PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(16 December 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the impact of welfare reforms since 2010 on (a) poverty, (b) child poverty, (c) disabled people, (d) women, (e) people of Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds and (f) older people.

Asked by:
Apsana Begum (Independent)

In 2022/23 there were 1.3 million more people in relative low income after housing costs than in 2010/11. The 1.3 million increase comprises 700,000 children, 300,000 working age individuals and 300,000 pensioners. During this period, there was a gradual upward trend in relative poverty (before and after housing costs) for pensioners driven by working age incomes growing at a faster rate than pensioner incomes despite uprating of State Pension and Pensioner benefits limiting this gap.

The table below provides employment rate/level data for disabled people, women, people from an ethnic minority and older people in 2010 and 2024. Employment level and rates rose for the groups between 2010 and 2024.

	Disabled People		Women		Ethnic		Older People
					Minorities
	Level	Rate	Level	Rate	Level	Rate	Level	Rate
April-June 2010	n/a	n/a	13.653m	65.50%	2.772m	59.30%	8.128m	38.40%
April-June 2024	5.534m	53.00%	16.312m	71.90%	5.459m	67.80%	10.891m	41.90%

We are committed to tackling poverty and raising living standards. We know that good work can significantly reduce the chances of people falling into poverty so this will be the foundation of our approach. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will target and tackle economic inactivity and unemployment and join up employment, health and skills support to meet the needs of local communities.

The Child Poverty Taskforce also continues its urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy and will explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change.

We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to do. We started this work with the announcement of the Fair Repayment Rate in the Budget and will continue to work with stakeholders as the review progresses.

Further steps to tackle poverty include our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million and to increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025 to boost the pay of 3 million workers.

It is Government provision through (and ongoing improvement of) the State Pension and benefits system – combined with key interventions for private pensions and the labour market – that forms the foundation of support for pensioners of today and tomorrow.

Answered by:
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1 January 1970