Written questions by Snowden.

Pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2025 to Question 59059 on Carer's Allowance, whether her Department has (a) conducted and (b) commissioned research into the potential impact of the level of Carer’s Allowance on carers’ (i) mental health, (ii) financial stability and (iii) ability to access respite.

DWP monitors the operation of Carer’s Allowance (CA) and keeps the benefit under continual review to see if it is meetings its objectives, which are to provide a measure of financial support and recognition for people who are not able to work full time because of their caring responsibilities. We will continue to spend record amounts on CA to provide unpaid carers with the help and support they need and deserve, with CA being uprated each year by the Consumer Price Index to help ensure it maintains its value. As set out in my answer to PQW/24-25/2025/54424, it is important to remember that unpaid carers can also receive means-tested benefits which contain additional amounts specifically to recognise the extra costs and responsibilities of being an unpaid carer. Making international comparisons of benefits and other support is far from straightforward. There are a range of support measures introduced by national governments where caring is taking place. Sometimes their primary objective is to provide financial support for the older or disabled person to help meet the additional costs of needing care and are typically accessed through an assessment of the amount of help required by the disabled or older person. They are also frequently paid to the person receiving care, on the assumption that they will then pass them on to a family caregiver of their choice, sometimes with no formal requirement of how it should be used.Many national schemes are funded through social health or protection insurance payments and the carer’s access to any support is often entirely dependent on the insurance entitlement of the individual or person receiving care. In other instances, ‘cash for care’ measures are aimed at offering consumer-style choice to older and disabled people. In such instances, benefitting carers, if at all, is a secondary aim. In both instances these measures differ widely in terms of target group, eligibility criteria, interactions with formal care service, payment levels and whether they are means-tested. Their impact on carers also varies, depending on local labour markets, the availability of formal long-term care services, and social attitudes towards the roles of families in caring for older and disabled people. Australia and Ireland have schemes which are most similar to the UK system in that they offer support directly to carers, but very importantly they are means tested, unlike CA. We have no current plans to commission specific research into the adequacy of CA or its detailed impacts.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2025 to Question 58330 on Poverty: Children, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the views of (a) families and (b) children from (i) rural and (ii) coastal areas are adequately represented in the development of the Child Poverty Strategy.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and the Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious child poverty strategy which we will publish in the Autumn. It is important we take the time to get it right to ensure we deliver fully funded measures which tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund, supported by £1bn a year including Barnett impact, investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2bn including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.Our commitments at SR 2025 come on top of the existing action we have taken, including expanding free breakfast clubs, capping the number of branded school uniform items children are expected to wear, increasing the national minimum wage for those on the lowest incomes and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.The UK Government is committed to tackling child poverty across the UK where progress is contingent on reserved, devolved, and local levers. The Child Poverty Taskforce is working with the Devolved Governments alongside strategic, combined and local authorities to develop a comprehensive Child Poverty Strategy. Local authorities have also been a key part of our approach to learning directly about the experience of poverty in different communities and solutions already underway.The Taskforce recognises the distinct challenges of poverty faced by children living in rural and coastal areas, and we are considering all children across the UK in the development of the strategy. To shape and inform these plans, the Taskforce is listening to experts and campaigners and engaging with families, charities, and leading organisations across the UK, including rural and coastal communities.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2025 to Question 58330 on Poverty: Children, what role local authorities will play in delivering the Child Poverty Strategy; and how she plans to ensure consistency in support across different regions.