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1434130

registered interest
date	22/02/2022
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release: Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to assist prison leavers to make applications to universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Croydon North
tabling member printed	Steve Reed
uin	127421
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/02/2022 answer text <p>Universal Credit provides vital financial support to prisoners and we are committed to ensuring they progress onto Universal Credit quickly, using it to seek and secure work and so reduce reoffending.</p><p>The government has already made changes to improve access to Universal Credit for prison leavers, including the introduction of a national Universal Credit telephone claim line to provide quick access on the day of release, and also delivered on our manifesto commitment to have a Prison Work Coach in every prison. Prison leavers can also receive an advance payment of Universal Credit entitlement on their day of release.</p><p>Our Prisons Strategy White Paper set out that the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Work and Pensions will work together to test different approaches for prisoners preparing to make their Universal Credit claim. Our aim is to enable prisoners to prepare a Universal Credit claim and claimant commitment while still in custody. We also want to ensure on release the prisoner has ID and a bank account and explore providing an email address so, where needed, they can immediately apply for and be paid a Universal Credit advance.</p> answering member constituency North West Hampshire answering member printed Kit Malthouse question first answered 28/02/2022 16:06:05 answering member 4495 label Biography information for Kit Malthouse
tabling member	4268 label Biography information for Steve Reed

1150691

registered interest
date	18/10/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release: Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the proportion of prisoners who leave custody each month who (a) are eligible for universal credit and (b) apply for that benefit at the point of their release from prison.
tabling member constituency	East Hampshire
tabling member printed	Mr Damian Hinds
uin	1902
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>We recognise that many prison leavers rely on the benefits system to ensure they are able to pay for accommodation and living costs upon release from custody. We are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure prisoners can access Universal Credit as soon as possible on release.</p><p> </p><p>We do not, however, hold data on the proportion of prisoners who leave custody each month who (a) are eligible for universal credit or (b) apply for that benefit at the point of their release from prison centrally and this information could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.</p><p> </p><p>Although the data is not directly comparable, statistics from the 2013 MoJ/DWP/HMRC data share suggested that demand for out-of-work benefits is high. The report found that over half of offenders released from prison were claiming out-of-work benefits one month after release and that two-thirds of working age offenders claimed at least one out-of-work benefit at some point in the two years following their conviction/caution or release from prison in 2010/2011.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 28/10/2019 17:25:44 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds

1150692

registered interest
date	18/10/2019
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Prisoners' Release: Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on arrangements for prisoners to apply for universal credit (a) prior to and (b) no later than their release from custody.
tabling member constituency	East Hampshire
tabling member printed	Mr Damian Hinds
uin	1903
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2019 answer text <p>Ministry of Justice and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) ministers regularly meet, the last time being in July 2019, and will meet again soon. In the July meeting, both departments were keen to progress work to better prepare prisoners for release, including improving access to Universal Credit.</p><p> </p><p>The DWP has piloted a number of changes that will support offenders making claims prior to release. We are working closely with the DWP to take forward the learning from these pilots. One area that the pilots highlighted was the important role that dedicated DWP Prison Work Coaches play in our prison system to ensure access to Universal Credit. We continue to work with DWP to help support these work coaches, and to ensure they have both the right physical environment and information on and access to prisoners required for efficient working.</p><p> </p><p>In July 2019, we published the National Partnership Agreement with the DWP. This sets out how the departments will collaborate to improve access to Universal Credit for prison leavers to ensure they have timely access to financial support on release.</p> answering member constituency South East Cambridgeshire answering member printed Lucy Frazer question first answered 28/10/2019 17:26:32 answering member 4517 label Biography information for Lucy Frazer
tabling member	3969 label Biography information for Damian Hinds