AQW 28461/22-27

Ms Sian Mulholland
Alliance Party
North Antrim

Tabled Date: 09/06/2025
Answered On Date: 05/08/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail any assessment his Department has made of the potential impact on child poverty levels, following Trussells projections of an increase of 15,000 additional people being in hunger and hardship by 2029/30 following the UK Government’s disability benefit reforms.

Answer:

I recognise the seriousness of the projections published by the Trussell Trust. However, since the publication of the Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper and the introduction of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill in Parliament, the UK Government has made several concessions which have lessened the impacts of its original proposals.

In her Written Statement of 30 June 2025, Liz Kendall MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, announced that new Personal Independence Payment (PIP) eligibility rules will apply only to new claims from November 2026, with protections to maintain the real-terms value of Universal Credit (UC) payments for those with severe conditions or nearing end of life.

During the Bill’s second stage debate on 1 July, the UK Government committed to amending the Bill to remove entirely the clauses relating to the PIP changes, pending the outcome of the forthcoming PIP review.

My officials have been working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions to assess the proposed changes and their implications for Northern Ireland, and the impact analysis is available on the Department’s website at https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/publications/universal-credit-and-personal-independence-payment-bill-impact-analysis-tables-30-june-2025.

The Universal Credit Bill: Universal Credit Rebalancing Impact Assessment dated 7 July 2025, which includes reference to Northern Ireland, has been published by the UK Government and is available at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/59-01/0267/IA0707.pdf