theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support employment in the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuels. \p Dame Diana Johnson: This government recognises the importance of the clean energy sector to economic growth. The Department works closely with DfT to help people on benefits find employment with employers in the transport sector.

Government support for low carbon fuel production, including sustainable aviation fuel, is designed to unlock private investment and create high-quality green jobs. Low carbon fuel production is expected to support up to 15,000 jobs and contribute £5bn to the economy by 2050.

The ability to connect jobseekers looking for roles with employers requiring workers at the right time and in the right places is vital to support the transition to net zero and supports the move to an 80% employment rate. Reskilling and increasing the transferability of workers between sectors will be essential for a fair transition.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

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Gregory Stafford:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing an Older People’s Commissioner for England. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Department for Work and Pensions has not made an assessment on an Older People’s Commissioner. Our commitment to the pensions Triple Lock throughout this Parliament will see millions of pensioners receive up to £470 more this year added to their State Pension and our increased income threshold for Winter Fuel Payments of £35,000 a year will see over three quarters of pensioners in England and Wales receiving the payment later this Winter.

DWP currently offers employment support for those older jobseekers affected by low confidence, menopause, health and disability or caring pressures, and out of date skills or qualifications. Through Midlife MOTs, delivered in Jobcentres across the UK, and online, we support older people to assess their health, finances and skills.

The Government is reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new jobs and careers service that will enable everyone, including the over-50s, to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them progress in their careers. This includes an enhanced focus on skills and careers advice.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress she has made in establishing the jobs and careers service. \p Dame Diana Johnson: We are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers. We are taking a test and learn approach to developing the new service including incorporating the learnings from other tests and trials underway. We will continue our work with local government, including Strategic Authorities, and Devolved Governments as we design, test, and trial the service.

Earlier this year we launched our first Jobs and Careers Service Pathfinder based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The Pathfinder is our first step in testing elements of the new service based on the 5 pillars set out within the Get Britain Working White Paper that underpin the delivery of the new Jobs and Careers Service. It will also look at how the new service can integrate with other local services. This will support us to develop a new service that is locally tailored and embedded, designed to meet the different needs of local labour markets, local people and local employers. Further Pathfinders, including ones that are focused on support for young people and those with health conditions, will be launched this year.

We have also started testing a new Get Britain Working Coaching Academy. Once in place, this will offer further training for a range of our colleagues to deliver high-quality coaching conversations for customers, focused on goal setting and action planning, as part of our commitment to enhancing the way we interact with people. We currently have two large scale trials in progress testing changes to how we currently operate. The first, to test providing support for people by telephone and video as well as face to face appointments. The second, to test whether meeting unemployed people less frequently in a Jobcentre would have an impact on their work outcomes and whether this approach is more beneficial for particular groups. We will incorporate learnings from these and other tests and trials to inform the design of the new service and how the new service could operate differently.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

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Kim Johnson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report from the Child Poverty Action Group entitled 'Two-child limit statistics briefing', published on 10 July 2025, what steps she is taking to lift children out of poverty. \p Dame Diana Johnson: 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 progressing work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy in autumn that will deliver fully funded measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.

The Taskforce will continue to explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term action across government to reduce child poverty. The Strategy will tackle overall child poverty as well as going beyond that to focus on children in deepest poverty lacking essentials, and what is needed to give every child the best start in life.

As a significant downpayment ahead of Strategy publication, we have already taken substantive action across major drivers of child poverty through 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. We are also establishing a long-term Crisis and Resilience Fund supported by £1 billion 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 £13.2 billion including Barnett impact across the Parliament for the Warm Homes Plan.

We’ve also committed to rolling out Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority by April 2026 and creating up to 1,000 hubs across the country by the end of 2028. Backed by £500m funding, this vital support will relieve pressure on parents and give half a million more children the very best start in life. And last month, we confirmed funding of £600m for the Holiday Activities and Food programme for the next three years, ensuring that children and young people can continue to benefit from enriching experiences and nutritious meals during the school holidays.

These commitments 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.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of benefit claimants in the North East have been subject to sanctions in the last 12 months. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Department regularly publishes monthly Universal Credit sanction rate statistics for Great Britain as part of the benefit sanction statistics. The latest statistics to May 2025 are available in table 2.1 of the latest benefit sanction statistics tables.

Users can use the UC Sanction Rates dataset on Stat-Xplore to produce the same information for lower-level geographical breakdowns. After selecting the required geographies, firstly produce a table containing the monthly statistics for the total number of UC claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, i.e. "searching for work", "planning for work" and "preparing for work", and include those people with unknown conditionality regime too. Then produce a separate table containing the monthly statistics for the number of Universal Credit (UC) claimants with a payment that has been reduced due to a sanction using the sanction indicator. Note, the second table should be produced for all people, regardless of conditionality regime.

After retrieving these separate tables from Stat-Xplore, calculate the sanction rate, which is the number of people on UC with a sanction, as a proportion of all people on UC in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, both counted at the same point in time.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
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Nadia Whittome:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the closure of the DWP office employees in Lincoln; and whether flexible working arrangements will be offered to staff who cannot relocate. \p Andrew Western: The department currently has excess space. All decisions around estates are driven by departmental strategy to deliver a smaller, better and greener estate. Equality Analysis has been undertaken as part of the decision-making process.

Since the announcement, all affected colleagues in Lincoln have been supported through a detailed conversation between each individual and their line manager to assess the personal impact of any closure, and inform consideration of all alternative employment options. Redeployment activity is now underway, looking at vacancies in other DWP locations and other government departments.

As a responsible employer, DWP offers flexibility including hybrid working, workplace adjustments and other support, but like other government departments, DWP is not a home working organisation.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the level of Personal Independence Payments for people affected by long-term conditions associated with in utero exposure to Debendox. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Personal Independence Payment (PIP) provides a contribution towards the extra costs that may arise from a long-term disability or health condition.   Entitlement to PIP focuses on the functional impacts of a person’s health condition or disability on their daily life. It is assessed on the basis of needs arising and not on the condition itself, so is available to individuals when they meet the PIP qualifying criteria.

PIP is non-contributory, non-means-tested and can be worth up to £9,747.40 a year, tax free. Receiving a qualifying rate of PIP can act as a ‘passport’ to extra money or higher amounts of other means-tested benefits, such as Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, and Housing Benefit. It can also provide access to council tax reductions and a Disabled Person's Railcard.   Individuals can choose how to use the benefit, in the light of their individual needs and preferences.
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Mr Gregory Campbell:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant the Answer of 2 September to Question 69743 on Universal Credit: Expenditure, whether she has had discussions with the OBR on the sustainability of the forecasted levels of expenditure on Universal Credit payments by the end of the current Parliament. \p Sir Stephen Timms: This Government is committed to a social security system which raises employment and living standards by supporting and incentivising people into work and to work more, reduces poverty by supporting people at times of higher cost and dependency, and promotes fairness and controls overall spending to ensure the long-term sustainability of the system for future generations. The Government’s welfare cap rule also helps ensure the long-term sustainability of the welfare system. A new welfare cap covering the current parliament was introduced at Autumn Budget 2024.

The financial sustainability of the benefit system, including Universal Credit, is considered in the round as part of the forecasts for annually managed expenditure which are produced twice yearly as part of the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast process.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of young people in supported accommodation who have (a) reduced working hours and (b) turned down employment opportunities due to the tapering of housing benefit. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The department does not routinely collect management information on reports of customers limiting working hours or turning down employment opportunities but we do have anecdotal evidence of this occurring.

This is why it remains the department’s priority to ensure that those who can work are supported to enter the labour market and to sustain employment.

The department acknowledges there is a challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those residing in Supported and Temporary Accommodation and receiving their housing support through Housing Benefit. The department is considering the issue carefully in partnership with stakeholders and other government departments.

As funding is required to allow a change, any future decisions will take account of the current fiscal context.
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Gregory Stafford:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that people impacted by (a) long-term health conditions and (b) disabilities are consulted during the review of changes to Personal Independence Payment. \p Sir Stephen Timms: I am committed to co-producing the review with disabled people, including those with long term health conditions and disabilities, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, Members of Parliament and other stakeholders, to ensure that a wide range of views and voices are heard.

I have been engaging over the summer to consider the process for the work of the review and consider how it can best be co-produced to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon. I will share more details on this and how disabled people and other stakeholders will be involved in the review as plans progress.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the Housing Benefit earnings disregard for young people in supported accommodation was last reviewed; and whether her Department plans to reassess its adequacy. \p Sir Stephen Timms: There is a challenge arising from the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those residing in supported housing and temporary accommodation. We are considering options to improve work incentives for residents of supported housing and temporary accommodation, while taking into account the views of stakeholders.

Currently, a broad spectrum of customers receive their rent support through Housing Benefit. This includes pensioners, residents in Supported or Temporary Accommodation and customers who have not yet migrated to Universal Credit. Any amendment to the Housing Benefit taper rules would apply to all these groups.

As funding is required to allow a change, any future decisions will take account of the current fiscal context.
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Terry Jermy:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help increase awareness of (a) Access to Work and (b) other employment support programmes. \p Sir Stephen Timms: Access to Work aims to support the recruitment and retention of disabled people into employment. It is a personalised discretionary grant that provides support with workplace adjustments beyond an employer’s obligation as outlined in the Equality Act 2010.

As part of our Plan for Change, and as set out in the Pathways to Work Green Paper published in March, we consulted on the future of Access to Work and how to improve the programme to help more disabled people into work and support employers.

We will review all aspects of Access to Work after evaluating the findings of the Pathways to Work consultation.

The Disability Confident Scheme encourages employers to create disability inclusive workplaces and to support disabled people to get work and get on in work. The scheme covers all disabilities, including hidden disabilities. It provides employers with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to attract, recruit, retain and develop disabled people in the workplace and to take positive action to address the issues disabled employees face.

We recognise there are opportunities to improve the scheme, and I have been discussing ideas for making the Disability Confident scheme criteria more robust, and officials are continuing to engage with stakeholders to discuss reform proposals.

In addition, DWP has a digital information service for employers, (www.support-with-employee-health-and-disability.dwp.gov.uk), which provides tailored guidance to businesses to support employees to remain in work. This includes guidance on health disclosures and having conversations about health, plus guidance on legal obligations, including statutory sick pay and making reasonable adjustments.

In January this year, we launched an expert academic panel to advise us on boosting neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work. The panel will consider the reasons why neurodivergent people have poor experiences in the workplace, and a low overall employment rate, making their recommendations later this year.

In our Get Britain Working White Paper, published November 2024, we committed support for employers to recruit, retain and develop staff. As part of that, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade have asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead ‘Keep Britain Working’, an independent review to consider how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy workplaces, and support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence. Sir Charlie Mayfield will deliver a final report with recommendations in the autumn.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support young disabled people into further (a) training and (b) education. \p Dame Diana Johnson: Our plan to Get Britain Working includes a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. Eight Youth Trailblazers across England are currently piloting this at a local level.

The Government recognises that health conditions and disabilities can present significant barriers to work for many young people. A range of existing programmes already provide targeted support:
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to provide employment support to young people not in education, employment or training. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Get Britain Working White Paper set out our cross-Government plan to get people into work and get on at work. A key focus is supporting young people into employment, education or training. We are planning to offer greater employment support in every part of the country to ensure that those who need it – including young people – can access opportunities to get into work and fulfil their potential.

As part of this, the government will launch a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work.

DWP already provides young people aged 16-24 with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This includes flexible provision driven by local need, nationwide employment programmes and support delivered by Work Coaches based in our Jobcentres and in local communities working alongside partners.

In addition, Youth Hubs and Jobcentres across the country are increasing awareness of the Flexible Support Fund, which can help cover costs such as transport to job interviews, Jobcentres and training courses – removing practical barriers to employment.
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Paul Davies:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support people with musculoskeletal conditions to (a) find and (b) remain in work. \p Dame Diana Johnson: Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched last November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. In our March Green Paper, we set out our Pathways to Work Guarantee, backed by £1 billion a year of new, additional funding by 2030 and a total of £2.2 billion by over four years. Our £2.2bn Pathways to Work investment brings our total investment in employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions to £3.8 billion over this Parliament. We will build towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits.

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, including people with musculoskeletal conditions, 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, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care, and WorkWell.

We also recognise that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability. To build on this, the DWP and DHSC Joint 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.

The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care have worked together on the 10 Year Health Plan, ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. The Plan sets out the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of health and care needs, including for disabled people. We will further pilot the integration of employment advisers and work coaches into the neighbourhood health service, so that working age people with long term health conditions have an integrated public service offer. A patient’s employment goals will be part of care plans, to support more joined up service provision.
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Lisa Smart:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has issued guidance to Jobcentres on making reasonable adjustments in line with the Equality Act 2010 for claimants with complex disabilities which may prevent them from attending Universal Credit verification appointments in-person; and if she will make it her policy to require Jobcentres to proactively offer remote or home-based alternatives. \p Dame Diana Johnson: Where customers need assistance to access our services and information, we will make reasonable adjustments to meet their individual needs, in line with our obligations under the Equality Act 2010.

