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1138133

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have people on universal credit who have turned down a job offer in the last 12 months have cited lack of affordable childcare as the reason; and how many of those people received (a) a civil penalty and (b) a sanction.
	tabling member constituency	High Peak
	tabling member printed	Ruth George
	uin	275817
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>On Universal Credit, claimants are able to claim up to 85 per cent of their childcare costs, compared to 70 per cent on the legacy system. Where the initial month’s childcare costs may prevent a claimant from starting work, Jobcentres can use the Flexible Support Fund to help claimants. This is a non-repayable award, which can be used to meet the upfront costs of childcare to help support a claimant into work.</p><p> </p><p>Civil Penalties may be imposed by both DWP and Local Authorities, where an individual incurs a recoverable overpayment as a result of failing to provide accurate information as part of their benefit claim or in connection with an award of benefit, and have not taken reasonable steps to correct the error. Civil Penalties are not imposed in the event of a claimant refusing to accept a job offer.</p><p> </p><p>The information request about those receiving a sanction is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/07/2019 15:15:03 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1138168

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 June 2019 to Question 263677, for what reason the letter sent to a universal credit claimant’s journal to confirm an advance payment does not specify the (a) amount to be repaid each month or (b) number of months that the repayments will last; and if he will add that information to that letter.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	275662
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The Department encourages all Universal Credit claimants to actively consider how best to manage their personal budget, with additional advice and support available from work coaches and case managers. When an advance payment is appropriate, claimants decide what percentage of their expected monthly award to apply for and over what period to repay it, up to a maximum of 12 monthly instalments.</p><p>Claimants have the ability to make the decision for themselves on the time period for repayment. Most claimants (around 85%) choose to repay their advance over a 12-month period, with others repaying in a shorter timeframe.</p><p>The Department has taken a number of steps to ensure that advances meet the needs of claimants and that recovery arrangements are personalised and reasonable. From October 2019 we are reducing the maximum rate of deductions to 30 per cent and from October 2021 we are increasing the maximum recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months.</p><p>Claimants can view their Universal Credit statement online to see how their award is calculated and a breakdown of what deductions are being made.</p><p>We are committed to keeping all Universal Credit services and processes, under review and will make improvements where necessary.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/07/2019 15:51:24 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1137829

	registered interest
	date	09/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of claimants have successfully applied for universal credit (a) once, (b) twice and (c) three or more times in the last 12 months.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral West
	tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
	uin	275219
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/07/2019 answer text <p>The proportion of claimants, between July 2018 and June 2019, that have successfully applied for Universal Credit</p><p>a) Once was 91%</p><p>b) Twice was 7%</p><p>c) Three or more times was 1%</p><p> </p><p>A successful application to Universal Credit is defined as a contract for which at least one statement is provided i.e. has received at least one payment.</p><p> </p><p>There are many reasons why a claimant might be required to make a claim on more than one occasion, such as a claimant entering temporary work and then reclaiming at the end of their employment.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><em>Notes: Percentages are rounded to the nearest percent</em><em>.  </em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/07/2019 15:43:12 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1137617

	registered interest
	date	08/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the proportion of claimants who received advance payments (a) below the value of, (b) the same value as and (c) above the value of their first universal credit payment in the most recent month for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Wirral West
	tabling member printed	Margaret Greenwood
	uin	274559
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2019 answer text <p>Claimants can access up to 100% of the total expected monthly award, for which they can pay back over a period of up to 12 months. From October 2021, this maximum repayment period will be extended from 12 to 16 months.</p><p> </p><p>The Department ensures claimants are made aware of their maximum advance entitlement and informed that their Universal Credit award will be adjusted over the relevant recovery period to take into account the advance of benefit they received.</p><p> </p><p>The available data shows that in the 12-month period up to the end of April 2019.</p><p> </p><p>(a) Around 20% of claimants take an advance which is less than 50% of their actual award value</p><p>(b) Around 75% of claimants take an advance which is between 50-100% of their actual award value</p><p>(c) Around 5% of claimants take an advance which is over 100% of their actual award value.</p><p> </p><p><em>To note on C): in a small number of cases the information provided by the claimant at the point of their new claim initially indicates a higher award than is actually applicable when the first assessment period has been completed.</em></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 11/07/2019 15:28:35 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4400 label Biography information for Margaret Greenwood

