Written questions by Wrigley.

If she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of OBR forecasts on the percentage of GDP spent on social security benefits in the next four years.

The OBR forecast for welfare spending as a percentage of GDP is expected to be 10.8% in 2029-30 once Spring Statement 2025 policy measures have been factored in. This compares to 10.9% without the incorporation of policy measures. These figures exclude spending consequences for the Scottish Block Grant adjustment arising from Spring Statement 2025 policy measures. 2024/252025/262026/272027/282028/292029/30Spring 25 policy package (excluding impacts on Scottish Block Grant Adjustment)0.00.10.11.73.34.4 Welfare spending as a % of GDP (Excluding expenditure on Scottish Block Grant Adjustment)2024/252025/262026/272027/282028/292029/30Spending as a % of GDP (no measures)10.9%10.9%11.0%10.9%10.8%10.9%Spending as a % of GDP (with SS25 policy package)10.9%10.9%11.0%10.8%10.7%10.8%Difference0.0%0.0%0.0%-0.1%-0.1%-0.1%

What steps her Department is taking to increase the take up of means-tested benefits amongst households with children in poverty.

The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy, and we are exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty. Our focus is on bringing about an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, thereby reversing the trend that is seeing forecasts of child poverty continuing to increase. More details, including on the time horizon, will be set out in the strategy publication. We are supporting claimants to identify what support may be available including through providing extensive information on Universal Credit on Gov.uk. Additionally, we show potential customers external benefit calculators where they can identify what they are likely to be eligible for. We also work closely with Citizens Advice who provide Help to Claim support for claimants to make a claim to Universal Credit, including marketing and publicising Help to Claim support.

What steps she is taking to ensure that disabled people are adequacy supported through the benefits assessment process.

It is important that all claimants to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are able to access our services and that they do not face obstacles in applying and communicating with the Department and its providers. We have a variety of reasonable adjustments to make the claims process and communications easier for some of our most vulnerable customers. The process is kept under continual review to ensure it meets the needs of claimants and helps the Department provide an accurate assessment of an individual’s entitlement. Since PIP was created, the Department has introduced, for example, dial-in-for third parties, a digital PIP 2 questionnaire and evidence upload function, email as a reasonable adjustment and telephone and video assessments in addition to paper-based and face-to-face assessments. In the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working published on 18 March we outline plans to improve the experience for people who use the health and disability benefits system, including exploring ways to use evidence from eligibility for other services to reduce the need for some people with very severe conditions to undergo a full PIP functional assessment. Over the longer term, the Health Transformation Programme is modernising health and disability benefit services to improve the customer experience. The Programme will transform the entire PIP service, introducing an option to apply and track applications online.We are exploring a case management model - a personalised approach for customers from initial contact through to the end of the application, including signposting to other benefits and services. This approach will help the Programme to better understand our customers, tailor their service, and help to build customer confidence and trust that their case is being progressed appropriately.

Whether she plans to increase (a) Statutory Maternity Pay and (b) Maternity Allowance beyond the rate of inflation over the next four years.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is required by law to undertake an annual review of benefits and State Pensions, including Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance. She announced her decision from the latest review of benefits in a Written Ministerial Statement to Parliament on 30 October. From April 2025, the rate will increase by September 2024's CPI figure of 1.7%, from £184.03 to £187.18 per week.Government spends approximately £3 billion a year on parental payments. Any changes to the system would need to consider the needs of parents, the availability of resources and the impact on employers, and be made in consultation with businesses and stakeholders. Parental pay is only one element of the support available for parents. Depending on individual circumstances, additional financial support, for example, Universal Credit, Child Benefit and the Sure Start Maternity Grant (a lump sum payment of £500) may also be available.

If her Department will make an assessment of the potential impact of the change in the weekly rate of Statuary Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance from April 2025 on child poverty in Devon.

Maternity pay is primarily a health and safety provisions for pregnant working women. It is not, and has never been, intended to replace a woman's earnings completely, nor is it intended to help with the cost of having a baby. Rather it provides a measure of financial security to help pregnant working women take time off work in the later stages of their pregnancy and in the months following childbirth. Parental pay is only one element of the support available for parents. Depending on individual circumstances, additional financial support, for example, Universal Credit, Child Benefit and the Sure Start Maternity Grant (a lump sum payment of £500) may also be available. Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government, and the Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy which will deliver lasting change. The causes of child poverty are deep-rooted and complex, and the Taskforce is exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty. Statistics on child poverty are published annually in the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics publication, available here: Households below average income (HBAI) statistics - GOV.UK. The data is only available at regional level. Constituency level data is published in the Children in low income families: local area statistics publication, but due the methodological differences, these poverty statistics are not comparable to those from the HBAI publication and are only available on a before housing costs basis (BHC).

