Every parliamentary written question tabled by Helen Whately this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 181–200 of 258 · Department for Work and Pensions
How many non-UK nationals claiming Universal Credit have (a) three, (b) four, (c) five, (d) six (e) seven and (f) eight or more children in their household.
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
How many face-to-face PIP assessments have taken place since July 2024, broken down by month.
The number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) face-to-face assessments carried out each month from July 2024 to August 2025 can be found in the table below. MonthFace-to-FaceJul-246,000Aug-243,000Sep-241,000Oct-243,000Nov-244,000Dec-243,000Jan-254,000Feb-254,000Mar-254,000Apr-254,000May-254,000Jun-255,000Jul-255,000Aug-254,000 Please Note All volumes have been rounded to the nearest 1000.All the above data is derived from contractual management information produced by the assessment suppliers.The above data is derived from unpublished management information which is collected for internal departmental use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics Publication standards.The dip in September is due to the introduction of the Functional Assessment Service contracts on 9 September 2024. For a brief period, face to face assessments were limited to allow for a smooth transition from the old Health and Disability Assessment Service to the new Health Assessment Advisory Service across the country. The number of PIP face-to-face assessments conducted is not available at a regional level. However, we can provide the information split by Lot. The number of PIP face-to-face assessments carried out by Lot from July 2024 to August 2025 can be found in the table below. Lot 1 - Northern EnglandLot 2 - Midlands & WalesLot 3 - South-WestLot 4 - London, South-East & East AngliaJul-242,0002,0002,000Aug-241,0002,000700Sep-242001,000<100Oct-242002,000100500Nov-241,0001,0003001,000Dec-249001,000200800Jan-251,0001,0003001,000Feb-251,0001,000400900Mar-251,0001,0004001,000Apr-251,0001,0004001,000May-251,0002,000400900Jun-252,0002,0005001,000Jul-252,0002,000600800Aug-251,0001,000500700 Please Note All volumes greater than or equal to 1000 have been rounded to the nearest 1000, all volumes less than 1000 have been rounded to the nearest 100.All the above data is derived from contractual management information produced by the assessment suppliers.The above data is derived from unpublished management information which is collected for internal departmental use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics Publication standards.Please note that for the period July- September 2024, Lot 3 and Lot 4 data is combined due to the old contractual reporting structure.
How many face-to-face PIP assessments have been conducted in each region of the UK since July 2024.
The number of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) face-to-face assessments carried out each month from July 2024 to August 2025 can be found in the table below. MonthFace-to-FaceJul-246,000Aug-243,000Sep-241,000Oct-243,000Nov-244,000Dec-243,000Jan-254,000Feb-254,000Mar-254,000Apr-254,000May-254,000Jun-255,000Jul-255,000Aug-254,000 Please Note All volumes have been rounded to the nearest 1000.All the above data is derived from contractual management information produced by the assessment suppliers.The above data is derived from unpublished management information which is collected for internal departmental use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics Publication standards.The dip in September is due to the introduction of the Functional Assessment Service contracts on 9 September 2024. For a brief period, face to face assessments were limited to allow for a smooth transition from the old Health and Disability Assessment Service to the new Health Assessment Advisory Service across the country. The number of PIP face-to-face assessments conducted is not available at a regional level. However, we can provide the information split by Lot. The number of PIP face-to-face assessments carried out by Lot from July 2024 to August 2025 can be found in the table below. Lot 1 - Northern EnglandLot 2 - Midlands & WalesLot 3 - South-WestLot 4 - London, South-East & East AngliaJul-242,0002,0002,000Aug-241,0002,000700Sep-242001,000<100Oct-242002,000100500Nov-241,0001,0003001,000Dec-249001,000200800Jan-251,0001,0003001,000Feb-251,0001,000400900Mar-251,0001,0004001,000Apr-251,0001,0004001,000May-251,0002,000400900Jun-252,0002,0005001,000Jul-252,0002,000600800Aug-251,0001,000500700 Please Note All volumes greater than or equal to 1000 have been rounded to the nearest 1000, all volumes less than 1000 have been rounded to the nearest 100.All the above data is derived from contractual management information produced by the assessment suppliers.The above data is derived from unpublished management information which is collected for internal departmental use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics Publication standards.Please note that for the period July- September 2024, Lot 3 and Lot 4 data is combined due to the old contractual reporting structure.
How many additional staff have been employed to carry out face-to-face PIP assessments since July 2024.
The number of additional health professionals (HPs) employed to conduct face-to-face Personal Independence Payments (PIP) assessments is not held. This is because the data cannot be split to show the HPs recruited to deliver a specific type of assessment and the majority of the suppliers have multi-skilled HPs who deliver across multiple channels.
How many people had their claim rejected for (a) Universal Credit, (b) the State Pension and (c) other public funds due to having a no recourse to public funds condition in each year since 2020.
Persons subject to immigration control have no recourse to public funds and so cannot access taxpayer-funded benefits such as Universal Credit. Nationals of countries other than the UK and Ireland may have no recourse to public funds because either their immigration status prohibits this or they do not have an immigration status. The table below gives the number of individuals who have been assessed as ineligible for public funds benefit due to being a ‘Person Subject to Immigration Control’, i.e. having No Recourse to Public Funds from April 2022 onwards (data is not held prior to this period). An individual can be a ‘Person Subject to Immigration control’ due to the conditions of their immigration status or because they have no immigration status. Date Decision Entered on Admin SystemNumber of UC HRT ‘Person Subject to Immigration Control’ (i.e. No Recourse to Public Funds) DecisionsApril 2022 to March 202326,000April 2023 to March 202435,000April 2024 to March 202538,000Source: DWP internal analysis of UC Dataworks tables, Rounded to the nearest 1,000 decisions. Equivalent information for non-Universal Credit benefits is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. The new State Pension is based on National Insurance contributions and payments are not classified as public funds for immigration purposes. Entitlement for any payments of the new State Pension is usually dependent on the individual having a minimum of ten qualifying years of National Insurance when they reach State Pension age.
With reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 29 April 2025, Official Report, col 236, how many sickfluencers have been prosecuted under the (a) Fraud Act 2006 and (b) Serious Crime Act 2007.
I refer the honourable member to the answer given to PQ 50195 on 12 May 2025.
How many households on Universal Credit had (a) five, (b) six, (c) seven, (d), eight, (e) nine and (f) 10 or more children since November 2018.
The latest statistics for the number of children in households on Universal Credit are available on Stat-Xplore for November 2024. As statistics for the number of children are only available from April 2019, the table shows the data for November 2019 to November 2024. Total number of households receiving a Universal Credit payment, with five or more children in the household, November 2019 to November 2024 Number of Children Nov 2019Nov 2020Nov 2021Nov 2022Nov 2023Nov 2024510,84120,59126,13631,31035,12448,95663,1365,8797,7539,34810,27814,89978601,6492,2212,6893,0534,81282865647369149951,82298317026928833766810 or more 4081114169184424Total15,25628,93437,22444,71249,97271,580 Source: Households on Universal Credit dataset Notes:Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data. Totals may not sum due to the disclosure control applied. Award, entitlement and payment information may be missing for a very small number of households on Universal Credit, where more limited information is entered onto IT systems. Users are advised that these statistics have ongoing work to improve the data quality and so are subject to revision. Figures for November 2024 are provisional. These figures will be subject to revision in subsequent releases. It is expected that overall provisional figures will be within two per cent of their revised figure in future releases. Revised figures for households on Universal Credit are published quarterly in February, May, August and November. With each publication, the previous 2 years are revised. This means that the totals in this table may vary slightly from the statistics published on Stat-Xplore for November 2019, November 2020, and November 2021.
What the number of outstanding Access to Work applications was in each of the last 12 months.