1136896

	registered interest
	date	04/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publish the (a) forecast number of new claims for universal credit between April 2018 and March 2019, (b) date on which that forecast was made and (c) actual number of new claims made during that period.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	273365
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not available as the Department does not forecast new claims to Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>The actual number of claims made between April 2018 and March 2019 can be found under the ‘Claims to Universal Credit’ dataset available at: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/07/2019 14:01:25 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1136941

	registered interest
	date	04/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans the Government has in place to help people in receipt of universal credit with the cost of childcare over the summer holidays.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	273325
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government recognises that childcare costs can affect parents’ decisions to both obtain and maintain employment and is committed to removing barriers that prevent parents moving into work.</p><p> </p><p>To overcome this barrier to employment, Universal Credit claimants are able to claim up to 85 per cent of their childcare costs, compared to 70 per cent on the legacy system. This can be worth up to £13,000 a year for families with two children.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise the difficulty that some claimants might have in paying childcare costs over the summer holidays and have undertaken significant work to increase work coach awareness, understanding and promotion of both the Universal Credit childcare offer and the wider government childcare offer. This is to ensure that parents who are eligible for the 15 hours of free childcare for disadvantaged families with 2-year-old children, and 30 hours of free childcare for working families, take these up. These free childcare offers can be used in combination with Universal Credit support for childcare.</p><p> </p><p>In addition to this, budgeting advances are available for eligible claimants that can be used to cover the cost of paying additional upfront childcare costs or a deposit that might be needed during the school holidays.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/07/2019 13:43:34 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

1136530

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of universal credit payments were subject to a deduction, excluding sanctions, in the latest month for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	272806
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/07/2019 answer text <p>Of all eligible claims to Universal Credit Full Service due a payment in Feb 2019, 57 per cent (840,000 claims) had a deduction.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p>Deductions include advance repayments and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties which are reductions of benefit rather than deductions.</p><p>Claim numbers may not match official statistics caseloads due to small methodological differences.</p><p>Claim numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/07/2019 13:39:38 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1136531

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the proportion of universal credit claimants who have a deduction for any arrears in the first month of their claim for the last month for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	272807
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/07/2019 answer text <p>In February 2019, 2 per cent of claims which were due their first payment had a deduction for arrears.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p>Figure relates to Universal Credit full service.</p><p>Figures are rounded to the nearest per cent.</p><p>Figures included arrears for gas, electric, water, rent and service charges.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/07/2019 13:29:50 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1136684

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 24 June to Question 266642, for what reasons her Department holds information on the number of universal credit claimants with an existing advance who also receive a maximum budgetary advance and have offered to repay that advance over the maximum time period allowed but does not hold information on the proportion of those people who have repaid their budget advance within the pre-agreed time period.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	272736
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. The Department does collect information on advances paid and repayments for all advances through the Universal Credit award. However, each advance’s repayment progress would need to be tracked separately and a date in which repayment is completed would need to be calculated.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 17:02:17 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1136685

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2019
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Universal Credit
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 28 June to Question 266643, how many people received a universal credit payment between June 2015 and May 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	272737
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/07/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit payments are made at a household rather than individual level. The official Households on Universal Credit statistics series starts in August 2015 and the latest month that has been published so far is February 2019.</p><p> </p><p>2,600,000 households on Universal Credit received at least one payment between August 2015 and February 2019.</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p> </p><p>1) Figures have been rounded to nearest 100,000.</p><p>2) Figures relate to both Universal Credit full service and Universal Credit live service.</p><p>3) If a household has a Managed Payment to Landlord in place, then some or all of their Universal Credit payment may have been paid directly to the landlord.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p /> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 08/07/2019 16:50:05 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe