The Government is committed to improving and modernising how earnings are treated in Carer's Allowance. It has increased the weekly earnings limit to match 16 hours at the National Living Wage, improved guidance, and is exploring longer-term changes to the benefit, including automation of earnings and the possibility of an earnings taper. A Call for Evidence to support this work was launched on 7 July 2026 and is open until 18 August 2026: Carer's Allowance: call for evidence - GOV.UK.

Where Carer's Allowance recipients undertake paid work, there is flexibility for Decision Makers to average earnings where these fluctuate in a regular pattern, using a period that best reflects the individual's working pattern.

The mean and median waiting time between a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appeal being lodged and the Department submitting its response to HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), for initial clearances and award review clearances in the calendar year 2025, was 5 weeks.

The Department does not hold data on when a tribunal hearing date is set. This information is in the domain of HMCTS.

We are increasing resources available for writing appeal responses by redeploying staff and making overtime available.

We are also looking to make appeal writing more efficient by improving the programme that decision makers use. The improved tool will integrate better with other DWP computer systems, which will make it faster and easier to use than the current process.

We will continue working to make the right decision as early as possible in the claim journey so people get the support they are entitled to without needing to appeal.

This Government values the input of disabled people and people with health conditions in addition to the representative organisations and people that support them.

That is why we brought forward a Green Paper and opened a public consultation – which received over 47,500 responses before closing on 30 June 2025. The consultation was published in a range of accessible versions including braille, audio, British Sign Language (BSL), Welsh language, Easy Read, large print and web-accessible formats. In addition to the public consultation, we ran a programme of accessible public events to further facilitate input. The series of both virtual and in-person events across the country helped us to hear from disabled people and representative organisations directly.

Our conversations with disabled people and people with health conditions, as well as experts, shaped and informed the Green Paper. We are committed to continuing this dialogue and drawing on a wide range of insights and experiences to get these reforms right. We published our summary to the Pathways to Work Green Paper consultation responses on 30 October 2025. We are considering feedback on these proposals as we develop them further.

The Timms Review is being co-produced by disabled people, the organisations that represent them and other experts. The steering group is committed to ensuring the Review is informed by a broad range of voices and experiences, and to making engagement accessible. The steering group agreed to use a mix of approaches combining lived experience, expert insight, existing research, new quantitative data and workshops across the UK to gather evidence.

The Review has run a Call for Evidence and ‘Workshop in a Box’ sessions to gather input from individuals and organisations with a full suite of accessible versions, including British Sign Language, Braille, Easy Read, Large Print, Audio, and Welsh versions. The Call for Evidence received over 38,000 responses. A summary of these findings was published alongside the Interim Report on 9 July. The Review will report to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for final decisions by autumn 2026.

The Timms Review is considering the role of PIP in enabling disabled people and those with long-term health conditions to live independently and participate fully in society, and how it can remain fair and fit for the future. Listening to the lived experience and expertise of disabled people, including concerns about repeat assessments, is critical to the Review’s success. The Review will report its recommendations to the Secretary of State in the Autumn.

Whilst the Department works closely with Motability and is responsible for the main disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme, Motability Foundation is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme, along with oversight of Motability Operations.

Motability also understand that living in rural areas often means having to travel further to access everyday services. To support this an additional 3,000 miles per year will be provided on leases for certain customers. Motability Operations’ Rural and Islands Isolation Framework uses national Governments' data on rural isolation to determine eligible postcodes. Motability Operations, which operates the Motability Scheme, is writing directly to customers in eligible postcodes.

Whilst the Department works closely with Motability and is responsible for the main disability benefits that provide a passport to the Motability Scheme, Motability Foundation is an independent charitable organisation that is wholly responsible for the terms and the administration of the Scheme, along with oversight of Motability Operations.

Motability also understand that living in rural areas often means having to travel further to access everyday services. To support this an additional 3,000 miles per year will be provided on leases for certain customers. Motability Operations’ Rural and Islands Isolation Framework uses national Governments' data on rural isolation to determine eligible postcodes. Motability Operations, which operates the Motability Scheme, is writing directly to customers in eligible postcodes.

The Department is currently considering the policy design specification provided by the Scottish Government for its proposal to make split payments the default option for Universal Credit customers in Scotland.

The Department has no plans to make split payments the default arrangement for all joint Universal Credit claims.

Motability Foundation is a registered charity to help disabled people with their mobility and transport needs. Motability’s main focus is its ownership and oversight of the Motability Scheme. The Foundation also oversees delivery of grant programmes (including to other organisations) targeting areas outside the Motability scheme where solutions are required to meet the evolving transportation needs of disabled people.

The Foundation Community Transport Grant which was created to develop, improve and expand community transport provision awarded 11 grants at a cost of £4.2m in the financial year 2024/25 including to rural areas.

Additionally, the Scheme recognises that living in the most rural areas often means having to travel further to access everyday services so will provide 3,000 additional miles per year on to leases for certain customers. Motability Operations has used data from national Governments to identify the areas with limited access to essential services. The data looks at the typical travel time to services that people regularly rely on, including grocery shopping, healthcare and education.