Guidance on reasonable adjustments is available for all staff. This includes recognising when an adjustment is needed, recording the customer need and the types of reasonable adjustments available, which includes a visiting service for customers who are unable to use our other contact routes.
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Christine Jardine:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure jobseekers with complex disabilities receive the support and equipment they need to look for work. \p Dame Diana Johnson: We are delivering the biggest employment support package for disabled people and people with health conditions in more than a generation, worth a total of £3.8 billion over this Parliament. We are building towards a guarantee of personalised work, health and skills support to improve returns to work. Once fully rolled out this will include:

Further to this, we are reviewing all aspects of Access to Work as we develop plans for reform. The Access to Work Scheme provides grant funding to disabled people, as well as those with a health condition, to support workplace adjustments that go beyond what would normally be expected from an employer through their duty to provide reasonable adjustments as outlined in the Equality Act 2010.

The two main types of provision are Assessments and Elements. Assessments seek to understand a person's barriers and how they may be overcome, whilst elements are the types of support to overcome them. These may include specialist equipment, physical adaptations to premises, help with the cost of travelling to work or a support worker. Not all claimants will require an assessment

To be eligible for the Scheme, you must have a physical or mental health condition or disability that means you need support to do your job or get to and from work. You must be 16 or over, be in (or about to start or return to) paid work, and live in England, Scotland or Wales. Customers starting a job within 4 weeks are prioritised. The Scheme also includes the Mental Health Support Service (MHSS) which provides up to nine months of non-clinical support for people who need additional help with their wellbeing while in employment.

In addition, the Flexible Support Fund is a non-recoverable discretionary fund used to support eligible customers to move into employment, increase their earnings whilst in work (through increased hours or job change) or move closer to the labour market. Common barriers it can help to remove include, childcare costs; travel costs, clothing, and essential tools and equipment. For example, a screen reader pen might be purchased to aid a disabled customer’s job search or financial assistance to attend specific job or training related interviews for disabled people and, if necessary, a chaperone.

The Flexible Support Fund is locally managed and eligible customers’ needs are considered on a case-by-case basis by Jobcentre Plus Work coaches. Where the existing menu of support offered by Jobcentre Plus does not provide what customers need, and if there is no other non-contracted provision in the area, the Fund can be used to purchase specific training and support for eligible customers. Eligibility for the Flexible Support Fund includes qualifying benefits and Labour Market regimes.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to reduce the time taken for job seekers to receive appointments for improving CVs. \p Dame Diana Johnson: Customers have regular appointments with their Work Coach. For those in the Intensive Work Search regime, who are the most likely to be seeking work, these are usually weekly in the first 13 weeks of their claim. Where it is identified or requested that there is a need to create or improve their CV, their Work Coach is equipped to coach the customer to create or improve their CV which can be undertaken in these regular appointments. Where the customer requires additional support to this coaching, the work coach may refer the customer to other appropriate support or provision.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, What steps she is taking to improve access to face-to-face Jobcentre services in rural areas. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The majority of our current service provided by Jobcentres is through face-to-face appointments through a network of more than 630 jobcentres, spread across England, Scotland and Wales.

As part of the new Jobs and Careers Service, we are testing changes to Jobcentre Plus, including alternative delivery of our services. This includes Jobcentre Vans which are testing new ways of supporting people, providing advice and support for all customers, not just those claiming benefits. Vans are currently being tested in three communities in both rural (Northeast Scotland and North and Mid Wales) and urban settings (Bolton, Greater Manchester), delivering some Jobcentre services via locations within the community, selected to best meet customer needs.

As part of our test and learn approach to create the new Jobs and Careers Service, we will incorporate the learnings from these tests into the design of the new service and will continue to work closely with key partners to deliver solutions based on local needs.
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Mr Will Forster:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has considered the recommendation of the Children’s Commissioner’s report entitled Growing up in a low-income family: Children’s experiences, published in July 2025, to introduce a triple lock to uprate child-related benefits. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Child Poverty Taskforce, co-chaired by the Work and Pensions and Education Secretaries, is committed to listening to the voices of children and families and embed the voices of these families directly into their work.

