Written questions by Franklin.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of Child Maintenance Service late payment fees being deducted from maintenance payments on receiving parents and children.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) does not charge late payment fees. It does charge fees to paying parents and receiving parents who are on the Collect and Pay service: twenty per cent on top of the maintenance liability for the paying parent and four per cent of the maintenance received for the receiving parent. A case will only be moved to Collect and Pay if the paying parent agrees to Collect and Pay, or if they demonstrate an unwillingness to pay their maintenance liability. This is why paying parents are charged a higher fee (20 per cent) as they have more control on whether the case is put into Collect and Pay. The collection charge is only deducted when the maintenance is paid. In July 2024 the government consulted on the proposal for wider reform to consolidate the CMS into a single service type where the CMS monitors and transfers payments. The consultation Improving the collection and transfer of payments, also proposed a new fee structure of just 2% for receiving parents, deducted from maintenance received; 2% for compliant paying parents, on top of maintenance owed; and 20% for non-compliant paying parents, on top of maintenance owed. The consultation received over 2,700 public responses, and engagement from stakeholder organisations across the UK in addition to commissioning research to help quantify the impact of the reforms. The Government published its response to the consultation on the 23 June setting out its intention to proceed with reform of the system. More information can be found at Government response: Child Maintenance: Improving the collection and transfer of payments - GOV.UK

What assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the (a) two-child limit and (b) benefit cap on levels of child poverty among (i) children who are not eligible for (A) breakfast clubs and (B) free school meals and (ii) other children; and whether her Department plans to (1) review and (2) revise these policies.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of the Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of every child. The Child Poverty Taskforce is exploring all available levers, including considering social security reforms, to ensure we deliver measures which tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty. Furthermore, 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. Our commitments at the 2025 spending review come on top of the existing action we have taken which includes 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.

What steps she is taking to reduce child poverty in Guildford, following the Spring Statement 2025.

Delivering our manifesto commitment to tackle child poverty is an urgent priority for this Government. The Ministerial Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy looking 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 Government The Taskforce is listening to experts and campaigners across the UK and ensuring the voices of families and children with experience of poverty are brought into policy thinking and decision making as part of the development of the Child Poverty Strategy. This includes three key stands of work – a Parents and Carers Forum, engagement with the Changing Realities Project and research with children and young people. We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty. The Get Britain Working (GBW) White Paper, with £240 million investment, sets out ambitious plans to reform employment support, including £15 million to support trailblazers and local development of GBW plans. The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, introduce a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, improve the adequacy of the standard allowance with the first sustained above inflation rise in the basic rate of Universal Credit since it was introduced and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour to boost the pay of three million workers.

Whether her Department plans to require profitable companies to increase pre-1997 occupational pensions in line with inflation.

Members of defined benefit pension schemes with non-indexed pre-1997 pension accrued, are now understandably concerned at seeing inflation erode the value of their retirement income. The Government’s recently announced reforms on the use of surpluses in defined benefit schemes will make it easier for individual schemes to make decisions that improve outcomes for both sponsoring employers and members, which could include discretionary benefit increases.

What steps she is taking to support more people with disabilities to (a) enter and (b) remain in the workplace; and what plans she has to improve access to (i) employment opportunities and (ii) workplace adjustments.

Appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell. It is also recognised that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability. To build on this, the Joint DWP and DHSC Work & Health Directorate (JWHD) is facilitating “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review of the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces. The lead reviewer, Sir Charlie Mayfield, is expected to bring forward recommendations in Autumn 2025. Additionally, the JWHD has developed a digital information service for employers, continues to oversee the Disability Confident Scheme, and continues to increase access to Occupational Health. Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. As announced in the Green Paper, 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 - including new tailored support conversations for people on health and disability benefits, and more intensive programmes of support with health and work to break down barriers and unlock work. In addition, consulting on the future of the Access to Work scheme so that it better helps people to start and stay in work through reasonable adjustments, such as aids, appliances and making use of assistive technology The Equality Act 2010 (the Act) provides a legal framework to protect disabled people against unlawful direct or indirect discrimination in employment by placing a duty on employers to make reasonable adjustments to any element of a job, job application or interview process, which may place disabled people at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people. The failure of an employer to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled employee or job seeker or discounting a job application simply because the applicant is disabled could amount to direct disability discrimination under the Act.

If her Department will reconsider its decision not to provide compensation to women born in the 1950s and 1960s following the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s recommendation that those affected by changes to the state pension age should receive financial compensation.

We carefully considered the Ombudsman’s findings to ensure our decision was fair and based on the evidence. We have accepted the Ombudsman’s finding that there was a 28-month delay in sending out letters and for this we have apologised. However, we do not agree with the Ombudsman’s approach to injustice or remedy. Full details of the Government’s decision are available here Government response to Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s Investigation into Women’s State Pension age communications and associated issues - GOV.UK

If her Department will take steps to establish a funding scheme to support disabled candidates for elections in England.

It is the Government’s ambition to see more disabled people in public office. The Government takes positive action to promote disabled people’s participation in public life, including protecting disabled people through the Equality Act 2010. In relation to accessing elected office specifically, political parties have responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that their disabled members who contest any political position are not disadvantaged and can take part in the same processes and opportunities as non-disabled people. The Government has been clear that it will champion disabled people's rights, and work closely with them so that disabled people's views and voices are at the heart of all we do. We know that some disabled people still face additional financial barriers when standing for elected office. We are looking at how we might work with political parties and others to help tackle this.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the time taken for the state pensions top-up process.

People have until 5th April 2025 to fill some gaps in their National Insurance record. The original deadline was set as far back as 5 April 2023. This was extended to 12 June 2023 and then to end 5 April 25. From 6 April 2025 customers can continue to pay NICs for any of the previous 6 years. The majority of customers can check for any gaps in their record, and make payments, online. For those who are unable to use online services, they can call DWP to check whether making payment will enhance their pension, and then call HMRC to make a payment.