The Government recognises that self-employment can be a suitable and sustainable route into work for some people, including those who are unemployed.

Through Jobcentre Plus, work coaches can provide self-employment information and support to customers and signpost them to specialist national or local organisations that provide advice to support people to start a business. This includes the Start Up Loans scheme run by the British Business Bank, the Business Support Helpline, Local Growth Hubs in England, Business Wales and Find Business Support and Business Gateway in Scotland, which offer support, advice and guidance to new and existing businesses.

The Government recognises the importance of affordable bus travel in helping to reduce barriers to opportunity. We have introduced a £3 cap on single bus fares in England outside London, which has been extended until March 2027, helping millions of passengers travel for less. We are also supporting families through targeted measures, including providing funding for free bus travel for children aged 5 to 15 on participating local buses in England in August.

Alongside this, the Government is investing over £3 billion from 2026/27 to improve and maintain bus services. This funding gives local transport authorities the flexibility to deliver services and fares that meet the needs of their communities, including introducing reduced or free bus travel for specific groups of people. We believe that local leaders are best placed to choose how to use this funding to deliver the best outcomes for passengers.

Work helps everyone play active and fulfilling roles in society while building financial security for retirement. The Department is therefore committed to supporting workers over the age of 50 through a wide-ranging strategy that promotes inclusion, flexibility, and progression. This includes promoting age-inclusive practices, supporting workplace health, policy and service reform and removing age related barriers to employment. The Department has also signed up to and actively promotes the Age-Friendly Employer Pledge, encouraging employers to adopt flexible working, age-positive hiring, and career development.

The Government recognises that workers over 50 bring a wealth of skills and experience both to the workplace and the economy. We are committed to reforming labour market support, taking lessons from the current DWP service to those over 50, and the experience of 50PLUS Champions, to ensure that future support is reflective of their individual needs.

We published our Get Britain Working White Paper on 26 November 2024. This set out our plans to reform Jobcentre Plus and create a new Jobs and Careers Service that will enable everyone, including claimants over 50, to access support to find good, meaningful work, and help them progress in work or increase their earnings.

Our new service includes an enhanced focus on skills and careers advice and will provide support that is better tailored and personalised. We will embed the principles of accessibility and inclusivity into the design of the Jobs and Careers Service throughout the entire customer journey, acknowledging diverse support needs, including those of individuals over 50.

I thank the hon. Lady for her question; it is one that, like her, I take a deep interest in. Work coaches in jobcentres are trained to recognise a wide range of risks. If they identify safeguarding concerns, including a risk of commercial sexual exploitation, action is taken to escalate them to the appropriate agencies. The DWP does not accept jobs relating to sexual services, or those seeking employees for jobs of a sexual nature.

What steps his Department is taking to help prevent job seekers and welfare claimants being subject to commercial sexual exploitation.

I thank the hon. Lady for her supplementary question. She will appreciate that she is raising a number of issues that are outside my role as Employment Minister, but I will certainly raise them with my ministerial colleagues in the relevant Departments. She may, however, be interested in today’s written ministerial statement on safeguarding in the DWP for vulnerable claimants, which sets out the work that is already under way to deliver in this important area.

Commercial sexual exploitation is the exchange of money, goods or services in return for sex acts. It is a form of violence against women. Inquiries by the all-party parliamentary group on commercial sexual exploitation have revealed that it is now taking place on an industrial scale. With the growth and mainstreaming of sites such as OnlyFans and online brothels such as Vivastreet, does the Minister agree that we should urgently outlaw pimping websites and force all pornography websites to verify the age and ongoing consent of everyone featured on their platform, as is proposed in amendments tabled to the Crime and Policing Bill?

We offer support for those out of work through our network of Jobcentres and contracted employment programmes. However, we recognise the employment challenges faced by some older people and that is why we offer additional support for older jobseekers.

For eligible new over 50s jobseekers on Universal Credit, we offer Additional Work Coach Time (AWCT) which provides more intensive, tailored support during the first nine months of their claim. This is in addition to the skills provision and job search support that work coaches currently offer to Jobcentre customers.

Work coaches and employers are supported by a network of 50PLUS Champions working across all 37 Jobcentre Districts. Champions provide a critical layer of support through Jobcentres to ensure the needs of older people are met. Activity includes facilitating engagement with local employers, promoting age inclusive policies, and supporting work coaches to deliver activity locally.