The Office of the Children’s Commissioner’s report, Growing up in a low-income family: Children‘s experiences, was commissioned by the Child Poverty Taskforce to provide evidence on children’s lived experience of poverty to support the development of an ambitious child poverty strategy. The findings of the report make for uncomfortable reading, but it is vital that we face up to the reality of what children in poverty are feeling so we can develop a Strategy that is fit for purpose and truly responds to the needs of children as they set out from their perspective. This valuable research forms part of the Taskforce’s ongoing wider work to ensure those voices are a central part of developing a strategy.

​The Child Poverty Unit, based in the Cabinet Office, worked closely with the Office of the Children’s Commissioner on the report, including at research design and reporting stages, and the findings have already been considered as part of strategy development.

The Child Poverty Taskforce will publish a Child Poverty Strategy in the autumn that will deliver fully funded measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty. We are considering all available levers, to give every child the best start in life as part of our strategy. The Taskforce is considering the report’s recommendations in advance of publication.
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Lizzi Collinge:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help support people in (a) physically and (b) emotionally demanding jobs who are unable to continue working in their current role into their late 60s. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Department for Work and Pensions currently offers employment support for older jobseekers including those affected by low confidence, menopause, health and disability or caring pressures, and out of date skills or qualifications.

Through Midlife MOT reviews, delivered in Jobcentres across the UK and online, we support older people to review their health, finances and skills. We are working with key partners to develop these tools including Department of Health and Social Care, the National Health Service and the National Careers Service

The Get Britain Working White Paper sets out the Government’s approach to the employment support system to target and tackle the root causes of unemployment and inactivity and better join up health, skills and employment support based on the needs for all, including older people.

We know that employers are crucial to enhancing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and those with health conditions to thrive in the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, a digital information service for employers and the Disability Confident scheme

In recognition of employers' vital role, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead the Keep Britain Working Independent Review as a part of the Government's wider white paper plans to Get Britain Working. Sir Charlie Mayfield is considering recommendations to support and enable employers to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence, and recruit and retain more disabled people and people with health conditions.

Sir Charlie Mayfield is expected to produce a final report with recommendations in autumn 2025.
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Matt Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of employment support services for over-50s in the North East. \p Dame Diana Johnson: DWP currently offers employment support for eligible customers of all ages, through the network of Jobcentres across the UK, and through contracted employment programmes. We provide tailored support for those older jobseekers affected by low confidence, menopause, health and disability or caring pressures, and out of date skills or qualifications. Through Midlife MOTs, delivered in Jobcentres across the UK, and online, we support older people to assess their health, finances and skills.

The Government is reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new jobs and careers service that will enable everyone, including the over-50s, to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them progress in their careers. This includes an enhanced focus on skills and careers advice.

As part of the national jobcentre work, in the North East, Employer and Partnership Teams work with a range of employers and partners to enhance the skills and employment support available locally for customers.

Economic Inactivity Trailblazer areas have received a share of £80 million of funding in 2025/26 to design and test new interventions to support economically inactive people into the labour market. Across their interventions, the North East Combined Authority Economic Inactivity Trailblazer aims to support over a 1000 residents, including specific testing to support people over the age of 50.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help reduce inequalities for young disabled people in the labour market. \p Dame Diana Johnson: As set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we will launch a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work.

The Government recognises that health conditions and disabilities can present significant barriers to work for many young people. A range of existing programmes already provide targeted support:

However, we recognise that the current benefit system categorises too many young people as unable to work, often leaving them without meaningful engagement or support. For most disabled young people and young people with a health condition working at some point in the near future must be a credible ambition.

That is why the Pathways to Work Green Paper sets out reform options for a joined-up work, health and skills approach and to reform the employment journey for young people, including those with disabilities. The consultation closed on 30 June, and we are now carefully reviewing all responses as we develop the new support offer and our expectations of engagement.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-10 conversation_45

Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of foreign nationals claiming Universal Credit on future (a) public spending and (b) taxation. \p Andrew Western: The Department takes into account migration trends and benefit entitlement conditions when producing twice-yearly benefit expenditure and caseload forecasts as part of the fiscal event process, but these forecasts do not break down expenditure by nationality. These were last updated in 23 April 2025.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-expenditure-tables
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-10 conversation_46

Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to evaluate demographic trends by nationality of Universal Credit claimants. \p Andrew Western: The Department regularly monitors demographic trends including publishing statistics on Universal Credit claims by Immigration Status and Nationality.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/universal-credit-statistics
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-10 conversation_47

Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of foreign nationals receiving Universal Credit arrived in the UK in the last five years. \p Andrew Western: The Department does not hold this information for all claimants over the last five years.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-10 conversation_48

Connor Naismith:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure providers are held accountable for supporting displaced workers already in the UK. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) stands ready to support anyone affected with our Rapid Response Service (RRS) offer. This is a service designed to give support and advice to employers and their employees when faced with redundancy.