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and the Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious child poverty strategy which we will publish in the Autumn. It is important we take the time to get it right to ensure we deliver fully funded measures which tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund, supported by £1bn a year including Barnett impact, investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2bn including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.Our commitments at SR 2025 come on top of the existing action we have taken, including expanding free breakfast clubs, capping the number of branded school uniform items children are expected to wear, increasing the national minimum wage for those on the lowest incomes and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.The UK Government is committed to tackling child poverty across the UK where progress is contingent on reserved, devolved, and local levers. The Child Poverty Taskforce is working with the Devolved Governments alongside strategic, combined and local authorities to develop a comprehensive Child Poverty Strategy. Local authorities have also been a key part of our approach to learning directly about the experience of poverty in different communities and solutions already underway.The Taskforce recognises the distinct challenges of poverty faced by children living in rural and coastal areas, and we are considering all children across the UK in the development of the strategy. To shape and inform these plans, the Taskforce is listening to experts and campaigners and engaging with families, charities, and leading organisations across the UK, including rural and coastal communities.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2025 to Question 58330 on Poverty: Children, whether the Child Poverty Strategy will include targeted (a) funding and (b) initiatives for (i) rural and (ii) coastal constituencies.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and the Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious child poverty strategy which we will publish in the Autumn. It is important we take the time to get it right to ensure we deliver fully funded measures which tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund, supported by £1bn a year including Barnett impact, investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2bn including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.Our commitments at SR 2025 come on top of the existing action we have taken, including expanding free breakfast clubs, capping the number of branded school uniform items children are expected to wear, increasing the national minimum wage for those on the lowest incomes and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.The UK Government is committed to tackling child poverty across the UK where progress is contingent on reserved, devolved, and local levers. The Child Poverty Taskforce is working with the Devolved Governments alongside strategic, combined and local authorities to develop a comprehensive Child Poverty Strategy. Local authorities have also been a key part of our approach to learning directly about the experience of poverty in different communities and solutions already underway.The Taskforce recognises the distinct challenges of poverty faced by children living in rural and coastal areas, and we are considering all children across the UK in the development of the strategy. To shape and inform these plans, the Taskforce is listening to experts and campaigners and engaging with families, charities, and leading organisations across the UK, including rural and coastal communities.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2025 to Question 58330 on Poverty: Children, when the Child Poverty Strategy will be published; and when she plans to begin implementing that strategy.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and the Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious child poverty strategy which we will publish in the Autumn. It is important we take the time to get it right to ensure we deliver fully funded measures which tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.As a significant downpayment ahead of strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through the Spending Review 2025. This includes an expansion of Free School Meals that will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament, establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund, supported by £1bn a year including Barnett impact, investing in local family support services, and extending the £3 bus fare cap. We also announced the biggest boost to social and affordable housing investment in a generation and £13.2bn including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.Our commitments at SR 2025 come on top of the existing action we have taken, including expanding free breakfast clubs, capping the number of branded school uniform items children are expected to wear, increasing the national minimum wage for those on the lowest incomes and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.The UK Government is committed to tackling child poverty across the UK where progress is contingent on reserved, devolved, and local levers. The Child Poverty Taskforce is working with the Devolved Governments alongside strategic, combined and local authorities to develop a comprehensive Child Poverty Strategy. Local authorities have also been a key part of our approach to learning directly about the experience of poverty in different communities and solutions already underway.The Taskforce recognises the distinct challenges of poverty faced by children living in rural and coastal areas, and we are considering all children across the UK in the development of the strategy. To shape and inform these plans, the Taskforce is listening to experts and campaigners and engaging with families, charities, and leading organisations across the UK, including rural and coastal communities.