Further support is available to eligible over 50s on Universal Credit through Midlife MOTs. These are delivered in Jobcentres and provide an opportunity to review health, finances and skills, and signpost to suitable support. There is also a digital Midlife MOT which is available to everyone.

We know that work helps everyone, including older people, play active and fulfilling roles in society while building financial security for retirement. That’s why the Government is committed to reforming employment support to ensure it is inclusive and meets the needs of those who require it.

There have been no direct discussions with the Minister for Women and Equalities’ office on this specific issue. The Government recognises the valuable contribution that women over the age of 50 make to the economy and society. Work helps everyone play active and fulfilling roles in society while building financial security for retirement.

We offer support for those out of work through our network of Jobcentres and contracted employment programmes. However, we recognise the employment challenges faced by some older women and that is why we offer additional support for older jobseekers.

For eligible new over 50s jobseekers on Universal Credit, we offer Additional Work Coach Time (AWCT) which provides more intensive, tailored support during the first nine months of their claim. This is in addition to the skills provision and job search support that work coaches currently offer to Jobcentre customers.

Work coaches and employers are supported by a network of 50PLUS Champions working across all 37 Jobcentre Districts. Champions provide a critical layer of support through Jobcentres, to ensure the needs of older people are met. Activity includes facilitating engagement with local employers, promoting age inclusive policies, and supporting work coaches to deliver activity locally.

Further support is available to eligible over 50s on Universal Credit, through Midlife MOTs, delivered in Jobcentres which provide an opportunity to review health, finances and skills and signpost to suitable support. There is also a digital Midlife MOT which is offer available for everyone.

We know that work helps everyone, including older people, play active and fulfilling roles in society while building financial security for retirement. That’s why the Government is committed to reforming employment support to ensure it is inclusive and meets the needs of those who require it, including unemployed or economically inactive women over the age of 50.

DWP officials also work closely with the Office for Equality and Opportunity on the policy proposals in the Employment Rights Bill which will require large employers with more than 250 employees to produce Menopause Action Plans on how they will support employees through the menopause. The Government has published guidance on menopause, including for small employers on measures to consider relating to uniform and temperature, flexible working and recording menopause related leave and absence.

The Government is committed to providing people who are out of work with the personalised support they need to find work, aiding the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. At the Spending Review, the Government increased funding for employment support to over £3.5 billion by 2028-29, helping people to access the skills they need to progress, tackling unemployment and inactivity and ensuring more people are in better jobs.

There are a wide range of factors to take into consideration when introducing a tax relief. These include how effective the relief would be at achieving the policy intent, how targeted support would be, whether it adds complexity to the tax system, and the cost.

The recent Pathways to Work Green Paper announced our plans to abolish the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and instead use the Personal Independence Payment assessment as the single assessment for additional financial support, subject to parliamentary approval. Once the WCA has been abolished the Department for Work and Pensions will no longer classify people as fit or unfit for work.

The Department published “Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts” alongside the Spring Statement.

This report contains estimated caseloads for the Universal Credit health element from 2026/27 to 2029/30, categorised by whether claimants are receiving the higher rate or the frozen rate from 2025/26.

By 2029/30 an estimated 2.25 million people, the pre-April 2026 current claimants, will still be receiving the higher rate of the UC health element, frozen at its 2025/26 level. A further 730,000 are forecast to be receiving the new lower rate of the health element. All will receive a standard allowance that has been increased by more than CPI inflation.

Table A5: Benefit units affected by UC health element change

Note: Estimates are after behavioural effects and are rounded to the nearest ten thousand. A benefit unit is a single adult or a married or cohabiting couple and any dependent children.

A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.

Our new Get Britain Working plan is designed to reform employment support and create a new jobs and careers service to help people into work. We know that travel costs can be a barrier to work for unemployed customers. Currently the Flexible Support Fund is a discretionary non-recoverable fund, that work coaches can use to remove barriers to work for eligible Universal Credit customers, such as assistance with travel costs.

Furthermore, the Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card is available to eligible customers to offer reduced rail fares supporting them into employment. The main aim of this support is to improve customers’ job and earnings progression prospects and can include travel to interviews.