Written questions by Morrison.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of decreases in levels of spending welfare on the capacity of the Household Support Fund.

Social security spending is forecast to increase. We are providing £742 million in England to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) by a further year, from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026. And we secured the first ever multi-year settlement for the HSF – now the Crisis & Resistance Fund - until 2029 to give councils certainty over funding. This will ensure vulnerable households in the most need can continue to access support towards the cost of essentials, such as energy, water and food. We have shared guidance and documentation ahead of the launch of the scheme, arranged and facilitated a series of Delivery Plan Drop-in and LA Knowledge Share sessions, to support LAs with completing Delivery Plans and with planning for the new scheme. No further assessment has been made.

What steps her Department is taking to review the financial support available to carers whose role ends due to the death of a disabled adult child; and if she will introduce (a) a bereavement payment or (b) extended support for long-term carers in such circumstances.

Entitlement to Carer's Allowance in England and Wales can continue for up to eight weeks following the death of the disabled person who was being cared for. If the carer is in receipt of Universal Credit, entitlement continues for the next two full monthly assessment periods following the assessment period in which the Disabled Person dies (a maximum of 13 weeks). These run-on periods support carers who have recently been bereaved by giving them some time to adapt to their new circumstances. Within DWP there are a range of employment support programmes available to people who are or have been providing care. Support offered can include access to skills provision, referral to Restart careers advice, job search support, volunteering opportunities and access to the Flexible Support Fund to aid job entry.

How many compensation payments the Child Maintenance Service has made to parents following complaints from (a) parents and (b) MPs in relation to the service received by those parents in each of the last 5 years.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

How many parents who made a request to move from a deduction from earnings order to direct debit subsequently defaulted on their child maintenance payments in each of the last 5 years.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will do everything it can to address the nonpayment of child maintenance. Where payments have defaulted, we use our enforcement powers fairly and quickly to get cases back into payment. The Department publishes quarterly Child Maintenance Service (CMS) statistics, with the latest statistics available to the end of December 2024 here. Table 4 contains information on the amount of child maintenance that Paying parents have paid, and are expected to pay, each quarter. Information on the method of payments used by Paying Parents and Collect and Pay compliance can be found on Stat Xplore The full information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

How many mandatory reconsiderations of an initial child maintenance calculation have resulted in no change to the assessment in each of the last five years; and what the average time taken was for those child maintenance payments to be put in place.

A Mandatory Reconsideration is where a parent has asked the Child Maintenance Service to reconsider a decision. It is a process that must be completed before the right to appeal to an independent tribunal with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. A Mandatory Reconsideration can be requested during the lifetime of a case or when a new application is made, for Child Maintenance and the application is unsuccessful. Where the Child Maintenance Service finds the original decision to be incorrect or if the parent has supplied more information the decision can change. The full information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service and the latest statistics are currently available to December 2024. Table 9 of the latest National tables provides the total number of mandatory reconsideration requests received by the CMS and the outcomes occurring each quarter, from April 2015 to December 2024. Data from Table 9 for January 2020 to December 2024 is shown in the following table: Mandatory Reconsiderations: the number of requests received by the Child Maintenance Service to reconsider a decision, and the outcomes occurring each quarter, Great Britain, January 2020 to December 2024 QuarterReceived [1]Cleared: Decision Revised [2] [3]Cleared: Decision Not Revised [2]Cleared: Total Cleared [2] [4]Number Cleared Within 28 Days of Receipt [5]Percentage Cleared Within 28 Days of Receipt (%) [6]Jan to Mar 202012,0003,2004,4009,4007,80083%Apr to Jun 20206,2003,0003,2007,5003,00040%Jul to Sep 20209,9002,5003,3007,5005,60074%Oct to Dec 202011,7002,7004,1009,3005,20056%Jan to Mar 202115,7004,2005,50012,9006,80053%Apr to Jun 202116,2005,0006,40014,5009,00062%Jul to Sep 202117,1005,5008,10017,70011,90068%Oct to Dec 202117,6005,7007,30016,70013,00078%Jan to Mar 202219,3005,4007,30016,60012,60076%Apr to Jun 202214,7004,3007,30014,2009,60068%Jul to Sep 202214,6003,7007,50013,8009,90071%Oct to Dec 202214,5004,7007,90015,50011,30073%Jan to Mar 202316,3004,3007,20014,30011,80082%Apr to Jun 202321,9004,0007,20014,40011,10077%Jul to Sep 202313,9004,0007,30014,50011,20078%Oct to Dec 202313,8003,7006,00012,40010,00080%Jan to Mar 202417,2004,0007,10014,10011,10078%Apr to Jun 202417,8004,3008,50016,00011,90074%Jul to Sep 202421,8005,70011,40020,70016,40079%Oct to Dec 202421,8006,20011,90021,80018,10083% Source: Child Maintenance Service Management Information NotesA Mandatory Reconsideration is where a parent has asked the Child Maintenance Service to reconsider a decision. Mandatory Reconsiderations can include multiple requests per parent or arrangement. All requests are counted.Cleared excludes mandatory reconsiderations that have been cancelled or raised in error.Where the Child Maintenance Service finds the original decision to be incorrect or if the parent has supplied more information which changes the decision.Some clearances cannot be categorised as 'revised' or 'not revised'. So the total cleared number will be higher than the sum of the other two categories.The calculation is based on 28 calendar days. This is usually equivalent to 20 working days.The measure of timeliness, calculates the number of Mandatory Reconsiderations cleared within 28 days of receipt (column F) over the total cleared within the quarter (column E).During the quarter ending June 2020, the Child Maintenance Service was affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the resultant changes to the Department’s operational priorities and staffing resources.Figures are rounded to the nearest 100 or 1%.These statistics are published in Table 9 of the latest CMS National tables.

