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1000260

	registered interest
	date	02/11/2018
	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, for what reason the taper that is applied to wages is not applied to pensions in relation to universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	187333
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/11/2018 answer text <p>The taper is the rate at which Universal Credit is reduced to take account of earnings. It is specifically for in work claimants and linked to earnings to incentivise work, and those in work to earn more. Universal Credit has a single taper of 63 per cent so payments reduce in a transparent and predictable way as earnings increase. Universal Credit is a means tested benefit, and income other than earnings, such as pensions, is taken fully into account in the assessment of Universal Credit. This is consistent with how legacy means tested benefits such as Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support treat pension income. Therefore it would not be consistent to extend the earnings taper to pensions income and doing so would also undermine the incentives to work for people of working age.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 12/11/2018 18:05:06 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

935249

	registered interest
	date	06/07/2018
	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 assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the online journal for universal credit; and whether her Department has plans to improve the journals for benefits claimants.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	161553
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2018 answer text <p>The recently published Claimant Survey shows claimants are largely very positive about key aspects of the digital service, such as the journal. Overall, eight in ten (79 per cent) claimants said they found the journal easy to use, while three quarters (75 per cent) said it was a useful way to keep a record of their progress. A similar proportion (74 per cent) said the journal was a useful way to communicate with their work coach, while 68 per cent said they use it to keep evidence of their job seeking or work preparation activity.</p><p> </p><p>As part of our test and learn approach to Universal Credit, we update and improve the full service every two weeks, for example, a recent update gave claimants the ability to apply for an advance through their online account. These updates can include changes to the journal, adding functionality and improving ease of use.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 11/07/2018 16:46:16 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

994667

	registered interest
	date	25/10/2018
	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 criteria her Department uses to determine the repayment rates for Advance Payments awarded to people struggling financially who are in receipt of universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
	tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
	uin	183941
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2018 answer text <p>Universal Credit advances must be repaid in either a maximum of 12 months (for new claim, benefit transfer and budgeting advances) or 6 months (for a change of circumstances advances). The amount of the advance awarded is divided by either up to 6 or 12 to get the appropriate monthly repayment rate.</p><p> </p><p>This is explained in the advance award discussion with the claimant to make sure they can afford to repay the advance. However, if a claimant wishes, they can pay it back in less than the maximum number of months available, as long as the monthly repayment does not exceed the maximum repayment rate of a claimant’s standard allowance, which as a result of the 2018 Autumn Budget will be reduced from 40% to 30%.</p><p> </p><p>If during the recovery of an advance the claimant experiences an unforeseen expense that would cause them or their family genuine hardship if they were required to continue to repay the advance, then they can be offered a deferral period of the repayment of the advance of up to 3 months for a new claim, benefit transfer or change of circumstance advance and up to 6 months for a budgeting advance.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 30/10/2018 18:07:05 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis