Written questions by Whately.

What estimate he has made of the level of change in the number of households exempt from the benefit cap following the Autumn Budget 2025.

The department does publish quarterly benefit cap statistics about the number of households that have been capped but this does not provide a breakdown of exemptions nor go into an individual exemption breakdown level. These were last published on 16 December with data until August 2025 and can be found here: Benefit cap: number of households capped to August 2025 - GOV.UK

With reference to Budget 2025, what assessment he has of the potential impact of the proposed changes to the salary sacrifice policy for employee pension contributions on the number of hours worked by NHS employees.

The proposed Salary Sacrifice policy’s changes to employer contributions will not have an impact on National Health Service employees' working hours. HM Treasury's Managing Public Money guidelines prevent public funds from being used to offset National Insurance liabilities. As a result, NHS Pension Scheme contributions cannot be paid through salary sacrifice arrangements.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the salary sacrifice cap policy announced in the Autumn Budget 2025 on employee hours worked in (a) the private sector and (b) the public sector.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) sets out that there is not expected to be a material impact on labour supply from this measure. The OBR also do not expect a material impact on savings behaviour as a result of Budget 2025 tax changes. The government supports all individuals to save into pensions through a generous system of income tax and NICs reliefs worth over £70 billion a year.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the salary sacrifice policy announced in the Autumn Budget 2025 on overall hours withdrawn by employees.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) sets out that there is not expected to be a material impact on labour supply from this measure. The OBR also do not expect a material impact on savings behaviour as a result of Budget 2025 tax changes. The government supports all individuals to save into pensions through a generous system of income tax and NICs reliefs worth over £70 billion a year.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the salary sacrifice policy announced in the Autumn Budget 2025 on pensions and hours worked by (a) sex, (b) age and (c) NUTS region.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) sets out that there is not expected to be a material impact on labour supply from this measure. The OBR also do not expect a material impact on savings behaviour as a result of Budget 2025 tax changes. The government supports all individuals to save into pensions through a generous system of income tax and NICs reliefs worth over £70 billion a year.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the salary sacrifice policy announced in the Autumn Budget 2025 on individual pension savings.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) sets out that there is not expected to be a material impact on labour supply from this measure. The OBR also do not expect a material impact on savings behaviour as a result of Budget 2025 tax changes. The government supports all individuals to save into pensions through a generous system of income tax and NICs reliefs worth over £70 billion a year.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the salary sacrifice policy announced in the Autumn Budget 2025 on hours worked by people near tax cliff edges.

A Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) was published alongside the introduction of the Bill containing the changes to pensions salary sacrifice. The Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) November 2025 Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) sets out that there is not expected to be a material impact on labour supply from this measure. The OBR also do not expect a material impact on savings behaviour as a result of Budget 2025 tax changes. The government supports all individuals to save into pensions through a generous system of income tax and NICs reliefs worth over £70 billion a year.

How much insurance premium tax was collected from each type of insurance product in the latest year for which data is available.

HMRC publishes annual statistics on IPT receipts and liabilities within the publication titled “Insurance Premium Tax (IPT) Bulletin” which can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/insurance-premium-tax-ipt-bulletin However HMRC does not hold the information requested as to how much insurance premium tax was collected from each type of insurance product. This is because Insurance Premium Tax returns do not include a breakdown of the tax due on different types of products, as this may impose an excessive administrative burden on customers. HMRC does however include the split between the standard rate and higher rate of insurance premium tax as part of our published annual statistics on IPT receipts and liabilities.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of community benefit levels provided by NSIP-scale solar developers (a) relative to the profits generated and (b) in comparison with non-NSIP solar developments.

We believe that, where communities do the country a service by hosting clean energy infrastructure, they should benefit from it directly. No formal analysis has been carried out to compare the community benefit funds of proposed NSIP projects with those of non-NSIP projects. However, we are aware that the current voluntary provision can be variable and inconsistent. That is why we recently published a working paper proposing to make it mandatory for developers to contribute to community benefit funds. A government response setting out next steps will be published shortly.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) removing the two-child limit of UC child benefit and (b) adding that benefit to the exemptions for the household benefit cap on the (i) cost to the public purse and (ii) number of households exempt from that cap.

Information related to removing the two child limit policy is published in ‘Table 3.2: Costing of the removal of the two-child limit’ (page 66-67) and is available at EFOs - Office for Budget Responsibility.

How many households who flowed off the household benefit cap because of an exempting benefit had the off-flow outcome due to receiving (a) Employment Support Allowance support group, (b) Disability Living Allowance, (c) Industrial Injuries and (d) Personal Independence Payment in the quarter to May 2025.

The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to May 2025. Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required.

Of the households who flowed off the household benefit cap in the quarter to May 2025, how many had the off-flow outcome due to the (a) household’s benefit income being reduced to under the cap levels, (b) the household being in receipt of an exempting benefit, and (c) household no longer claiming Universal Credit.

The Department publishes Official Statistics on the number of households in Great Britain on Housing Benefit or Universal Credit that have flowed off the benefit cap, including outcome at off-flow, which are published quarterly on Stat-Xplore and are currently available up to the quarter to May 2025. Statistics on the exempting benefit outcomes above are grouped in the ‘Other outcome’ category above. The Department does not produce statistics breaking down this category into individual exempting benefits and to do so would incur disproportionate cost. Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access general guidance on how to extract the information required.

What is the average payment per customer for each primary medical condition, as defined in the Access to Work statistics released by the Department for Work and Pensions.

The requested information across all Access to Work provision can be found in tables AVG03a (nominal terms expenditure) and AVG03a-R (real terms expenditure) in the published official statistics. Tables AVG03b through AVG03d-R provide further average expenditure breakdowns by any element, any assessment and non-contracted provision. Access to Work statistics: April 2007 to March 2025 - GOV.UK

What data his Department holds on the number of people who have newly claimed Universal Credit in each of the last five years by (a) health-related reasons for claiming and (b) the searching-for-work conditionality group.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 November 2025 to PQ UIN 92813.

Pursuant to the Answer of 24 June 2025 to Question 62284, whether his Department holds further information on the primary medical conditions of the PIP claimants with an active contract for the Motability Scheme whose primary medical condition is stated as (a) missing claim, (b) no illness or impairment claimed or identified and (c) main disability not recorded.

The information requested cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

What analysis his Department has done on the increase in households that off-flowed from the benefits cap as a result of the increase in unemployment over the past 13 months, in the context of the 9-month grace period exemption for newly unemployed.

No such analysis has been undertaken.

How many complex case coaches (a) are currently employed and (b) have been for each month since June 2024.

There is no specific Work Coach role defined as Complex Case Coach.

How many Personal Independence Payment claimants are in a contract with the Motability Scheme to receive a vehicle by primary medical condition.

The information requested will be published in due course.

How many families in receipt of the child benefit of UC are exempt from the household benefit cap because they (a) receive limited capability for work and work-related activity, (b) are in a grace period and (c) earn £846 or more a month.

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

How many individuals are waiting for their Access to Work application to be processed, and how does this compare to each month since June 2024.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 22 October 2025 to Question UIN 80759. The number of Access to Work applications increased from approximately 5,340 in April 2021 to 42,403 in June 2024. We are committed to reducing waiting times for new applications and have increased the number of staff processing Access to Work claims. Applications from customers who are about to start a job or who are renewing are prioritised. In March 2025, the Department published the Pathways to Work Green Paper, launching a consultation on the future of Access to Work and how the scheme can better support disabled people in employment. We are reviewing all aspects of Access to Work as we develop plans for reform following the conclusion of the consultation. 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.