What estimate she has made of the potential impact of implementing the policies in the Green Paper entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working, published on 29 May 2025, on the number of additional people in employment in (a) Fylde and (b) Lancashire.

The Department does not produce forecasts at parliamentary constituency, county or local authority level. However, we have evidence that delivering better and more tailored employment support can get more people off welfare, and into work - alongside a higher expectation to engage with that support. Therefore, we are investing £1 billion a year by the end of the decade in new employment, health and skills support – one of the biggest packages of new employment support for sick and disabled people ever.

What estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) health-related and (b) disability benefits in (i) Fylde constituency and (ii) Lancashire from 2025-26 to 2029-30 inclusive.

The Department does not produce forecasts of benefit expenditure at parliamentary constituency, county, or local authority level. Forecasts for health-related and disability benefits, such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), and Universal Credit (UC) are produced at a national level and are published every Autumn and Spring in our Benefit Expenditure and Caseload Tables. These forecasts are based on national caseload trends, policy assumptions, and economic conditions. While constituency and county-level data is available for some benefits, it is not used to produce localised expenditure forecasts as numerous forecast assumptions would need to be made at these localised levels, requiring local intelligence and knowledge of local factors, vastly increasing the amount of resource needed to produce such forecasts.

What assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of Carer’s Allowance for unpaid carers.

Many people will care for friends or family members at some point in their life, and it is right that we recognise the vitally important role of carers. Carer’s Allowance (CA) provides a measure of financial support and recognition for unpaid carers who are unable to work full time due to their caring responsibilities. The DWP provides over £4 billion of financial support per year through CA to unpaid carers. Between 2025/26 and 2029/30 real terms expenditure on CA is forecast to rise by over 6% - around £285 million. By 2029/30, the Government is forecast to spend over £4.7 billion a year on CA. Further CA caseload and expenditure information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2025 In addition to CA, carers on low incomes can claim income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit. These benefits can be paid to carers at a higher rate than those without caring responsibilities through the carer element and the additional amount for carers respectively. Currently, the Universal Credit carer element is £201.68 per monthly assessment period. The additional amount for carers in Pension Credit is £46.40 a week. These are worth £2400 a year in additional benefit.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of making an additional payment to people who (a) will qualify for the Winter Fuel Payment in 2025 and (b) did not qualify for that payment in 2024.

From this winter, individuals with an income of £35,000 or below, will benefit from a Winter Fuel Payment. Winter Fuel Payments are £200 for a household with someone of State Pension age and £300 for a household with someone aged 80 or over. They will be paid automatically to anyone who has not opted out. Individuals with a taxable income above £35,000 a year will see any Winter Fuel Payment recouped via HMRC. This means that the majority of pensioners in England and Wales – around 9 million individuals – will now benefit from Winter Fuel Payments.

What steps her Department is taking to provide financial support to help reduce levels of child poverty in (a) (i) rural and (ii) coastal constituencies and (b) Fylde constituency.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy later this year. The Strategy will look at levers across four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across Government and work underway in Devolved Governments. The Taskforce recognises the distinct challenges of poverty faced by children living in rural and coastal areas, and we are considering all children across the UK in the development of the strategy. To shape and inform these plans, the Taskforce is listening to experts and campaigners and engaging with families, charities, and leading organisations across the UK, including rural and coastal communities. The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to roll out free breakfast clubs in all primary schools, extend Free School Meals to every pupil whose household is in receipt of Universal Credit, create 3,000 additional nurseries, and deliver our plan to make work pay and get Britain working. We have also introduced a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit and increased the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour to boost the pay of three million workers.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of using of AI to support its processes for means testing for the winter fuel payment.

The Government wants to ensure a wider range of pensioners in England and Wales receive Winter Fuel Payment in future, while recognising public finance constraints and the fact that making payments to the highest income pensioners is hard to justify. From winter 2025-26, the majority of pensioners in England and Wales – around 9 million individuals - will benefit from Winter Fuel Payments and so ensure it is better targeted than the previous near-universal payment. Winter Fuel Payments are £200 for a household with someone of State Pension age and £300 for a household with someone aged 80 or over. They will be paid automatically to anyone who has not opted out. Individuals with a taxable income above £35,000 a year will have any WFP recouped via HMRC. These changes save £450m a year up to 2030/31, compared to paying Winter Fuel Payments universally in England and Wales. The existing Digital Winter Fuel service utilises clear policy rules that are already automated within the service to determine eligibility. The Department considers where Artificial Intelligence would be of benefit for specific use cases and in this instance is not applicable.

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2025 to Question 51543 on Universal Credit: Fylde, how many Universal Credit claimants have been affected by the change in the Fair Repayment Rate implemented from 30 April 2025 in Fylde constituency.