How much was contributed to the running of the Child Maintenance Service from (a) Government funding and (b) the (i) 4% contribution from parents receiving and (ii) 20% contribution from parents paying child maintenance through a collect-and-pay deduction from earnings order in each of the last five years.

The summary table below shows the response to the PQ ask. In the first line, the amount funded by the government over the last 5 years, which equates to the amount of gross expenditure incurred in support of CMS Operations excluding Digital, Estates and other Central costs.Below that, the fee income collected from both Paying (20%) and Receiving (4%) Parents within Collect & Pay. CMS Actual spend £m2019/202020/212021/222022/232023/24Net cost - Government funded146.2115.1120.7104.1115.9 Paying Parent (PP) & Receiving Parent (RP) Fee Income - £m41.640.946.049.357.6 PP & RP Fee Income detail:£m£m£m£m£mPaying Parent Fee 20%34.834.238.541.348.2Receiving Parent Fee 4%6.86.77.58.09.4Total Income 41.6 40.9 46.0 49.3 57.6 Data is sourced from DWP internal management accounts used for internal financial management and reporting only.

On how many occasions the Child Maintenance Service has (a) taken criminal action against and (b) successfully prosecuted a parent who has knowingly provided false information to reduce their financial assessment in each of the last five years.

The primary goal of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is to ensure that children receive the financial support they are entitled to. To achieve this, the CMS collaborates with HMRC and Benefit systems to accurately calculate maintenance payments. This collaboration helps prevent paying parents from misrepresenting their income. The Financial Investigations Unit (FIU), investigate complex income cases. This is a specialist team with extensive investigative powers to ensure that families receive child maintenance appropriately and in accordance with the paying parent’s whole income. They can request information from financial institutions such as banks, investment companies and mortgage companies to check the accuracy of information the CMS is given by either parent.If necessary, criminal charges relating to information offences linked to the calculation, will be brought against those who persistently and deliberately evade their responsibility to provide financially for their children.The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service and the latest statistics are currently available to December 2024. Table 7 of the latest National tables provides information where the CMS applied to courts to sanction Paying Parents, from July 2019 to December 2024. The specific information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

How many requests for a mandatory reconsideration have been made by parents who have been instructed to pay child maintenance following an initial maintenance calculation in each of the last 5 years.

A Mandatory Reconsideration is where a parent has asked the Child Maintenance Service to reconsider a decision. It is a process that must be completed before the right to appeal to an independent tribunal with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. A Mandatory Reconsideration can be requested during the lifetime of a case or when a new application is made, for Child Maintenance and the application is unsuccessful. Where the Child Maintenance Service finds the original decision to be incorrect or if the parent has supplied more information the decision can change. The full information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service and the latest statistics are currently available to December 2024. Table 9 of the latest National tables provides the total number of mandatory reconsideration requests received by the CMS and the outcomes occurring each quarter, from April 2015 to December 2024. Data from Table 9 for January 2020 to December 2024 is shown in the following table: Mandatory Reconsiderations: the number of requests received by the Child Maintenance Service to reconsider a decision, and the outcomes occurring each quarter, Great Britain, January 2020 to December 2024 QuarterReceived [1]Cleared: Decision Revised [2] [3]Cleared: Decision Not Revised [2]Cleared: Total Cleared [2] [4]Number Cleared Within 28 Days of Receipt [5]Percentage Cleared Within 28 Days of Receipt (%) [6]Jan to Mar 202012,0003,2004,4009,4007,80083%Apr to Jun 20206,2003,0003,2007,5003,00040%Jul to Sep 20209,9002,5003,3007,5005,60074%Oct to Dec 202011,7002,7004,1009,3005,20056%Jan to Mar 202115,7004,2005,50012,9006,80053%Apr to Jun 202116,2005,0006,40014,5009,00062%Jul to Sep 202117,1005,5008,10017,70011,90068%Oct to Dec 202117,6005,7007,30016,70013,00078%Jan to Mar 202219,3005,4007,30016,60012,60076%Apr to Jun 202214,7004,3007,30014,2009,60068%Jul to Sep 202214,6003,7007,50013,8009,90071%Oct to Dec 202214,5004,7007,90015,50011,30073%Jan to Mar 202316,3004,3007,20014,30011,80082%Apr to Jun 202321,9004,0007,20014,40011,10077%Jul to Sep 202313,9004,0007,30014,50011,20078%Oct to Dec 202313,8003,7006,00012,40010,00080%Jan to Mar 202417,2004,0007,10014,10011,10078%Apr to Jun 202417,8004,3008,50016,00011,90074%Jul to Sep 202421,8005,70011,40020,70016,40079%Oct to Dec 202421,8006,20011,90021,80018,10083% Source: Child Maintenance Service Management Information NotesA Mandatory Reconsideration is where a parent has asked the Child Maintenance Service to reconsider a decision. Mandatory Reconsiderations can include multiple requests per parent or arrangement. All requests are counted.Cleared excludes mandatory reconsiderations that have been cancelled or raised in error.Where the Child Maintenance Service finds the original decision to be incorrect or if the parent has supplied more information which changes the decision.Some clearances cannot be categorised as 'revised' or 'not revised'. So the total cleared number will be higher than the sum of the other two categories.The calculation is based on 28 calendar days. This is usually equivalent to 20 working days.The measure of timeliness, calculates the number of Mandatory Reconsiderations cleared within 28 days of receipt (column F) over the total cleared within the quarter (column E).During the quarter ending June 2020, the Child Maintenance Service was affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and the resultant changes to the Department’s operational priorities and staffing resources.Figures are rounded to the nearest 100 or 1%.These statistics are published in Table 9 of the latest CMS National tables.

How many times the Child Maintenance Service allowed a parent paying child maintenance with a (a) payment history of less than six months and (b) record of missed payments or arrears to move from a Collect and Pay DEO to Direct Debit in each of the last five years.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will do everything it can to address the nonpayment of child maintenance. Where payments have defaulted, we use our enforcement powers fairly and quickly to get cases back into payment. The Department publishes quarterly Child Maintenance Service (CMS) statistics, with the latest statistics available to the end of December 2024 here. Table 4 contains information on the amount of child maintenance that Paying parents have paid, and are expected to pay, each quarter. Information on the method of payments used by Paying Parents and Collect and Pay compliance can be found on Stat Xplore The full information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

How many requests by parents to move their cases to collect and pay following the failure of the other parent to make a child maintenance payment in each of the last 5 years.

A principle of The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is to increase levels of cooperation between separated parents and encourage parents to meet their responsibilities to provide their children with financial support.The CMS has two service types: Direct Pay, where it calculates a liability and allows parents to make their own arrangements to pay; and Collect and Pay, where it calculates the liability and administers the transaction. Legislation requires that both parents are given the opportunity to try Direct Pay unless the paying parent demonstrates an unwillingness to pay their maintenance liability. When this happens, a parent can request a move to Collect and Pay service.The full information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.The Department publishes quarterly statistics for the Child Maintenance Service and the latest statistics are currently available to December 2024. Table 3 of the latest National tables provides the number of arrangements moving from one service type to another within the CMS each quarter, from October 2015 to December 2024.

If she will publish an impact assessment on the potential impact of the proposed changes to disability benefits on voluntary organisations before the legislation is introduced.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper has been published here ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’(opens in a new tab). A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

How many children live in households claiming (a) income-based employment and support allowance and (b) new style employment and support allowance.

The information requested is not held.

How many and what proportion of households that claim Universal Credit and are affected by the two-child limit (a) were affected from the start of their claim and (b) were previously affected under a claim for Tax Credits.

Of the 380,000 Universal Credit (UC) households affected by the policy in April 2024, 236,000 (61%) were affected in their first assessment period on UC and the rest became affected in a subsequent assessment period. Using slightly different data to allow linking to Child Tax Credit (CTC) data, 106,000 (28%) of households affected on UC in April 2024 had a previous CTC claim at some point and 99,000 (27%) were affected by the two-child policy during their CTC claim. Figures and percentages provided may not sum to the total due to rounding and use of different data sets.

How many consolatory payments for gross inconvenience resulting from official error were made in each of the last five years; and what the (a) shortest and (b) average length of time for such a payment was in each of the last five years.

Although we collect data on the number of consolatory payments authorised, we do not systematically hold the information on the type of error (such as official error) and it would be too costly to review all these records. We do not keep a record of timescales taken on consolatory or any other special payments issued. We have provided the number of consolatory payments authorised for maladministration for the last five years in the table below. We are unable to provide a figure for 2024/25 as this information is still currently being compiled. Consolatory payments made 2019/2020 onwards Year No. of consolatory payments authorised 2019/20 5,1092020/21 3,8362021/22 8,0132022/23 10,2572023/24 9,753

If she has made an assessment of the potential impact of changes to personal independence payments on blind and partially blind people.

Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

What data she plans to collect on the impact of changes to the winter fuel allowance.

Following the decision to target Winter Fuel Payments at pensioners on the lowest incomes, the Government took immediate action to maximise the take-up of Pension Credit. The latest Pension Credit applications and awards statistics were published on 27 February. Details can be found at: Pension Credit applications and awards: February 2025 - GOV.UK. The statistics show that the Department received 235,000 Pension Credit applications in the 30 weeks since the Winter Fuel Payment announcement – an 81% increase on the comparable period in 2023/24 and made 117,800 new Pension Credit awards – a 64% increase or 45,800 extra awards on the comparable period 2023/24. Winter Fuel Payment statistics are published annually. The next release of Winter Fuel Payment statistics covering winter 2024 to 2025 will be published on 16 September 2025 and will report on recipients and beneficiaries of Winter Fuel Payment. The statistics will also include a measure of the proportion of the pensioner population who are beneficiaries of the Winter Fuel Payment.

If she will make an estimate of the number of individuals that will have their benefit funding reduced under the Government's proposed welfare reforms.

The Department published an Impact Analysis alongside the Spring Statement on 26 March 2025. This document contains forecast estimates of the numbers of individuals who will be affected by the proposed welfare reforms.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Government's welfare reforms on (a) trends in the levels of child poverty and (b) the child poverty reduction strategy.

The government's impact assessment regarding Health and Disability Reform is available at Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms - Impacts. This Government have inherited unacceptably high levels of child poverty which is why delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is a priority. The Child Poverty Taskforce are progressing urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy and are exploring all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, with some information published here alongside the Spring Statement.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 the child poverty strategy will consider the potential merits of removing the (a) two-child limit and (b) benefit cap.

The Child Poverty Taskforce is continuing its urgent work and is exploring all available levers, including considering social security reforms, to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty.

If she will make it her policy to extend the child poverty strategy beyond the planned 10-year timeframe to set longer term goals to help tackle child 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.