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1063609

registered interest
date	18/02/2019
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: Housing
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 February to Question 220052 on Universal Credit, if she will publish the evidential basis for the statement that the indications at this stage are that Universal Credit actually helps to clear these arrears over time; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	222594
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/02/2019 answer text <p>Following the initial work summarised in the NAO report with a single housing provider, we are currently carrying out analysis of this issue with a number of housing providers, to investigate and understand the true level of rent arrears for their tenants, what is causing them and any impacts Universal Credit may be having. It will be published when completed.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 21/02/2019 15:43:46 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1059730

registered interest
date	12/02/2019
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: Housing
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 effect of the roll-out of universal credit on levels of rent arrears among claimants.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	220052
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/02/2019 answer text <p>Safeguards are in place for Universal Credit claimants, including Advances, budgeting support and Alternative Payment Arrangements and claimants already receiving Housing Benefit are paid an additional two weeks of Housing Benefit to support them whilst they transition to monthly payments on Universal Credit. Our work coaches gauge claimants’ financial needs from their first interview and can refer them to more specialist support for debt advice if required.</p><p> </p><p>According to latest figures (August 2018), only about 7% of social rented households were claiming Universal Credit. Many tenants have pre-existing rent arrears at the start of their claim; indications at this stage are that Universal Credit actually helps to clear these arrears over time.</p><p /> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 18/02/2019 16:27:47 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1046829

registered interest
date	23/01/2019
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: Housing
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 3 December 2018 to Question 196906 on Universal Credit: Housing, whether she has made an assessment of the potential effect on levels of poverty among universal credit claimants of not amending universal credit regulations to allow the housing cost element for renters to be calculated for a 53-week year in 2019-20; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Cambridge
tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
uin	211790
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2019 answer text <p>The Department has looked into this issue again and has concluded that neither tenants or landlords suffer financial disadvantage in 53 weekly payment years.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit simplifies the welfare system for working age claimants and is paid on a monthly cycle to reflect the fact that the vast majority of people receive their wages monthly. Many social landlords still expect their tenants to pay rent on a weekly basis, a practice based upon a time when both wages and benefits were paid weekly.</p><p>This perceived issue is caused by the impossibility of accurately aligning weekly and monthly payment cycles at all points in time. By selecting a random period, it is possible to show a theoretical shortfall which does not exist in practice. Having 53 rent payment days does not mean having a higher rental liability over the course of the year; some of the days covered by the final payment will relate to the next year because a year never contains 53 full weeks.</p><p> </p><p>The effect of this is that, over the course of the next housing association rental year, a tenant’s UC payments will accurately reflect their liability, irrespective of the 53 payment weeks.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 211791 question first answered 31/01/2019 12:24:44 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1046831

registered interest
date	23/01/2019
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: Housing
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 3 December 2018 to Question 196906, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of not adjusting universal credit regulations to allow the housing cost element for renters to be calculated for a 53 week year in 2019-20 on the potential increase in the amount of claimants' debt.
tabling member constituency	Cambridge
tabling member printed	Daniel Zeichner
uin	211791
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2019 answer text <p>The Department has looked into this issue again and has concluded that neither tenants or landlords suffer financial disadvantage in 53 weekly payment years.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit simplifies the welfare system for working age claimants and is paid on a monthly cycle to reflect the fact that the vast majority of people receive their wages monthly. Many social landlords still expect their tenants to pay rent on a weekly basis, a practice based upon a time when both wages and benefits were paid weekly.</p><p>This perceived issue is caused by the impossibility of accurately aligning weekly and monthly payment cycles at all points in time. By selecting a random period, it is possible to show a theoretical shortfall which does not exist in practice. Having 53 rent payment days does not mean having a higher rental liability over the course of the year; some of the days covered by the final payment will relate to the next year because a year never contains 53 full weeks.</p><p> </p><p>The effect of this is that, over the course of the next housing association rental year, a tenant’s UC payments will accurately reflect their liability, irrespective of the 53 payment weeks.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 211790 question first answered 31/01/2019 12:24:44 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4382 label Biography information for Daniel Zeichner

1020732

registered interest
date	06/12/2018
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: Housing
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 remove the non-dependent deduction from universal credit housing costs for people aged over 21 who are students.
tabling member constituency	Liverpool, Walton
tabling member printed	Dan Carden
uin	199913
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/12/2018 answer text <p>A student aged 21, whose circumstances require that a housing costs contribution is applied and is not in an exemption category, will likely be receiving a student loan or grant for daily maintenance and so has funds to make a contribution toward their accommodation costs. It is right that the student, aged 21 or over makes a contribution toward these costs.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 11/12/2018 12:30:47 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4651 label Biography information for Dan Carden