This information is not currently available. The Fair Repayment Rate was implemented on the 30 April 2025 for Universal Credit claims with assessment periods starting on or after this date. However, the transition to the new policy will not be complete for all Universal Credit households until the end of June 2025. We estimate that once the transition to the Fair Repayment Rate is complete, it will benefit 1.2 million Universal Credit households by putting an average of £420 back into their pockets per year.The Department regularly publishes data on Universal Credit deductions. The release scheduled for November 2025 will present deductions data up to August 2025, this is the first release that will show the effects of the Fair Repayment Rate.The latest release of the deductions statistics can be found here:Universal Credit deductions statistics December 2023 to November 2024 - GOV.UK

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2025 to Question 51543 on Universal Credit: Fylde, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the impact of the new Fair Repayment Rate for Universal Credit debt deductions on households in Fylde constituency.

The Department collects detailed data on deductions from Universal Credit households and will be monitoring the effect of the Fair Repayment Rate over the coming months. We regularly publish official statistics on deductions at the parliamentary constituency level - including the number of Universal Credit households with deductions and average amount deducted. The release scheduled for November 2025 will present deductions data up to August 2025, this is the first release that will show the effects of the Fair Repayment Rate.The latest release of the deductions statistics can be found here:Universal Credit deductions statistics December 2023 to November 2024 - GOV.UK

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2025 to Question 51543 on Universal Credit: Fylde, what support measures there are for vulnerable Universal Credit claimants affected by the new repayment rates for overpayments in Fylde constituency.

DWP are committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and strive to set affordable, and sustainable repayment plans and encourage customers to make contact if they are unable to afford the proposed repayment rate.

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 June 2025 to Question 51543 on Universal Credit: Fylde, how many Universal Credit claimants in Fylde constituency have contacted her Department's debt management team to discuss the repayment rate for overpayments since 30 April 2025.

The department does not hold this aggregate data at constituency level. We strive to set affordable, and sustainable repayment plans and encourage customers to make contact if they are unable to afford the proposed repayment rate.

How many people with (a) less than two children and (b) more than two children receive both the (i) Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity payment and (i) Universal Credit in Fylde constituency.

Official statistics for the number of people on Universal Credit are published each month on Stat-Xplore, with breakdowns available by various geographies including Westminster Parliamentary Constituency. The latest statistics are available to March 2025. Official statistics for the number of households on Universal Credit are published every three months on Stat-Xplore, with breakdowns available by various geographies including Westminster Parliamentary Constituency. In addition breakdowns are available by the number of children and the different UC elements, including the Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity payment. The latest statistics are available to November 2024. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required. For guidance on the Universal Credit datasets on Stat-Xplore, see the Universal Credit Official Statistics Stat-Xplore User Guide.

Pursuant to the Answer of 12 May 2025 to Question 51543 on Cost of Living: Fylde, how the new Fair Repayment Rate for Universal Credit debt deductions is being implemented; and how this will ensure that people who are struggling with debt are adequately supported in Fylde constituency.

The Fair Repayment Rate was implemented from 30 April 2025. This measure reduced the overall deductions cap taken from the Universal Credit standard personal allowance from 25% to 15% enabling approximately 1.2 million UC households retain, on average, an additional £420 a year or £35 per month of their award. This change will be applied to assessment periods starting on or after the 30 April 2025. The Department encourages anyone unable to afford the proposed rate of repayment to contact Universal Credit or DWP Debt Management at the earliest opportunity. The Department will seek to do as much as they are permitted to do to support customers through the recovery of their overpayments.

Pursuant to the Answer of 12 May 2025 to Question 51543 on Cost of Living: Fylde, what steps she is taking through the Household Support Fund to support vulnerable households with (a) energy and (b) food costs in Fylde constituency; and what steps she plans to take to ensure the effective delivery of support to people.