The number of outstanding Access to Work applications in each of the last 12 months was: June 2024 = 42,403July 2024 = 48,270August 2024 = 50,803September 2024 = 54,530October 2024 = 56,028November 2024 = 58,112December 2024 = 58,129January 2025 = 60,427February 2025 = 61,719March 2025 = 61,674April 2025 = 62,254May 2025 = 62,907 Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. It should therefore be treated with caution.
What proportion of Child Tax Credit claimants have been moved onto Universal Credit.
The number and proportion of Child Tax Credit claimants who have made a claim to Universal Credit following a migration notice can be obtained from Stat-Xplore within People invited to Move to Universal Credit dataset. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
How many Child Tax Credit claimants were moved onto Universal Credit in each year since 2020.
The number and proportion of Child Tax Credit claimants who have made a claim to Universal Credit following a migration notice can be obtained from Stat-Xplore within People invited to Move to Universal Credit dataset. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required.
What the average time taken was to process Access to Work claims once an invoice had been submitted in each of the last 12 months.
We do not record, and therefore do not hold, data on the average time taken to process Access to Work claims once an invoice has been submitted. To determine this, we would need to review all claims processed over the past 12 months to compare the date each claim was received with the date it was processed. This exercise would incur a disproportionate cost.
How many people with ineligible immigration status applied for (a) Universal Credit and (b) other welfare payments in the last 12 months.
To access public funds benefits, individuals are required to be either a British or Irish citizen or hold an immigration status which does not prevent them from accessing public funds. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) cannot pay public funds benefits, such as Universal Credit, to a person if the Home Office has applied a ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ condition to their immigration status. Nationals of countries other than the UK and Ireland who have a valid immigration status and that does not prohibit recourse to public funds are subject to the same eligibility criteria as any other claimant, including the need to be ‘habitually resident’ (meaning they have made the UK their home in addition to having a legal right to claim benefits). The Department has defined ‘ineligible immigration status’ as a claimant with a ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ condition attached to their immigration status or who have no valid UK immigration status. The Department has provided a figure on the number of individuals who undertake the Habitual Residency Test (HRT) and fail due to being a ‘Person Subject to Immigration Control’, i.e. having No Recourse to Public Funds. There were 38,000 individuals who were refused Universal Credit due to fail reason: ‘Person Subject to Immigration Control’ between May 2024 and April 2025. The Department does not hold equivalent information for non-Universal Credit benefits and to provide it would exceed cost limits.
How many people with no recourse to public funds applied for (a) Universal Credit and (b) other welfare payments in the last 12 months.
To access public funds benefits, individuals are required to be either a British or Irish citizen or hold an immigration status which does not prevent them from accessing public funds. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) cannot pay public funds benefits, such as Universal Credit, to a person if the Home Office has applied a ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ condition to their immigration status. Nationals of countries other than the UK and Ireland who have a valid immigration status and that does not prohibit recourse to public funds are subject to the same eligibility criteria as any other claimant, including the need to be ‘habitually resident’ (meaning they have made the UK their home in addition to having a legal right to claim benefits). The Department has defined ‘ineligible immigration status’ as a claimant with a ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ condition attached to their immigration status or who have no valid UK immigration status. The Department has provided a figure on the number of individuals who undertake the Habitual Residency Test (HRT) and fail due to being a ‘Person Subject to Immigration Control’, i.e. having No Recourse to Public Funds. There were 38,000 individuals who were refused Universal Credit due to fail reason: ‘Person Subject to Immigration Control’ between May 2024 and April 2025. The Department does not hold equivalent information for non-Universal Credit benefits and to provide it would exceed cost limits.
How many non-UK and Irish nationals have applied for (a) Universal Credit and (b) other welfare payments in the last 12 months.
