Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Graeme Downie (Labour) on Monday, 24 March 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 26 March 2025. It was answered by Stephen Timms (Labour) on Monday, 31 March 2025 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Universal Credit: Disability

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper, published on 18 March 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to the limited capability for work and work related activity element of Universal Credit on families of disabled people aged under 22.

Answer

No decision has been made on this policy. The key principle of our focus for 18-21 year olds should be helping them to be earning or learning, because of the long-term scarring effects for young people of a period of unemployment. That is why we are consulting on delaying access to the UC health top up until age 22 with savings reinvested into work support and training opportunities.

Universal Credit Health caseload statistics are available on DWP Stat-Xplore and were most recently updated with December 2024 data.

In December 2024, 13,650 and 68,350 16- to 21-year-olds in Great Britain were in the Limited Capability for Work (LCW) and Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) groups respectively.

Table: 16–21-year-olds in (a) Dunfermline and Dollar, (b) Scotland and (c) Great Britain on the UC Health caseload (December 2024)

LCW

LCWRA

Total

(a) Dunfermline and Dollar

20

110

130

(b) Scotland

1,380

7,460

8,830

(c) Great Britain

13,650

68,350

82,000
  1. Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data and are rounded to the nearest 10.
  2. Totals may not sum due to this disclosure control and rounding.
  3. Figures are a count of the number of people on Universal Credit health on the second Thursday of the month.
  4. Figures are Experimental Official Statistics

Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/ (opens in new window). An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
40715
Session
2024-26
Related items
Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working
Tuesday, 18 March 2025
Command papers
House of Commons
House of Lords
Universal Credit: Disability
Tuesday, 8 April 2025
Written questions
House of Commons
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Disability Universal credit Reform
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk