Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the Department for Work and Pensions on 3 February 2026.

Historic legislation to end the two-child limit and lift hundreds and thousands of children out of poverty has moved a step closer to reality today.

• Legislation to end the two-child limit which would deliver the biggest reduction in child poverty in a single parliament on record, has second reading today.
• Comes as Local Authorities receive £1 billion Crisis and Resilience funds which will prevent families from falling into poverty and crisis.
• All part of the landmark Child Poverty Strategy set to tackle the root causes of poverty and deliver security, opportunity, and respect for families across the UK.

Historic legislation to end the two-child limit and lift hundreds and thousands of children out of poverty has moved a step closer to reality today.

As the bill to scrap the two-child limit reaches second reading stage in Parliament, Local Authorities are preparing to deliver the new £1 billion Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) – the most significant investment in local crisis support in a generation, giving families a genuine safety net to help families with the cost of living.

Launching in April and split across Local Authorities throughout England, the Crisis and Resilience Fund is the first time a multi-year settlement will be in place for crisis support, replacing the annual cliff-edge funding cycle with the long-term certainty councils need to plan ahead and deliver lasting change.

The £1 billion Crisis and Resilience Fund will replace the Household Support Fund and brings together Discretionary Housing Payments into a single, streamlined grant. This simplified approach will reduce administrative burden on councils while ensuring families can access the support they need when they need it.

This will allow the fund to act as a genuine safety net to prevent families from falling into poverty by giving Local Authorities the certainty they need to run long-lasting initiatives targeted at the needs of their local area.

Both measures form part of the government’s Child Poverty Strategy, the most ambitious plan to tackle child poverty in a generation. The two-child limit is the biggest single driver of growth in child poverty levels, removing it is the quickest and most cost-effective way to lift 450,000 children out of poverty in the final year of this parliament.

Including measures such as expanded free school meals and free childcare hours, the strategy aims to break the cycle of children growing up in poverty facing worse outcomes in health, education and employment, in turn building a stronger Britain for the future.

Minister for Employment Dame Diana Johnson, said:

“Families deserve support before a crisis hits, not after. By scrapping the two-child limit and launching a £1 billion Crisis and Resilience Fund, we’re giving councils the tools to help families build real financial security.

“Growing up in poverty has a significant impact on health, education and employment and lifting 550,000 children out of these circumstances isn’t just about fairness today, it’s about building a stronger Britain for the future.”

Co-designed with Councils and charities, the Government has released guidance on how the funding could be spent including initiatives to join up local services like debt advice and help to access financial support, helping those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and programmes to ensure children do not go hungry during school holidays.

The Minister for Employment will today (3 February) visit Hope4All in Sunderland, where a community-led food club and advice service has cut local food bank reliance by 40% – demonstrating the importance of local initiatives, run by those who understand the needs of their communities.

Sabine Goodwin, Director of the Independent Food Aid Network, said:

“The eagerly awaited Crisis and Resilience Fund is set to be groundbreaking for households living on low incomes in English local authorities. Its newly published guidance outlines the delivery of effective crisis support via prioritised cash payments enabling choice and dignity as well as the need to help residents build financial resilience through bolstered community support.

“Taking a cash-first approach to poverty, this multi-year funding pot has the capacity to reduce the number of people having to turn to charitable food providers and to help fulfil the Government’s commitment to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.”

Funding for the CRF has been confirmed until 31 March 2029, a significant shift from short-term emergency pots that limited Councils ability to plan ahead and build joined-up services that that would have a meaningful impact on their local community and result in genuine poverty prevention. The £1 billion package replaces the Household Support Fund and incorporates Discretionary Housing Payments, streamlining support into a single grant. Alongside the guidance, provisional allocations have already been shared with all councils.

Emma Revie, co-chief executive at Trussell, said:

We are delighted to see the Crisis and Resilience Fund launched this year, and to have been able to work with the government and our partners to ensure it is designed to provide effective support for people at risk of needing a food bank. Every day, food banks see how people living on the lowest incomes can be quickly tipped into crisis by an unexpected cost or financial shock such as illness or a job loss. Effective crisis support is crucial to prevent people from falling into severe hardship, so they can still afford the essentials we all need.

The new Crisis and Resilience Fund is a vital step towards ensuring no-one is forced to turn to a food bank to get by, and represents important progress on the government’s manifesto commitment to ending the need for emergency food. We welcome its development, which is based on the evidence and insights from our community of food banks and other experts in the Crisis Support Working Group and we look forward to continuing this work in partnership to help end the need for food banks for good.

The government is also taking wider action to help families by driving down the cost of living with measures including increasing the National Living Wage, cutting an average £150 from household energy bills and freezing rail and prescription charges.

The press release issued by the Department for Work and Pensions on 3 February 2026.

Disabled people are set to benefit from the expertise of some of the world’s tech giants to help make the workplace more accessible to them.

• Government brings together tech giants and disability charities to improve workplace accessibility.
• Discussions explored how emerging technologies can create new job opportunities for disabled people.
• Initiative supports the government’s mission to help people into good jobs.

Disabled people are set to benefit from the expertise of some of the world’s tech giants to help make the workplace more accessible to them.

The Department for Work and Pensions hosted a meeting with big tech companies Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon, alongside leading UK disability charities to identify practical ways that cutting-edge technology can remove barriers preventing disabled people from finding and keeping jobs.

Technologies such as screen readers, real-time captioning, and AI-powered visual description tools are already helping disabled employees perform tasks.

It marked the first step in a larger conversation the government wants to see take place around assistive technology breaking down barriers to work and complements wider action to help disabled people into work.

This includes the Connect to Work programme which will help 300,000 sick or disabled people into work by the end of this Parliament, and the government’s engagement with employers following Sir Charlie Mayfield’s Keep Britain Working Review.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said:

We must harness the power of technology to open more opportunities for disabled people to work.

By bringing together the biggest names in tech with those who understand the barriers disabled people face, we can identify the tools and approaches that will help build workplaces that truly support everyone.

This is part of our wider mission to Get Britain Working – investing in employment support and working with employers to create genuinely inclusive workplaces.

Vice President Accessibility and Engagement at Meta Maxine Williams said:

Technology has the power to unlock opportunities for everyone, and we’re committed to building tools that help people live, work, and connect on their own terms.

Our AI-powered wearables are transforming accessibility by providing real-time support that helps people with disabilities navigate work and public spaces independently, unlocking new possibilities for employment and connection.

Chief Executive at Scope Mark Hodgkinson said:

There are a million disabled people who want to work, but many face barriers such as inflexible workplaces, negative attitudes and outdated systems.

We need government, employers, and others to come together to tackle these barriers. To make it easier for disabled people to get in work and stay in work.

The current pace of technological development and growth in the availability of accessibility features is an opportunity which cannot be missed.

The Work and Pensions Secretary brought the groups together to explore how existing accessibility innovations can be more widely adopted in workplaces, and to encourage further collaboration on tools designed specifically for employment settings.

Many common workplace technologies now include effective assistive features, and new tools – such as AI-powered glasses that describe surroundings for visually impaired users – are coming onto the market. However, awareness of these tools varies, and many workplaces may not yet be fully set up to use them.

The discussion was about moving beyond tick boxes to explore practical integration of assistive technology in everyday work.

Director of Workforce Staffing at Amazon Jaqui Sampson said:

At Amazon, creating an accessible workplace goes far beyond simply doing the right thing. It’s about unlocking talent. When barriers are removed and technology is designed inclusively, people are better able to thrive at work.

By working with government and disability organisations, we’re helping to ensure innovations are meaningfully embedded in everyday workplaces. This approach strengthens our teams, broadens opportunity and helps build a more inclusive and resilient workforce across the UK.

Head of Accessibility, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Guide Dogs UK Alex Pepper said:

It’s encouraging to see major technology companies coming together to open opportunities in the workplace. Assistive technology can remove barriers at work, but it is not a solution on its own. Without accessible recruitment, the right training and affordability, it risks creating new exclusions. At Guide Dogs, we see technology, human expertise and guide dogs as a blended solution – and the same joined-up approach is essential if workplaces are serious about inclusion.

CEO at Lightyear Foundation Jeff Banks said:

Today’s roundtable was an incredibly valuable opportunity to move beyond broad commitments and focus on how AI and assistive and accessible technologies can be embedded into real working environments.

For deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people, the issue is not whether the technology exists, but whether employers understand it, adopt it well, and involve disabled people in shaping how it is used. Collaboration between government, tech companies and disabled-led organisations will be essential if we are serious about turning innovation into more inclusive employment opportunities in the future.

Director of Policy, Policy Connect, Robert McLaren said:

We know Assistive and Accessible Technology is vital to the success of disabled people – I certainly wouldn’t be able to do my job without these tools. That makes the adoption of this technology, in business and the public sector, one of the great challenges and opportunities for our economy.

CEO at Ability Net Amy Low said:

At AbilityNet we have seen tech advancements in the past 5 years alone blow the doors off the art of the possible when it comes to disability inclusion in the workplace.

This gathering was exciting as in the room we had all the right people – big tech, government departments and third sector representatives, many of us with lived experience of disability and neurodivergence – to mount a collaborative campaign to drive this awareness at every level in an organisation.

CEO at Business Disability Forum Diane Lightfoot said:

Technology is moving at pace. Disabled people need to be involved in the design of AI-powered tools from the very beginning to ensure they are designed inclusively.