To access public funds benefits, individuals are required to be either a British or Irish citizen or hold an immigration status which does not prevent them from accessing public funds. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) cannot pay public funds benefits, such as Universal Credit, to a person if the Home Office has applied a ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ condition to their immigration status. Nationals of countries other than the UK and Ireland who have a valid immigration status and that does not prohibit recourse to public funds are subject to the same eligibility criteria as any other claimant, including the need to be ‘habitually resident’ (meaning they have made the UK their home in addition to having a legal right to claim benefits). The Department has defined ‘ineligible immigration status’ as a claimant with a ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ condition attached to their immigration status or who have no valid UK immigration status. The Department has provided a figure on the number of individuals who undertake the Habitual Residency Test (HRT) and fail due to being a ‘Person Subject to Immigration Control’, i.e. having No Recourse to Public Funds. There were 38,000 individuals who were refused Universal Credit due to fail reason: ‘Person Subject to Immigration Control’ between May 2024 and April 2025. The Department does not hold equivalent information for non-Universal Credit benefits and to provide it would exceed cost limits.
Whether she has made an estimate of the value of Access to Work claims waiting to be processed.
We have taken claims as those currently awaiting payment.Estimating the value of outstanding Access to Work (AtW) payment claims would incur a disproportionate cost. To produce an estimate, each claim would need to be manually examined to determine the amount being claimed.The number of outstanding payment claims currently stands at 21,304. Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. It should therefore be treated with caution.
With reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the debate on the Report stage of the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill on 29 April 2025, Official Report, column 236, how many sickfluencers have been prosecuted under the (a) Fraud Act 2006 and (b) Serious Crime Act 2007.
The Department does not use the term ‘sickfluencer’ as a defined term and, as such, does not collect data under this description. Furthermore, the Department is not a prosecuting body; DWP’s role is to refer cases for consideration of prosecution to the appropriate prosecuting authority who are then responsible for taking the case forward, including determining the most appropriate offences to prosecute under.
What estimate she has made of the number of people that will receive additional (a) employment, (b) health and (c) skills support through funding announced in the Spring Statement 2025.
We announced in the Pathways to Work Green Paper that we would establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work, backed up by £1 billion of new funding. This investment will build on existing support from WorkWell, Connect to Work and the Get Britain Working trailblazers. As the Green Paper notes, we are keen to engage widely on the design of this guarantee and the components needed to deliver it. To get this right, we will be seeking input from a wide range of stakeholders including devolved governments, local health systems, local government and Mayoral Strategic Authorities, private and voluntary sector organisations in the private, voluntary and charitable sectors, employers and potential users. We will confirm further details about the support offer and how many people will receive support in due course after we have completed our consultation process. We will be developing more detailed assessments of the potential impacts of the employment measures proposed in the Green Paper as these are developed in detail. The Office for Budget Responsibility has also stated that it intends to assess the labour supply impacts of the Green Paper measures in their Autumn forecast.
What recent estimate her Department has made of the number of pensioners who are eligible for Pension Credit but not claiming it.
The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics cover the financial year 2022 to 2023 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2023 - GOV.UK. In the financial year ending 2023, it is estimated that up to 760,000 pensioner households in Great Britain were entitled to Pension Credit but not receiving the benefit. The next edition of the Pension Credit take-up statistics will be released between September and October 2025. This will cover the financial year 2023 to 2024.
What estimate she has made of the number of people that will not fall into long term economic inactivity due to funding announced in the Spring Statement 2025.
We will be developing more detailed assessments of the potential impacts of the employment measures proposed in the Green Paper as these are developed in detail. The Office for Budget Responsibility has also stated that it intends to assess the labour supply impacts of the Green Paper measures in their Autumn forecast.
How many times her Department has used the Proceeds Of Crime Act 2002 to recover assets following criminal prosecutions in each of the last five years.
The Department for Work and Pensions uses the Proceeds of Crime Act to apply to the courts to recover assets following criminal prosecutions. In Great Britian in total there have been 174 cases in the last 5 years which resulted in a confiscation order from the courts following conviction. Below is the breakdown of the number of cases by year: 2020/21 - 642021/22 - 392022/23 - 202023/24 - 222024/25 - 29 Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.