Work and Pensions Committee

The Committee scrutinised DWP’s progress one year on from its safeguarding vulnerable claimants report, focusing on whether safeguarding, training, referrals and multi-agency working had improved. Witnesses welcomed some gains — especially ACSSL links, centralised training, written statements and some collaborative engagement — but said change was uneven, slow and overly reactive. They pressed for stronger mandatory safeguarding training, better referrals, clearer and more transparent learning from serious incidents, and a shift away from DWP-controlled consultation toward genuine co-production with disabled people. A major area of concern was universal credit managed migration from ESA, where witnesses said vulnerable claimants were falling through gaps, losing money or safeguards, and suffering due to inflexible systems, poor referrals and inconsistent use of easements. The session also covered sanctions, accessibility, overpayments, carer’s allowance and the need for statutory advocacy/advice, with repeated calls for DWP to cede power, improve transparency and rethink culture and conditionality.

The Committee scrutinised whether the child poverty strategy is ambitious enough and how it will be delivered locally. Witnesses broadly welcomed the strategy’s income measures, especially scrapping the two-child limit, but argued it needs stronger action on housing costs, local services, data, long-term funding, and support for families facing NRPF, lone-parent poverty, care experience and migration-related barriers. The panel also pressed for child poverty action plans, better monitoring, and stronger cross-government alignment, while witnesses flagged the crisis and resilience fund, family hubs and social outcomes commissioning as important but uneven or incomplete tools.

The Work and Pensions Committee’s 20 May 2026 inquiry session scrutinised the drivers of youth NEET (not in education, employment or training) and the UK’s approach to education, skills and welfare. Witnesses emphasised that NEET is driven by health/inactivity and structural labour-market weaknesses, not just unemployment. The discussion stressed horizontal, cross-government reform over vertical silos, with a planned two-phase review (diagnostic then solutions), greater employer and local-authority engagement, and learning from international models (Germany’s dual-system, Denmark/Norway youth guarantees). Panel members and witnesses urged a “mission-based” governance approach and highlighted housing, transport, and welfare incentives as critical levers. The session also brought in OECD and German/VET evidence on apprenticeships, costs, and parity of esteem, and contrasted UK policies with the EU Youth Guarantee framework, noting the need for earlier, more integrated, well-funded interventions to reduce NEET prevalence and long-term scarring among young people.

The Work and Pensions Committee questioned Skills England on its formation, cross-government positioning, and delivery approach aimed at aligning the skills system with growth and regional needs. Witnesses described Skills England as an arm’s length government agency within the DWP (launched June 2025) intended to address misalignment in the skills system, and emphasised cross-government collaboration (Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, Labour Market Evidence Group) and regionally-anchored place-based work with mayoral authorities and local partners. They highlighted actions to improve youth employability (addressing NEETs), expansion of AI-related and modular apprenticeship offerings, and a new Investment and Infrastructure Service to build local talent pipelines for major projects. The committee pressed for tangible outcomes, including clearer pathways for young people, simpler navigation for employers (especially SMEs), and concrete KPIs in a forthcoming delivery plan and annual report. They signposted continued data-sharing with the Jobs and Careers Service, and international cross-border learnings, while acknowledging hard choices such as the defunding of Level 7 provision. Government commitments articulated include ongoing cross-department collaboration (notably with DWP, DBT, Home Office), prioritising place-based solutions, and publishing measurable impact through KPIs and delivery plans.

This session scrutinised the Government’s child poverty strategy through a joint Education and Work and Pensions inquiry. Witnesses from academia and think-tanks stressed: (1) social-security-led poverty reduction over reliance on employment, (2) the removal of the two-child limit and the need to end the benefit cap, (3) the importance of cross-government governance and place-based approaches to tackling poverty, (4) the value and challenges of new poverty measures (deep material poverty) alongside relative poverty, (5) data limitations in poverty reporting (FRS quality) and the case for real-time lived experience evidence, (6) education-focused interventions (extension of pupil premium beyond GCSEs; tutoring) and early-years/hubs, and (7) the role of the Social Mobility Commission in monitoring progress. The session produced policy suggestions on uprating housing support, reforming benefit fairness, expanding targeted education funding, and strengthening monitoring with qualitative and place-based evidence.

The Work and Pensions Committee questioned the Government’s approach to transitioning to the State Pension Age (SPA). Ministers and civil servants framed SPA policy as balancing long-term sustainability with fairness, equity, and practical support for those affected, emphasising health, employment, and inequality considerations. Key government commitments included finishing the Secretary of State’s SPA review by March 2029, publishing interim findings in spring 2026, increasing investment in employment-support programmes (notably Pathways to Work) to £1 billion by the end of the Parliament, and maintaining the triple lock through this Parliament. The witnesses also stressed that the health service and welfare system must function effectively to support older workers, and highlighted ongoing work with the Mayfield review and Keep Britain Working initiatives to improve job quality and employer-employee dynamics. While asserting essential reforms, the panel acknowledged areas of concern, including: (i) the potential poverty impact on those near SPA, especially in lower-income groups; (ii) the need for clearer communication and better impact assessments; (iii) mixed-age couple rules affecting 70,000 households; and (iv) the prospect of not using mandation powers in the pensions regime. The discussion also touched on future-proofing pensions through private savings, healthcare integration, and broader labour-market reforms to accommodate ageing populations and rising AI-related disruption.