Every parliamentary written question tabled by Neil O'Brien this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 41–60 of 109 · Department for Work and Pensions
What funding has been allocated to programmes relating to the UKs relationship with Europe in the (a) 2026-7, (b) 2028-9 and (c) 2029-30 financial years.
The Department is currently undertaking its internal business planning process, through which it will set programme budgets ahead of the new financial year. Details on DWP budgets are to be published in the explanatory memo for the 2026/27 Main Estimate.
How many households have been assessed as qualifying for each exemption from the household benefit cap in each of the last 12 months.
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
How many households are exempt from the household benefit cap because they meet the earnings rule.
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
How many households received more than £1,835 per month in benefits in the last period for which data is available.
The Family Resources Survey (FRS) is an annual report that provides facts and figures about the incomes and living circumstances of households and families in the UK. The FRS uses a nationally representative sample of UK households and includes data on benefit receipt, at both individual and family levels. The latest FRS is available for 2023/24 and, in the ‘Income and state support data tables’, Table 2.14a shows the number of benefit units in the UK by the total amount of annual state support received for that financial year, plus the two preceding years. This data is also available in the ‘FRS Family 2’ table in the ‘Family (Benefit Unit) Dataset’ on Stat-Xplore. Please read the notes which accompany these tables. You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user and, if needed, you can access guidance on how to extract the information required. In addition there is also the FRS Stat-Xplore User Guide.
How many households received benefit payments above the level of the household benefit cap in each of the last 12 months.
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
How many households left the benefit cap by reason of being in receipt of an exempting benefit and where the exempting benefit was PIP during each of the following periods: the quarter to August 2025, the quarter to May 2025, the quarter to February 2025 and the quarter to November 2024.
The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to August 2025. Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost. 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.
How many households left the benefit cap by reason of being in receipt of an exempting benefit during each of the following periods: the quarter to August 2025, the quarter to May 2025, the quarter to February 2025 and the quarter to November 2024.
The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to August 2025. Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost. 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.
How many households left the benefit cap by reason of being in receipt of an exempting benefit and where the exempting benefit was receiving Universal Credit with limited capability for work and work-related activity during each of the following periods: the quarter to August 2025, the quarter to May 2025, the quarter to February 2025 and the quarter to November 2024.
The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to August 2025. Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost. 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.
How many and what proportion of departmental staff were promoted (a) in-grade and (b) to a higher grade in the last year broken down by (i) performance marking in the previous year and (ii) grade.
This information is not held centrally.
What the total cost was of (a) settlement agreements and (b) special severance payments made to departing departmental staff in the last year.
This information is available in DWP’s Annual Report and Accounts 2024/25: DWP Annual Report and Accounts 2024 to 25
In the past twelve months, how many disciplinary cases were concluded against civil servants in (a) the Department and (b) its agencies broken down by (i) outcome and (ii) whether the primary allegation related to (A) performance and (B) conduct.
As of 30 November 2025, the current figure for disciplinary cases stands at 1,342, covering the period from 1 December 2024 to 30 November 2025. This total includes both concluded and ongoing cases. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a more detailed breakdown beyond this level. Regarding information about the Department’s agencies, Skills England is being transferred to DWP, however, some functions, including HR, are still being covered by the Department for Education, therefore DWP does not hold this data.
What the average number of working days lost to sickness absence per full-time equivalent member of staff was in (a) the Department and (b) its executive agencies in the last year; and how many formal performance warnings were issued to staff whose absence exceeded departmental triggers.
DWP’s absence data is publicly available in the https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence., which includes the average working days lost. The Cabinet Office collates sickness absence data from DWP on a quarterly basis, and this management information is published annually.Data for the year ending 31st March 2025 was published on 16th December 2025.In the past year, 1,649 formal performance warnings were issued to staff whose absences exceeded departmental triggers. However, because of the way data are recorded, the Department cannot confirm whether in each case the warning was specifically due to absences exceeding those triggers. As of November 2025, the total DWP headcount stands at 95,164.DWP has one executive agency, Skills England however their HR functions is provided by Department for Education, therefore sick absence data for Skills England will not be included DWP figures.
How many and what proportion of departmental staff in each grade were rated in the top performance category in the last year.
DWP’s performance management policy utilises a team-based approach. The policy requires the performance of every employee to be robustly assessed on an ongoing basis. However, the approach does not involve employees below the Senior Civil Service being assigned a performance rating. Consequently, we are unable to provide data on employees rated in a top performance category. For Senior Civil Servants (SCS) there are four performance ratings available within the Performance management framework for the Senior Civil Service: Exceeding, High Performing, Achieving and Partially Met. In 2024-25, the DWP Pay Committee agreed to use three of the four performance ratings available for SCS1 and SCS2s, and the ‘top’ performers were recorded as high performing. Exceeding was used for SCS3s / Director Generals (DGs), following instruction from the Senior Leadership Committee for Director General performance management which set specific criteria for the assessment of DGs to improve consistency between departments. The number and proportion of SCS in each grade rated in the top performance categories for 2024-25 was as follows: RatingSCS1SCS2SCS3 Number%Number%Number%Exceeding00%00%<30--%High Performing6728%<30--%<30--%
How many households are exempt from the Household Benefit Cap solely as a result of receiving (a) Disability Living Allowance and (b) Attendance Allowance by region.
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
How many households are exempt from the Household Benefit Cap solely as a result of receiving (a) Personal Independence Payment and (b) Carer’s Allowance by region.
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
How many additional households will become subject to the Household Benefit Cap following the removal of the two-child limit on the Universal Credit child element.
The requested information is not available.
What proportion of total benefit income received by the average benefit-capped household is accounted for by (a) Universal Credit excluding child elements, (b) the Universal Credit child element, (c) Housing Benefit, (d) Incapacity Benefit, (e) Employment and Support Allowance, (f) Income Support, and (g) Jobseeker’s Allowance.
The information is not available. This is because, whilst there are different elements in the determination of the gross entitlement, Universal Credit is paid as one single payment. As such it is not possible to quantify the amount of Universal Credit excluding child elements or the amount of Universal Credit child element that the average benefit-capped household would receive after reductions due to earnings for example.
What assessment he has made of the impact of each exemption from the Household Benefit Cap on (a) the number of households subject to the cap and (b) overall welfare expenditure.
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
What estimate his Department has made of the number of additional households that would become subject to the Household Benefit Cap following the removal of the two-child limit on the Universal Credit Child Element.
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
How many households with total benefit entitlement above the level of the Household Benefit Cap have entitlement above (a) £30,000, (b) £40,000 and (c) £50,000 per year, or the equivalent weekly and monthly amounts.
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.