Employers must also be at the heart of these conversations to make sure solutions are practical, scalable and meet wider business security and compatibility requirements. By coming together, we can harness the potential of technology to remove barriers in the workplace and beyond.

Additional information:

• Attendees included representatives from Meta UK, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Lightyear Foundation, Business Disability Forum, AbilityNet, Disability Rights UK, Regional Stakeholder Network, Scope, Guide Dogs, RNID, Global Disability Innovation Hub, Atech Policy Lab.
• A £1 billion government investment has already been announced to help disabled people into employment by the end of the decade. This includes the Connect to Work programme which will help 300,000 sick or disabled people into work by the end of this Parliament.
• The Disability Confident scheme is being overhauled with tougher standards and tailored support for smaller businesses, with 19,000 employers have already signed up.
• A number of early employer adopters will address issues highlighted in the Keep Britain Working Review have also been launched, and the government announced the national expansion of WorkWell across England, which will support up to 250,000 more people with health conditions.
• Nine inactivity trailblazers backed by £125 million are also launching across England and Wales. These bring together health, skills and employment support to help people back into work.

The press release issued by the Department for Work and Pensions on 3 February 2026.

Twelve experts appointed to the steering group for the Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

• Group will work alongside three co-chairs to look at the role of PIP, ensuring it is fair and fit for the future.
• First ever full review of PIP since its introduction will report to Secretary of State in autumn 2026.

Disabled people will have their voices at the centre of the first ever comprehensive review of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) with the appointment of twelve members to its steering group.

The group of appointed members will bring lived experience of disability or long-term health conditions as well as direct experience of working within Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs).

Their experience spans welfare policy, accessibility and advocacy, and there are members with a background in co-production, governance, and leadership.

The group will provide strategic direction and help set priorities and a work plan for the Timms Review, alongside the Review’s three co-chairs, Minister Sir Stephen Timms, Sharon Brennan and Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE.

Together, they will look at the role of PIP in allowing disabled people to achieve better health and live independent lives; the PIP assessment criteria; and how the assessment could provide access to the right support across the benefits system.

The Timms Review will report to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions by autumn 2026, with an interim update expected ahead of that.

Minister for Social Security and Disability Sir Stephen Timms said:

Disabled people deserve a system that truly supports them to live with independence and dignity, and that fairly reflects the reality of their lives today.

That’s why we’re putting disabled people at the heart of this Review – ensuring their voices shape the changes that will help them achieve better health, greater independence, and access to the right support when they need it.

We’re delighted to announce the appointment of the steering group members, who alongside myself and the Review’s co-chairs will report back to the Secretary of State in the autumn.

Co-chair Sharon Brennan said:

The group we have chosen shows our commitment to ensuring this review is co produced with people from a diversity of backgrounds including lived and living experience, protected characteristics, geographies and professions.

But 15 people can’t represent everyone, which is why our work will be part of a wider engagement process to ensure we hear from many more voices throughout the review.

Co-chair Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE said:

Personal Independence Payment plays a vital role in enabling disabled people to live independent lives.

This Review will listen closely to lived experience, test whether the system is fair, and ensure PIP reflects the realities of disability in the modern world.

The steering group members are:

• Dr Mark Brookes MBE, Advocacy Lead, Dimensions UK
• George Fielding, Disability rights advocate and Non-Executive Advisor
• Tara Flood, Head of Co-production, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
• Mark Fosbrook, Disability Inclusion Manager, West Midlands Combined Authority
• Ben Geiger, Professor of Social Science and Health, King’s College London
• Katrina Gilman, National Officer for Disability Equality, UNISON
• Jean-André Prager, Senior Fellow, Policy Exchange and Director, Flint Global
• Dr Lucy Reynolds, Chair of Board of Trustees, Disability North, and Founder, We Are All Disabled CIC
• Dr Felix Shi, Lecturer in Management, Bangor University
• Dr Dharshana Sridhar, Head of Public Affairs, Spinal Injuries Association
• Phil Stevens, CEO, Disability Action Haringey, and Chair of the Board of Trustees, Disability Action in Islington
• Leila Talmadge, Founder and former Director, Autistic Knowledge Development CIC

The goal of the Review is to ensure that PIP is fair and fit for the future – reflecting the reality of people’s conditions and their goals and ambitions, and taking account of changes in society since it was first devised and introduced. Since PIP was introduced in 2013, there have been shifting trends in long-term health conditions and disability. More people are living with a disability, but the increase in the number in receipt of disability benefits is double the rate of increasing prevalence among working-age adults in England and Wales.

PIP claims have grown considerably in recent years. In 2019, there were two million working-age people in receipt of PIP. This number grew by 50 percent in the following five years and is set to more than double from two to over four million people by the end of the decade.