This service is co-ordinated nationally by the Strategic Relationship Team (SRT) and is managed by Jobcentre Plus. Delivery partners include The National Careers Service, local training providers, Money Helper and the skills bodies in England.

These services are offered by equivalents in the devolved administrations. In Scotland this is delivered by PACE on behalf of the Scottish Government and in Wales by ReACT. Redundancy support in Northern Ireland is devolved with separate funding and delivery arrangements.

The range of support available from Jobcentre Plus and partners may include:
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-10 conversation_49

Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the public purse of Universal Credit claims made by foreign nationals in each of the last five years. \p Andrew Western: Universal Credit awards are paid to households, which may include both British and foreign nationals who are eligible. Therefore, the information requested is not readily available at the required quality and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-10 conversation_50

Cameron Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the child poverty strategy will look beyond the 10-year timeframe. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Child Poverty Taskforce is progressing work to publish a Child Poverty Strategy in the autumn that will deliver fully funded measures to tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty.

Our focus is on bringing about an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change, thereby reversing the trend that is seeing forecasts of child poverty continuing to increase. More details, including on the timeframes, will be set out in the strategy publication.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-10 conversation_51

Terry Jermy:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps their Department is taking to implement the guidance entitled The government’s approach to rural proofing 2025, published on 15 May 2025. \p Dame Diana Johnson: The Government has made a commitment that all policy decision-making should be rural proofed. Rural proofing ensures that rural areas are not overlooked and that the intended outcomes are deliverable in rural areas.

DEFRA leads on rural proofing, but individual departments are responsible for ensuring that their policy decision-making is rural proofed.

Rural proofing is important because rural communities are an important part of the economy. Rural areas are home to around one-fifth of England’s population and half a million registered businesses.

Policy outcomes in rural areas can be affected by economies of scale, distance, sparsity and demography. That is why it is important that government policies consider how they can be delivered in rural areas. Rural proofing ensures that these areas receive fair and equitable policy outcomes.

Our department takes its obligation to rural proofing seriously. In the Get Britain Working White Paper published in November 2024, the Government committed to giving local leaders increased powers to design and deliver approaches to employment support which were tailored to local needs.

All areas across England have been asked to produce local Get Britain Working plans which cover labour market priorities and challenges within their areas – including those impacted by rurality – and to work collectively across organisations including local government, Jobcentre Plus, and the local NHS to address these.

As set out in the Get Britain Working White Paper, we are reforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Great Britain that will enable everyone to access support to find good, meaningful work, and support to help them to progress in work, including through an enhanced focus on skills and careers. We will develop an enhanced digital offer accessible for everyone. Our vision for our new service is for people to be able to access support through the channels that best meet their needs – whether that is online, on the phone or in person.

Furthermore, the Flexible Support Fund is a non-recoverable discretionary fund that can be used to support eligible customers to move into employment, increase their earnings whilst in work or move closer to the labour market. Common barriers it can help to remove include, childcare costs; travel costs, clothing, and essential tools and equipment. It could be used to provide financial assistance which may help eligible rural customers overcome logistical barriers.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-10 conversation_52

Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate her Department has made of the proportion of Universal Credit claims made by foreign nationals (a) since July 2024 and (b) in each of the last three years. \p Andrew Western: The Department publishes Universal Credit (UC) immigration status and nationality statistics as part of the Universal Credit statistics publication. The latest release of these statistics is included in the latest Universal Credit statistical bulletin
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-09-10)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-09-10 conversation_53

Lee Anderson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of trends in the number of foreign national Universal Credit claimants on the (a) delivery and (b) availability of employment support services. \p Andrew Western: The Department considers migration trends when planning resources for delivering support including employment services and training to ensure that all claimants, regardless of their nationality or immigration status, can access this support if they are entitled to it. The Department does not collect information on or hold a record of the nationality or immigration status of claimants at the point of referral to specific employment services and training.