We are providing £742 million to extend the Household Support Fund until 31 March 2026 in England. This enables Local Authorities to continue to provide vulnerable households with immediate crisis support towards the cost of essentials, such as energy, water and food, and to develop their schemes to help prevent poverty locally and build local resilience. Authorities have the discretion to design and deliver their own local schemes within the parameters of the guidance and grant determination that the Department for Work and Pensions have set out. This is because they have the experience and the relationships to determine how best to support those in their local areas. Authorities also have a wide range of data and sources of information at their disposal to identify and provide support to a broad cross section of vulnerable households. Authorities must make sure that this support is clearly advertised and is inclusive and accessible. The scheme guidance states that every Authority must operate part of their scheme on an application basis to allow the opportunity for individuals struggling with the cost of essentials to ask for further support.

With reference to the White Paper entitled Get Britain Working, published 26 November 2024, what metrics her Department is using to measure progress in increasing employment among (a) disabled people and (b) people with health conditions.

The Government has a clear ambition to raise the employment rate to 80% and has published a set of key indicators that it will monitor closely as it carries out this work. These will build on aims set out in the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change and the Get Britain Working White Paper and recognise that there are many components of a sustained improvement to the workforce. These indicators include the disability employment gap and the health-related economic inactivity rate. DWP will shortly be publishing an update on progress in delivering the reforms outlined in the Get Britain Working White Paper over the last six months. The disability employment gap is the difference between the employment rates of disabled and non-disabled people aged 18 to 66. Disability is measured using the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonised Standard definition which classes as disabled, anyone who reports a physical or mental health condition that has lasted, or is expected to last, 12 months that reduces their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. The health-related economic inactivity rate is the number of people aged 18 to 66 who are economically inactive and give long-term sickness as the main reason (most of which will also be classed as disabled) divided by the 18 to 66 population.

With reference to the White Paper entitled Get Britain Working, published on 26 November 2024, what discussions she has held with (a) disabled people, (b) advocacy groups and (c) healthcare professionals in the (i) design and (ii) rollout of measures set out in the paper.

This Government is committed to championing the rights of disabled people and the principles of working with them and disability organisations. This approach ensures we can design and deliver better support to help disabled people find and stay in work and capture the important insights from disability organisations and healthcare professionals.The primary focus of the Get Britain Working White Paper is to tackle economic inactivity and through the measures announced in the White Paper including economic inactivity trailblazers, local Get Britain Working plans in England, the Keep Britain Working Review and others, we aim to support more disabled people and people with health conditions to find and thrive in employment.Such ambitious plans require input and expertise from a wide range of stakeholders - from charities, community groups and employers through to devolved governments, local authorities, healthcare professionals and providers of employment support and careers advice.Ministers continue to speak with a wide range of disabled people and disabled people's organisations to get their views on policy design and delivery. Through Ministerial visits across the country, I regularly meet with disabled people and the organisations that support them. For example, I recently met with the Trade Union Congress Young Workers Committee, where discussions were held with representatives from the Disabled Workers Committee, and with Citizens Advice, who provide a range of advice and support for disabled people.The Minister for Social Security and Disability meets a range of forums quarterly including the Disabled People’s Organisation Forum of England made up of Deaf and Disabled people’s organisations including Disability Rights UK, Inclusion London and the Regional Stakeholder Network (RSN) made up of the chairs of 9 regional networks across England.The RSNs include disabled people, parents and carers of disabled people and disabled people’s representative organisations, such as the Disability Charities Consortium which includes Scope, Leonard Cheshire, National Autistic Society, Mind, Mencap, Sense, Royal National Society of Blind people (RNIB), Royal National Society for Deaf people (RNID) and the Business Disability Forum.The Minister Social Security and Disability also recently met a group of clinical stakeholders including the British Medical Association, the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Royal College of Occupational Therapists, Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Psychiatrists amongst others.We are also working to establish the Disability Advisory Panel, to connect the department to more voices and perspectives, and improve how we collaborate with disabled people. We are undertaking the due process required to ensure the Panel is set up in the most accessible and inclusive way, engaging with external and internal stakeholders to help guide the approach. We are working towards launching the Disability Advisory Panel in Summer 2025. We will continue to engage with disabled people, advocacy groups, and healthcare professionals as we implement our future reforms to ensure that even more disabled people have access to the best employment opportunities