and veterans' organizations to assess the potential impact of the changes, particularly on Early Service Leavers and those medically discharged from service
Additionally, the DWP continues to support veterans through the Armed Forces Champions network within Jobcentre Plus. These champions are trained to understand the unique challenges faced by the Armed Forces community and help ensure that veterans receive tailored support, including assistance with benefit claims and employment services
The department also utilises service medical board evidence to streamline the assessment process for veterans applying for Universal Credit, reducing the need for face-to-face assessments where appropriate.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
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 the proposed restriction on the health element of universal credit to those aged 22 years and over on care leavers younger than 22.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the impact of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill on care leavers. However, we recognise the challenges care leavers may face in transitioning to independent living and navigating the welfare system, and we remain committed to supporting them, as with all vulnerable groups.
The Department’s care leaver offer includes access to the higher one-bedroom Local Housing Allowance rate up to the age of 25, and tailored support through Jobcentre Plus. This support is kept under regular review.
As part of the Pathways to Work Green Paper consultation, we invited views on proposals to raise the age at which individuals can access the Universal Credit health element to 22. The consultation closed last Monday.
We continue to engage with stakeholders and welcome views on how best to ensure care leavers are supported through future reforms to Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will clarify whether people in receipt of legacy benefits who are migrated to Universal Credit through the managed migration process will be treated as new claimants for the purposes of the health-related element changes proposed in the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department plans to complete migration of ESA claimants to UC by March 2026. As part of this ESA claimants will be migrated to the UC Health Element. To protect any claimants who have not migrated by April 2026 we intend to mirror as closely as possible the changes made in UC in the ESA rates. Changes to the “support component” and the two disability premia (severe and enhanced disability premium rates) will reflect changes to UC LCWRA rates for existing claimants. Including these commensurate measures aims to give fair treatment for all customers moving onto UC from income related ESA, regardless of their point of migration.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the potential impact of the Government’s proposed reforms to universal credit and personal independence payments on the number of care leavers in poverty.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The data are not available to make an assessment on this basis.
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, how many and what proportion of PIP claims were under review as of 27 June 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Please find the information requested in Table 1 below. We provide figures for 30th April 2025 in line with latest official published statistics Personal Independence Payment statistics to April 2025.
Table 1. Volume of cases and proportion of April 2025 caseload under review on 30th April 2025.
Type of review | Volume of cases under review on 30th April 2025 | Proportion of April 2025 caseload |
Award Review | 380,000 | 10% |
Change of Circumstances | 40,000 | 1% |
All Reviews | 420,000 | 11% |
Notes:
Whilst the regular review cycle of PIP claims means there will always be a substantial amount in progress at any given time, work is under way to reduce the level of work outstanding within the system. Operational capacity is managed to ensure an appropriate balance between the processing of New Claims to PIP, planned Award Reviews, and Unplanned (Change of Circumstance) Reviews.
Where this approach leads to delays in processing Planned Award Reviews, claims are extended where necessary to prevent expiry. Should customers circumstances change whilst awaiting a Planned Review, a Change of Circumstances Review can be requested and will be processed without delay.