1016357

registered interest
date	28/11/2018
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: Housing
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 amend universal credit regulations to allow for the housing cost element for renters to be calculated for a 53-week year in 2019-20; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Oxford West and Abingdon
tabling member printed	Layla Moran
uin	196906
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/12/2018 answer text <p>Universal Credit is calculated and paid on monthly cycles to reflect the fact that the vast majority of people receive their wages monthly. Many social landlords still expect their tenants to pay rent on a weekly basis, a practice based upon a time when both wages and benefits were paid weekly. The effect of this is that, roughly every six years, there will be 53 payment days in a twelve-month period with the result that, over the cycle, the average social sector tenant will receive approximately 35p a week less towards their rent. A key principle of Universal Credit is that it simplifies the benefit system for working age claimants and re-assessing housing costs to reflect the number of rent payments in any particular year would be complicated and lead to confusion. As such, the Department has no plans to amend these regulations.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 03/12/2018 11:17:29 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4656 label Biography information for Layla Moran

1013176

registered interest
date	23/11/2018
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: Housing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the number and proportion is of universal credit claimants who had a deduction to repay housing arrears in the most recent month for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	195130
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2018 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has a duty to protect public funds and an obligation to ensure that, in accordance with social security legislation, any overpayment of benefit resulting from claimant error or fraud is recovered.</p><p> </p><p>I can confirm that there were 92,760 Universal Credit claimants who had a deduction from their Universal Credit as a recovery against a benefit overpayment within October 2018.</p><p> </p><p>Housing costs are defined in two ways:</p><ol><li>Owner-occupier service charges and</li><li>Rent, including service charges</li></ol><p> </p><p>The information on (a) is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>The latest available data is for eligible claims to UC Full Service that are due a payment in September 2018. Of these claims, 5% have a deduction from their standard allowance to repay rent arrears. This equates to 45,000 claims (rounded to the nearest 1,000).</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 195129 195131 question first answered 28/11/2018 16:05:44 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1013177

registered interest
date	23/11/2018
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: Housing
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 claimants who had a deduction to repay housing arrears in the most recent month for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
tabling member printed	Catherine West
uin	195131
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/11/2018 answer text <p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has a duty to protect public funds and an obligation to ensure that, in accordance with social security legislation, any overpayment of benefit resulting from claimant error or fraud is recovered.</p><p> </p><p>I can confirm that there were 92,760 Universal Credit claimants who had a deduction from their Universal Credit as a recovery against a benefit overpayment within October 2018.</p><p> </p><p>Housing costs are defined in two ways:</p><ol><li>Owner-occupier service charges and</li><li>Rent, including service charges</li></ol><p> </p><p>The information on (a) is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>The latest available data is for eligible claims to UC Full Service that are due a payment in September 2018. Of these claims, 5% have a deduction from their standard allowance to repay rent arrears. This equates to 45,000 claims (rounded to the nearest 1,000).</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 195129 195130 question first answered 28/11/2018 16:05:44 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1010334

registered interest
date	19/11/2018
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: Housing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what representations she has received on the effect of the universal credit minimum income floor on the amount of housing element support self-employed claimants are entitled to compared with their housing benefit entitlement under the legacy benefit system.
tabling member constituency	Kensington
tabling member printed	Emma Dent Coad
uin	192952
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/11/2018 answer text <p>The Minimum Income Floor (MIF) is applied to the total maximum Universal Credit entitlement. Consequently, the issue of how it affects the housing element does not arise.</p><p><strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 23/11/2018 10:46:03 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4683 label Biography information for Emma Dent Coad

1010386

registered interest
date	19/11/2018
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: Housing
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 receiving the housing element of universal credit are women.
tabling member constituency	Arfon
tabling member printed	Hywel Williams
uin	192808
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2018 answer text <p>We can provide an estimate based on households claiming Universal Credit by matching the Universal Credit household dataset (which contains information about the Housing Element), with the people on Universal Credit dataset (which contains information about gender). The table gives the estimated number of claimants receiving the Housing Element of Universal Credit in Great Britain, August 2018. The notes should be read in conjunction with the information provided in the table.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><p>Estimated number of households in payment and receiving the Housing Element of Universal Credit, Great Britain, August 2018</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total</p></td><td><p>530,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Occupied by women (single or in a couple)</p></td><td><p>365,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Occupied by men (single or in a couple)</p></td><td><p>248,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Unknown</p></td><td><p>-</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong>Source:</strong> Universal Credit household dataset <strong>and</strong> people on Universal Credit dataset</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><ol><li>The figures are derived from unpublished information and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.</li></ol><ol start="2"><li>Figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand. Individual figures may not add up to the total due to rounding.</li><li>A count date of the second Thursday of the month is used when calculating the statistics for the people and households on Universal Credit.</li><li>Further information on the background and methodology can be accessed here: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/739399/universal-credit-statistics-background-methodology.pdf" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/739399/universal-credit-statistics-background-methodology.pdf</a></li></ol> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 27/11/2018 15:31:53 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	1397 label Biography information for Hywel Williams