Benefit levels in the UK

Work and Pensions Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 30 Mar 2023 Closed: 23 May 2024 Parliament page
In our July 2022 report, The cost of living , we heard evidence which suggested that a root cause of the financial challenges households faced “lay in the fundamental inadequacy of social security support”. We therefore recommended that the Government should “review the adequacy of benefit levels and publish its … Read more
11 Recommendations
8 Conclusions
2 Reports
7 Oral sessions
4 Letters
7 Events
Activity timeline 21 events
23 May
2024
Report published
21 Mar
2024
Report published
21 Mar
2024
Report published
21 Feb
2024
Correspondence
14 Dec
2023
Correspondence
6 Dec
2023
Oral evidence
6 Dec
2023
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 6, Palace of Westminster
15 Nov
2023
Correspondence
25 Oct
2023
Correspondence
13 Sep
2023
Oral evidence
13 Sep
2023
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 16, Palace of Westminster
19 Jul
2023
Oral evidence
Oral evidence sessions 7 sessions
6 Dec 2023
View on parliament.uk
Work and Pensions Committee
Katherine Green · Department for Work and Pensions Katie Farrington · Department for Work and Pensions Rt Hon Mel Stride · Department for Work and Pensions
13 Sep 2023
View on parliament.uk
Work and Pensions Committee
Adam Butler · StepChange Brian Dow · Rethink Mental Illness Duncan Shrubsole · Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales Emily Holzhausen OBE · Carers UK Jane Tully · Money Advice Trust Katherine Hill Tom Pollard · New Economics Foundation
19 Jul 2023
View on parliament.uk
Work and Pensions Committee
Andrew Harrop · Fabian Society Céline Jaeggy · UNEDIC Emily Farchy · Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Iain Mansfield · Policy Exchange Kristoffer Lundberg · Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Sweden Mike Brewer · Resolution Foundation Rebecca Deegan · Association of British Insurers
28 Jun 2023
View on parliament.uk
Work and Pensions Committee
Balbir Chatrik · Centrepoint Ben Beadle · National Residential Landlords' Association Ben Twomey · Generation Rent Dr Carin Tunåker · University of Kent Francesca Albanese · Crisis Prof Peter Kemp · Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford Sheila Haig · City of Edinburgh Council Timothy Douglas · Propertymark
14 Jun 2023
View on parliament.uk
Work and Pensions Committee
Deven Ghelani · Policy in Practice Dr Stephen Brien · Social Security Advisory Committee Matthew Oakley · Social Metrics Commission Peter Whiteford · Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University Rt Hon Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP
17 May 2023
View on parliament.uk
Work and Pensions Committee
Ciara Fitzpatrick · Northern Ireland Cliff Edge Coalition David Stickland · Benefits Training Company Dr Steffan Evans · Bevan Foundation James Taylor · Scope Ken Butler · Disability Rights UK Kirsty McHugh · Carers Trust UK Professor Stephen Sinclair · Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit (SPIRU) Tom Lee · Child Poverty Action Group
8 Mar 2023
View on parliament.uk
Work and Pensions Committee
Ashwin Kumar · Manchester Metropolitan University Donald Hirsch · abrdn Financial Fairness Trust Iain Porter · Joseph Rowntree Foundation Nicholas Timmins · Institute for Government Peter Kelly · The Poverty Alliance Robert Joyce · Institute for Fiscal Studies Ryan Shorthouse · Bright Blue
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Second Report - Benefit levels in the UK HC 142 21 Mar 2024 19 Responded
EasyRead Report - Benefit levels in the UK 21 Mar 2024 0
Recommendations & Conclusions
9 results
Clear
2 Recommendation Rejected
Second Report - Benefit levels in …
Commission further research on benefit levels' impact on claimant health and economic productivity
The Government should commission further research to understand the impact of benefit levels on the health and wellbeing of claimants and its relationship with economic productivity. (Paragraph 55) Setting benefit levels: Purpose, principles and policy objectives Read more
Government Response
The government rejects the recommendation, stating it has no plans to commission further research into the impact of benefit levels on health, wellbeing, and economic productivity, citing its focus on incentivising work and existing employment support programmes.
Department for Work and Pensions
View details
4 Recommendation Rejected
Second Report - Benefit levels in …
Outline clear benchmarks for income-replacement benefits, relating to living costs and work incentives
DWP is clear that benefit levels and the design of benefit policy are intended to incentivise work. This is welcome. The Department does not however directly acknowledge the other purpose of benefits: to provide financial support for living costs to … Read more
Government Response
The government rejects the recommendation, stating it does not intend to establish a benchmark for income-replacement benefits.
Department for Work and Pensions
View details
5 Recommendation Rejected
Second Report - Benefit levels in …
Review current benefit levels against benchmarks and outline plans to achieve objectives
Having established a benchmark, the Department should review the extent to which current benefit levels are meeting this benchmark. If DWP finds that it is not meeting these objectives, it should set out how it intends to reach them alongside … Read more
Government Response
The government rejects the recommendation, stating it does not intend to establish a benchmark for income-replacement benefits, which is a prerequisite for the proposed review of benefit levels.
Department for Work and Pensions
View details
10 Recommendation Rejected
Second Report - Benefit levels in …
Devise further opportunities for Parliament to scrutinise government benefit uprating decisions.
We understand that to increase legacy benefits, changes must be made to DWP IT systems several months in advance—with work needing to be completed by the end of November, for increases to be enacted the following April. Parliament however is … Read more
Government Response
The government effectively rejected the recommendation to provide further scrutiny opportunities ahead of the Uprating Order, explaining that the existing statutory process and implementation timelines prevent earlier parliamentary debate.
Department for Work and Pensions
View details
13 Recommendation Rejected
Second Report - Benefit levels in …
Require government to justify deviations from ‘Uprating Guarantee’ and assess their impact.
If the Government decides to deviate from the ‘Uprating Guarantee’, it should clearly set out its reasoning to Parliament. The Government should also undertake work to understand what impact the decision to not follow consistent practice would have on its … Read more
Government Response
The government rejected the recommendation, stating it has no plans to change the existing uprating process under the Social Security Administration Act 1992, thereby not committing to a new 'Uprating Guarantee' or its associated reporting requirements.
Department for Work and Pensions
View details
14 Recommendation Rejected
Second Report - Benefit levels in …
Commit to annually uprating capital limit, benefit cap, and Carer's Allowance earnings threshold.
Policies which reduce the level of support claimants can receive, such as the capital limit rule in means-tested benefits, the benefit cap, and the earnings threshold in Carer’s Allowance, risk reducing benefit levels if they are not regularly uprated in … Read more
Government Response
The government effectively rejected the recommendation to annually uprate the capital limit, benefit cap, and Carer’s Allowance earnings threshold, outlining its existing review cycles and discretionary practices for each.
Department for Work and Pensions
View details
15 Recommendation Rejected
Second Report - Benefit levels in …
Reduce time between inflation measure and benefit uprating implementation, retaining consistency.
We recognise the Department cannot shorten the reference period for benefit uprating due to the DWP IT systems used to uprate legacy benefits. In the longer term, and following the completion of migration to Universal Credit, the Government should aim … Read more
Government Response
The government rejected the recommendation, stating it has no plans to change the length of time between inflation measurement and uprating implementation in the short to medium term due to various interdependencies, despite IT modernisation for State Pensions.
Department for Work and Pensions
View details
16 Conclusion Rejected
Second Report - Benefit levels in …
Make the Household Support Fund a permanent feature of the social security system.
It is welcome that the Government is extending the Household Support Fund (HSF) for a further six months until September 2024. Alongside other benefits, the HSF has provided a vital layer of additional support to households during the cost of … Read more
Government Response
The government rejected making the Household Support Fund permanent, stating it was introduced for high inflation, which is now falling, and confirmed a six-month extension until September 2024 as targeted temporary support.
Department for Work and Pensions
View details
18 Conclusion Rejected
Second Report - Benefit levels in …
DWP has scope to commission independent research on benefit levels and living costs.
The Government of the day has a political mandate to make decisions about benefit adequacy, but its decision-making might be assisted by independent advice. There is scope for DWP to commission independent research, either via an independent body, such as … Read more
Government Response
The government rejected the recommendation, stating the Department currently has no plans to commission independent research into the effectiveness of benefit levels, as it already tracks poverty measures and conducts internal evaluations.
Department for Work and Pensions
View details
Government Response AI assessment · 19 of 11 classified
Accepted 6
Acknowledged 2
Deferred 2
Rejected 9
Total 11 recs + 8 conclusions
Correspondence 4 letters
21 Feb 2024 Correspondence with the Secretary of State relating to Benefit levels in the UK
Parliament page
14 Dec 2023 Correspondence with the Secretary of State relating to Benefit levels in the UK
Parliament page
15 Nov 2023 Correspondence with the Secretary of State relating to benefit deductions
Parliament page
25 Oct 2023 Correspondence to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Chancellor of the Exchequer relating to uprating decisions: Working age benefits
Parliament page