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of tightening the eligibility criteria for the Personal Independence Payment on the ability of disabled people to afford their costs.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is a contribution to the extra costs of being disabled. We have set out plans to introduce a new eligibility requirement in PIP so that people must score a minimum of four points in one daily living activity in PIP to be eligible for the daily living component. We are mindful of the impact of this change, as such, in the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working published on 18 March we are consulting on how best to support those who lose entitlement, including how to make sure health and eligible care needs are met. Information on the impacts of tightening the eligibility criteria will be published in due course. A further programme of analysis to support development of the measure will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

With reference to the Tribunals statistics quarterly; October to December 2024 report, published 13 March 2025, if he will make an assessment of trends in the number of PIP appeals overturned in favour of the claimant.

The PIP appeal overturn rate is 67%. It has remained stable around this rate since the second quarter of 2021/22. For initial decisions between October 2019 and September 2024 (the latest 5-year period), 3.3 million initial decisions following a PIP assessment have been made and, by December 2024, 4% have been cleared at tribunal hearing and 3% have been overturned at a tribunal hearing. It is our aim to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey. To support this, we have made improvements to our decision-making processes to help ensure people get the support they are entitled to without needing to appeal. This includes giving Decision Makers additional time to proactively contact customers if they think additional evidence may support the claim. We recognise that the overturn rate at appeal is high. This is why we are continuing to learn from appeal outcomes. We regularly gather feedback on appeals from Presenting Officers who attend tribunals.

Whether she plans to amend the eligibility criteria for the Personal Independence Payment for (a) carers and (b) children.

We have set out plans to introduce a new eligibility requirement in Personal Independence Payment (PIP) so that people must score a minimum of four points in one daily living activity in PIP to be eligible for the daily living component. PIP is open to new claims from the age of 16 and over. In the Green Paper Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working published on 18 March we consult on whether this age should be raised to 18 or higher. The changes do not therefore apply to children. The PIP eligibility criteria apply directly to people with long-term health conditions and disabilities.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of proposals to reform the Personal Independence Payment on (a) adults with (i) ADHD and (ii) autism and (b) other neurodivergent adults.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course. The Government is determined to improve the low current employment rate among neurodivergent adults. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Whether anyone in receipt of Limited Capability for Work and Work-related Activity benefits will receive reduced levels of payments following the reforms announced in her Oral Ministerial Statement on 18 March 2025.

To address the fundamental imbalance between the health top up and standard allowance of UC, we will legislate to take a decisive step to reset payment rates in UC over this Parliament, starting from April 2026. For people who already receive the UC health element the rate of the UC health element will be frozen until 2029/2030 but this group will receive an increased UC entitlement in cash terms as a result of the increased standard allowance. We will lower the rate of UC health for new claims from April 2026 – alongside increasing the standard allowance – to reduce the incentive to define yourself as unfit to work, while still providing a higher rate of benefit for disabled people and those with health conditions with extra costs. For those receiving the new reduced UC health element after April 2026, we are proposing that those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who have no prospect of improvement and will never be able to work, will see their incomes protected through an additional premium.

What assessment she has made of the role of the Personal Independence Payment in enabling work.

Personal Independence Payment is not means-tested, it is payable in addition to any other income received and is available to people whether they are in work or not. This Government wants to alleviate people’s worries around trying work. The Pathways to Work Green Paper published this week sets out our plan to remove barriers to trying work. We will legislate to give people the confidence to try work and ensure that working will not, in and of itself, trigger an award review in PIP, removing the perceived risk of trying work whilst on benefits. We are also consulting to understand what more can be done to ensure the benefit system supports people to try work without the worry that it may affect their benefit entitlement.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of proposals to reform the Personal Independence Payment on (a) disabled parents and (b) parents of disabled children.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course. Many parents of disabled children will welcome the proposed increase from 16 to 18 in the age of transition from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payment. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2025 to Question 34683 on Universal Credit: Childcare, if she will have discussions with claimants on the potential merits of establishing definitions for those terms.

