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<p>Universal Credit payments are designed to mirror the world of work, with monthly
payments reflecting the way many working people are paid. This model of monthly payments
allows claimants to take responsibility for budgeting their own income and helps prepare
them for getting back to work.</p><p> </p><p>Advance payments of Universal Credit
are not loans. They are Universal Credit paid early, which is then recovered over
an agreed period via deductions from the claimant’s Universal Credit award. No claimant
has to go five weeks without receiving support, as advances, worth up to 100 per cent
of a claimant’s indicative award, are available up front, if there is need. Advances
are paid back over a period of 12 months and in the Autumn Budget 2018, we announced
that from October 2021, the payback period for these advances will be extended further,
up to 16 months. This is just one of a number of measures the Department has put in
place to support claimants such as paying those claimants moving from Housing Benefit
onto Universal Credit a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing
a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance
and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.</p>
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