Written questions by Khan.

Pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2025 to Question 62414 on Funeral Payments, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) amending the family-related questions for the application process and (b) reviewing the eligibility criteria for the Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment, in the context of situations in which the next of kin has refused to pay for the funeral.

The long standing state position is that individuals should look to make financial provision for their own funeral, and that where this has not happened family or friends who can take part or all of the responsibility for the cost of funeral arrangements should do so. Where responsibility for organising a funeral falls to those on qualifying benefits a Funeral Expenses Payment may be available, but eligibility criteria are designed to ensure the scheme is fair for taxpayers while supporting the most vulnerable with these costs. We continue to keep the Funeral Expenses Payment scheme under review to ensure it remains effective and sustainable within current budgetary constraints. This includes the eligibility criteria, application process, customer experience and administrative costs. We have not made a specific assessment of the impact of Funeral Expenses Payment eligibility criteria on the finances of local authorities.

Pursuant to the Answer of 1 July 2025 to Question 62414 on Funeral Payments, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of assessing the (a) ability and (b) willingness of other family members to take responsibility for a funeral within the Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment.

The long standing state position is that individuals should look to make financial provision for their own funeral, and that where this has not happened family or friends who can take part or all of the responsibility for the cost of funeral arrangements should do so. Where responsibility for organising a funeral falls to those on qualifying benefits a Funeral Expenses Payment may be available, but eligibility criteria are designed to ensure the scheme is fair for taxpayers while supporting the most vulnerable with these costs. We continue to keep the Funeral Expenses Payment scheme under review to ensure it remains effective and sustainable within current budgetary constraints. This includes the eligibility criteria, application process, customer experience and administrative costs. We have not made a specific assessment of the impact of Funeral Expenses Payment eligibility criteria on the finances of local authorities.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of simplifying the eligibility criteria for the Funeral Expenses Payment on (a) application processing times and (b) the administrative costs of processing applications.

The eligibility criteria for a Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment are designed to ensure the scheme is fair for taxpayers, while supporting the most vulnerable with these costs. We continue to keep the Funeral Expenses Payment scheme under review to ensure it remains effective and sustainable within current budgetary constraints. This includes the eligibility criteria, application process, customer experience, processing times and administrative costs.

Whether her Department plans to assess the adequacy of the clarity of the application process for the Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment for bereaved applicants.

The eligibility criteria for a Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment are designed to ensure the scheme is fair for taxpayers, while supporting the most vulnerable with these costs. We continue to keep the Funeral Expenses Payment scheme under review to ensure it remains effective and sustainable within current budgetary constraints. This includes the eligibility criteria, application process, customer experience, processing times and administrative costs.

Whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of reforming the eligibility criteria for the Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment in line with the Scottish Government’s Funeral Support Payment.

The eligibility criteria for a Social Fund Funeral Expenses Payment are designed to ensure the scheme is fair for taxpayers, while supporting the most vulnerable with these costs. We continue to keep the Funeral Expenses Payment scheme under review to ensure it remains effective and sustainable within current budgetary constraints. This includes the eligibility criteria, application process, customer experience, processing times and administrative costs.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reinstating the Winter Fuel Allowance before the winter 2025-26.

The Government wants to expand eligibility for Winter Fuel Payments, recognising the goals of supporting these pensioners, meeting need and of sustainable public finances. Any change will be announced to Parliament in the normal way.

What steps the Government is taking to ensure that employers are supporting women managing menopause in the workplace.

On 18th October 2024 the Secretary of State for DWP appointed Mariella Frostrup as the new Menopause Employment Ambassador. The Menopause Employment Ambassador will work closely with employers across the country to improve workplace support for women experiencing menopause and wider women’s health issues. The Menopause Employment Ambassador launched her Menopause Advisory Group on 24th April who will provide her with expert knowledge from a wide range of sectors on how businesses can better support women experiencing menopause in the workplace by creating a more supportive environment that helps women to stay in work and progress. The government has also proposed a wide-ranging set of generational reforms to boost protections for workers, including women experiencing menopause symptoms at work. The policy proposals in the Employment Rights Bill would require large employers with more than 250 employees to produce Menopause Action Plans on how they will support employees through the menopause. Alongside this the government has also committed to publishing guidance, including for small employers, on measures to consider relating to uniform and temperature, flexible working and recording menopause-related leave and absence.

Whether her Department plans to publish all recorded responses to its consultation on reforms to health and disability benefits.

There are currently no plans to publish all recorded responses to the forthcoming Green Paper consultation on health and disability benefits. After the consultation period, we will review and analyse consultation responses and we will set out our response in a White Paper later this year.

Whether her Department plans to publish an Equality Impact Assessment of proposed reforms to the health and benefit system.

As with all policies, we will ensure that considerations about their impact are at the heart of the policy making process. We will consider the publication of any future Equality Impact Assessments on a case by case basis as usual.

Whether the child poverty taskforce will consider the impact of proposed reforms to the health and disability benefit system on child poverty rates in the UK.

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity, and the Ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce is working to publish a Child Poverty Strategy to deliver lasting change. The Strategy will look 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 Governments. As part of the Strategy's development, the Taskforce is considering the potential impact of policies across government. We are committed to reforming the system of health and disability benefits so that it promotes and enables employment among as many people as possible. The system must also work to support disabled people to live independently and be financially sustainable in the long term. We will set out our proposals for reform in a Green Paper ahead of the Spring Statement later this year.

What steps she is taking to support British state pensioners residing overseas.

UK State Pensions are payable worldwide, without regard to nationality, based on a person’s National Insurance record. People move abroad for many reasons and may have access to their host country’s benefit system or other sources of income such as an occ...

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of uprating the state pension for British pensioners residing overseas.

No assessment has been made. The UK's policy on the up-rating of the UK State Pension for recipients living overseas is a longstanding one. The UK state pension is payable worldwide without regard to nationality and is uprated abroad where we have a legal...

Whether the new Get Britain Working Trailblazers will help support people with musculoskeletal conditions to remain in employment.

We plan to publish the Get Britain Working White Paper shortly that will set out how we are investing £240 million to trial new ways of getting people back into work. The government will test new approaches and collect robust evidence on how to tackle the...

Whether the Connect to Work scheme will include provisions to support people living with arthritis to remain in employment.

Connect to Work will be a new, locally led, voluntary Supported Employment programme in England and Wales which in 26/27 will support around 100,000 disabled people, people with health conditions (such as arthritis) and those with complex barriers to empl...

What steps she is taking to ensure that employers are supporting women managing menopause.

The Government believes in the vital importance of equality of opportunity and of treatment in the workplace. The plan to Make Work Pay includes clear action to place equality, diversity and inclusion issues on a statutory footing. This includes requiring...

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the decision to means test the winter fuel payment on the expected number of excess deaths in winter 2024-25.

This Government is committed to pensioners. Everyone in our society, no matter their working history or savings deserves a comfortable and dignified retirement. We will do this through protecting the triple lock, keeping energy bills low through our Warm ...

If she will make an assessment of the potential impact on levels of homelessness of unfreezing local housing allowance.

The Government recognises that homelessness levels are too high and there are a range of contributing factors. We will look carefully at these issues as we develop our strategy for ending homelessness. Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates have not been fro...