The Government recognises that childcare needs vary from customer to customer and area to area, and we are committed to working with the Department for Education to increase availability so that we can support customers’ varied needs. At all times we want work coaches to ensure the requirements they impose on customers are reasonable given the customer’s capability and circumstance, and they do this through engaging with customers. There are times where the customer’s circumstances are such that both work search and work availability requirements must be switched off completely for a period of time, known as easements. This includes, for example, customers caring for a child in considerable distress. Work coaches can also use their discretion to switch off requirements when a customer’s child is ill in hospital or when they have other temporary childcare responsibilities.

Whether her Department has considered reviewing Universal Credit childcare rules to provide more support to home-educating families using registered educational settings.

No such assessment has been made. Childcare cost claims should be relevant to the hours a customer is undertaking paid work, but allowances are made for reasonable travelling time. For school-age children, eligible childcare costs should be outside of school hours.Childcare support in Universal Credit is paid in respect of payments to registered childcare providers. This generally means the childcare provider is registered with OFSTED (or the equivalent in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), a child-minder that is registered with a Child-Minding Agency (CMA) or by a domiciliary care provider registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Childcare provided under the direction of the proprietor of a school, on school premises, out of school hours are also eligible.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of universal credit childcare support rules on families (a) who home-educate and (b) whose children attend educational settings registered on the early years register.

No such assessment has been made. Childcare cost claims should be relevant to the hours a customer is undertaking paid work, but allowances are made for reasonable travelling time. For school-age children, eligible childcare costs should be outside of school hours.Childcare support in Universal Credit is paid in respect of payments to registered childcare providers. This generally means the childcare provider is registered with OFSTED (or the equivalent in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), a child-minder that is registered with a Child-Minding Agency (CMA) or by a domiciliary care provider registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Childcare provided under the direction of the proprietor of a school, on school premises, out of school hours are also eligible.

What the average length of time is for an appeal against a decision following an application for Universal Credit childcare support; and what steps her Department is taking to expedite cases in which the time taken to appeal those decisions is causing financial hardship for families.

DWP is not solely responsible for the wait time. Appeals are lodged by claimants with HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), which the claimant may take up to 13 months to do. DWP have 28 days to respond to the appeal when notified by HMCTS, after which, the time taken to list the appeal is dependent on HMCTS, who administer tribunal hearings.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of social supermarkets on (a) alleviating food poverty and (b) supporting community activities.

Social supermarkets are independent organisations and Department for Work and Pensions does not hold data on their operation. We are committed to tackling food poverty and ending mass dependence of emergency food parcels. To inform this work DWP officials have engaged with a range of organisations including social supermarkets to better understand the complex food poverty landscape. Voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations like social supermarkets play a unique role in driving community cohesion and giving voice to communities' agency and opportunity to serve. This is why this government has announced a new Civil Society Covenant, to reset the relationship with civil society and build a new partnership that can harness the sector's full potential to rebuild our country and deliver against the government’s 5 missions.

If he will make an assessment of his Department's adherence to Access to Work scheme guidelines, published in May 2024, when working with outside organisations providing one-to-one job coaches in Devon.

Access to Work adheres to the scheme guidelines when working with outside organisations providing one to one job coaches., A job coach is a person who gives specialised on-site support to someone disabled who has a job to start and will assist the employee to learn the job and keep the job. The scheme guidelines are applicable to all areas in England, Wales and Scotland.

With reference to her Department's guidance entitled, Universal Credit: further information for families, updated on 18 December 2024, how her Department defines the terms (a) available, (b) free, (c) appropriate and (d) affordable childcare.

There is no prescribed definition for the terms available, free, appropriate and affordable childcare. The work coach will work with the claimant to understand how childcare is preventing them from undertaking work related activities and make necessary adjustments.

Whether her Department is taking steps to support women impacted by changes to the State Pension age with top-up contributions.

The Government seeks to support people to help them to retain, return to or progress in work. That is why the Government is reforming employment support to ensure it supports people of all ages.For those people who are unable to work but who are not eligible for pensioner benefits because of their age, financial support is available through the welfare system.The new State Pension, introduced in 2016, addresses historically poorer outcomes for women. Since the introduction of the new State Pension, National Insurance Contributions and National Insurance Credits have equal value, providing access to the same level of entitlement for all. In addition, there is a comprehensive framework of National Insurance credits available when people are out of the workforce, maybe caring for children or elderly relatives.For people with gaps in their National Insurance record, they may want to consider voluntary contributions. Many can now use the Check your State Pension forecast service to buy voluntary National Insurance contributions online.