Commons Sense

House of Commons · Westminster Hall

Support for Women in Poverty — [Virendra Sharma in the Chair]

23 March 2023 · 4 other contributors · 9,566 words

Opened by Jim Shannon DUP Strangford

Responding minister: Mims Davies

Benefits & WelfareWomen & Equalities

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Jim Shannon raised concerns about support for women in poverty — [virendra sharma in the chair] in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.

Key points

  • Jim Shannon expressed concern about the higher poverty rates among women in the UK, citing statistics on working-age and pension-age women.
  • Shannon requested details on government measures to assist women in poverty, including pension eligibility and access to benefits for those with disabilities or terminal illnesses.
  • Shannon also asked for specific actions to reduce financial burdens on single-parent households and carers and to enhance mental health support services.

Key requests to Government

The hon. Member Jim Shannon asked the Minister for details on measures implemented or planned to assist women in poverty, particularly regarding pension eligibility and access to benefits for those with disabilities or terminal illnesses. He requested specific actions to reduce financial burdens on single-parent households and carers and enhance mental health support services.

How the debate unfolded

MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.

Opened the debate

Jim Shannon DUP Strangford

The hon. Member Jim Shannon expressed deep concern about women's substandard quality of life due to poverty and financial pressures, using personal anecdotes and statistics to highlight issues faced by working-age and pension-age women in the UK. He cited that among those who die at working age, 28% of women spend their last year below the poverty line compared with 26% of men; for pensioners, 14% of women versus 11% of men experience poverty in their final years. Shannon also discussed research indicating higher risks of poverty and mental health issues among women due to unequal societal expectations and economic disparities.

Other contributors (4)
  • Alison McGovern Lab Birkenhead

    McGovern highlighted the importance of women taking leadership roles in politics and mentioned Margaret Bondfield, the first woman Cabinet Minister, to illustrate this point. She emphasised that being a woman is a risk factor for poverty due to the historical economic assumption that care work is done for free by women. McGovern welcomed the Chancellor's announcement on childcare but questioned the Department for Work and Pensions' role in developing it further. Additionally, she asked about DWP studies or analyses of universal credit data related to childcare workforce strategy and adult social care wages. Made a brief intervention, referencing Margaret Bondfield.

  • Carla Lockhart DUP Upper Bann

    The hon. Member Carla Lockhart briefly acknowledged the debate's topic and expressed agreement with her colleague Jim Shannon, emphasizing the importance of addressing poverty among women in their constituencies.

  • Margaret Ferrier SNP Rutherglen and Hamilton West

    Nine out of ten single parents are women, with median gross weekly pay for female single parents being £194.40 compared to £340 for men. The member is concerned that the Government's policies do not adequately address why women are more likely to live in persistent poverty due to a combination of factors including lower pay and part-time work. Economic abuse, which is different from financial abuse as it restricts access to resources alongside money, disproportionately impacts women. There is a need for greater awareness of this issue among women who may be victims but do not realise.

  • Patricia Gibson SNP North Ayrshire and Arran

    She expressed concern about the ongoing cost of living crisis, which disproportionately affects women who are more likely to be in lower-paid jobs or single-parent families. She highlighted that Scotland provides up to 1,140 hours of funded childcare annually compared to England's provision of around 570 free hours for children aged three and four. Gibson also mentioned the need for mandatory reporting on gender pay gaps by employers as a way to close this gap and called for automatic split payments in universal credit to protect women from financial abuse. Patricia Gibson mentioned that Money Matters in her constituency offers a free service to check benefits. She asked the Minister if the DWP should carry out comprehensive benefit checks to ensure people receive their full entitlements.

Government Response

Mims Davies

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Sharma. I congratulate the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) and his colleague, the hon. Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart), who is not here today, for securing this important debate. Over the last decade, the gender pay gap has fallen from 19.6% to 14.9%, although more remains to be done; meanwhile, the percentage of women in employment has risen from 66.1% to 72.2%. The Government have overseen increased numbers of women in full-time work and introduced shared parental leave; they have also doubled free childcare for eligible parents and passed the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 to protect and support women and children affected by domestic abuse. Funding for childcare has exceeded stakeholder expectations, with an increase of universal credit and childcare caps by around one third. The new free entitlements for working parents of young children can be used alongside the universal credit offer, ensuring full-time working parents on benefits do not face childcare costs exceeding their free entitlements and caps. Additionally, split payments are available in the universal credit system to ensure that those with primary caring responsibilities receive a larger percentage of the household award. The Minister also discussed pension credit awareness campaigns, increasing take-up by 73% since April 2022; carer's allowance increases for over one million recipients; and outreach work targeting ethnic minority women in employment, noting a 79.6% increase from more than 1 million to 2.2 million employed ethnic minority women between 2010 and the end of 2022. The Minister highlighted the upcoming national living wage increase by 9.7%, benefiting over two million low-paid workers with an annual earnings increase of £1,600 for full-time workers receiving the National Living Wage. She also mentioned the extension of redundancy protection during maternity leave and its application to pregnant women and new parents upon return from maternity or parental leave, providing security to approximately half a million people at any one time. The Government remain committed to tackling poverty by uprating all benefits and state pensions by 10.1% in the coming financial year.

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