The Motability Scheme is operated independently of Government. Decisions about grants, eligibility, lease terms, mileage allowances and support arrangements are matters for Motability.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions reviewed Local Housing Allowance at the 2025 Autumn Budget and announced that rates would be maintained at their current levels for 2026/27. A range of factors, such as rent levels across the country and poverty impacts, were considered against the fiscal context and the level of housing support that Government provides overall.

The causes of homelessness are multi-faceted and often complex. The Department for Work and Pensions continues to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to make sure interactions with homelessness are considered.

Renters receiving housing support who face a shortfall in meeting their rent costs can apply for a Crisis and Resilience Fund Housing Payment from local authorities in England.

The Timms Review steering group published its interim report on 9 July, providing an update on its work to date, including a summary of the Call for Evidence, which received over 38,000 responses.

The steering uses a mix of approaches combining lived experience, expert insight, existing research, new quantitative data, and workshops both to gather insight and shape recommendations. The group has engaged with many organisations across the UK supporting a wide range of people, including disabled people’s organisations, charities, and other experts. Findings from this engagement will build a strong evidence base to inform policy analysis and the Review’s recommendations.

The steering group is now moving into the next phase of its work developing its recommendations. These recommendations will be published in a final report to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the autumn.

Attendance Allowance is intended to help those with a severe disability who have long term care or supervision needs which arise after reaching State Pension age. Government mobility support is focused on people who are disabled earlier in life; developing mobility needs in older life is a normal consequence of ageing, which non-disabled younger people have had opportunity to plan and save for.

There is no constraint on what an award of Attendance Allowance can be spent on, and a recipient may choose to use this benefit to fund mobility aids.

Qualifying benefits for the Motability Scheme are the enhanced rate mobility component Personal Independence Payment (enhanced rate mobility component Adult Disability Payment in Scotland), higher rate mobility component Disability Living Allowance (higher rate mobility component Child Disability Payment in Scotland), Armed Forces Independence Payment and War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement.

The Motability Scheme is designed to address the transport requirements of individuals with disabilities in the UK and is a lifeline in enabling disabled people to remain mobile, live independently and access employment.

For customers who cannot afford essential costs or who require more complex adaptations, the Motability Foundation continues to provide means-tested grants to those most in need of financial assistance.

The Motability Foundation works towards its vision that “no disabled person should be disadvantaged by poor access to transport”. To achieve this, it delivers grant programmes and supports innovative initiatives that address areas beyond the Motability Scheme, where new solutions are needed to meet the evolving transport needs of disabled people.

The Young People and Work Report has been commissioned by the UK Government to investigate the persistently high numbers of young people out of work, education and training (NEETs). On the 28^th May 2026, Alan Milburn published his diagnostic report, outlining his discoveries on the drivers of the increase in the number of young people who are part of this group.

The Report is being taken forward in two distinct phases, the first, a discovery phase which will provide a diagnosis on the increase in the number of young people who are NEET. The second phase will be a solution phase, which will identify potential areas for reform, aimed at increasing opportunities for young people.

The final Report is intended to take a holistic view of the welfare, health, skills and employment system and identify areas for reform. The Author will provide a full and final report in September.

Any proposals to change access to the benefits system will be considered in light of the conclusions and recommendations of the Young People and Work Report.

In 2018, the Department commissioned NatCen, an independent social research organisation, to explore the feasibility of evaluating the impact of Access to Work: ‘Feasibility of evaluating the impact of the Access to Work programme’.

The Department has also published several qualitative research reports on the scheme, most recently ‘Journeys to Access to Work’ published in June 2026.

The Timms Review Call for Evidence was open to anyone who wished to contribute and received over 38,000 responses. The response form did not ask participants to provide information about their geographic location. Therefore, we do not hold the data requested in relation to the Call for Evidence.

While we cannot provide a figure on participation from different regions, the Review encouraged responses from disabled people and representative organisations across the United Kingdom.

The situations of homeowners and renters are not directly comparable. If a tenant does not pay their rent, they face the real possibility of eviction. Homeowners have more flexibility to negotiate repayments with their lenders during periods of financial difficulty, and their mortgage payments allow them to acquire a significant asset.

The help homeowners, with or without children, can receive towards their mortgage payments is designed to provide a level of support that protects them from the threat of repossession. We have broad agreement with the lending industry that the support we provide is sufficient to achieve this aim.

The department has recently published research looking at the impact and effectiveness of Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans. This is available here: Impact Assessment of Support for Mortgage Interest loans and was published on 6^th May 2025.

The Terms of Reference for the Timms Review set out the broad scope of the Review to ensure that PIP is fair and fit for the future. Disability Living Allowance is not in scope for this Review.

The steering group published its interim report on 9 July, providing an update on its work to date. Recommendations will be set out in the final report to be made to the Secretary of State in the autumn.

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

However, monthly Universal Credit statistics for the number of households in receipt of Universal Credit by the Number of Children Aged 0 to 4 are published in the Households on Universal Credit dataset on Stat-Xplore, and are currently available to February 2026.

Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest and, if needed, can access guidance on how to extract information. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide.

The information could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Whilst DWP has responsibility for overall Housing Benefit policy and legislation, local authorities have statutory responsibility for the day-to-day administration and assessment of Housing Benefit claims.

The existing Housing Benefit guidance for supported housing claims provides advice for local authorities on how to assess and process Housing Benefit claims. We will be updating this manual early next year to reflect the measures being implemented within the Act.