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1202256

registered interest
date	10/06/2020
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 benefit cap has not been raised in line with recent increases in universal credit payments.
tabling member constituency	Midlothian
tabling member printed	Owen Thompson
uin	58017
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/06/2020 answer text <p>There are currently no plans to change the benefit cap. The Benefit Cap restores fairness between those receiving out-of-work benefits and taxpayers.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 57279 question first answered 15/06/2020 17:00:54 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	4482 label Biography information for Owen Thompson

1201801

registered interest
date	09/06/2020
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 new applications for universal credit there were in each constituency since 1 March 2020.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	57257
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/06/2020 answer text <p>Statistics for Universal Credit claims by postcode area, and starts by postcode area and Jobcentre Plus office can be found on Stat-Xplore:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p>The available information on the number of households with children on Universal Credit, by parliamentary constituency, is published and can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><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> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 57258 question first answered 15/06/2020 16:25:52 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1201803

registered interest
date	09/06/2020
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 new applications there were for universal credit by households with children in each constituency since 1 March 2020.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow South West
tabling member printed	Chris Stephens
uin	57258
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/06/2020 answer text <p>Statistics for Universal Credit claims by postcode area, and starts by postcode area and Jobcentre Plus office can be found on Stat-Xplore:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p>The available information on the number of households with children on Universal Credit, by parliamentary constituency, is published and can be found at:</p><p><a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/</a></p><p> </p><p>Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:</p><p><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> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 57257 question first answered 15/06/2020 16:25:53 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4463 label Biography information for Chris Stephens

1201567

registered interest
date	05/06/2020
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 claims for universal credit that have been processed by her Department since 29 March 2020 have resulted in people not qualifying for a payment.
tabling member constituency	Bermondsey and Old Southwark
tabling member printed	Neil Coyle
uin	55691
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2020 answer text <p>The Department has been working to ensure we get support as quickly as possible to those individuals and households most financially affected by the coronavirus pandemic. It has been a longstanding principle of Universal Credit that an assessment of earnings, other income and capital is needed to establish eligibility to target support to those most in need. There may be several reasons why someone is not eligible to receive Universal Credit, will have received a nil award or withdrew their claim. Among other reasons, this includes:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Speculative claims which were subsequently withdrawn.</li><li>Found new employment (which may at present include being rehired under the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme or taken advantage of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme),</li><li>Redundancy payments affecting their entitlement,</li><li>The last month’s salary taken account. The key principle of Universal Credit is that it’s calculated based on income, so if someone’s income from work drops, their Universal Credit payment will rise to top it up,</li></ul><ul><li>Their claim may have been found to be fraudulent, and</li></ul><ul><li>Individuals may have capital saved above the £16,000 limit for UC entitlement.</li></ul><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Between March 30th and April 19th there were 767,000 declarations made to Universal Credit, all of which are processed. Of these:</p><p> </p><ul><li>71% have received a UC payment</li><li>13% had a nil award due to earnings</li><li>7% were withdrawn by the claimant</li><li>9% closed due to ineligibility</li><li>1% have outstanding verification preventing payment</li></ul><p> </p><p>The proportion of new claims which generated a Universal Credit payment therefore actually rose in the first month of the emergency, when compared to the January and February figures.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><ul><li>Percentages are rounded to the nearest 1% and the volume of declarations is rounded to the nearest 1,000.</li><li>Percentages may not total to 100% due to rounding</li><li>Figures relate to Great Britain only.</li><li>Data for the weeks following the 19<sup>th</sup> of April is not yet available as more time is needed for claims to progress.</li><li>It is possible the award for new claims has been reduced due to earnings from previous employment prior to claiming UC.</li></ul> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 10/06/2020 17:12:24 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4368 label Biography information for Neil Coyle

1200520

registered interest
date	04/06/2020
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, whether accounting regulations prevent her Department classifying money provided in universal credit advance payments which are required to be paid back at a later date to be seen as loans.
tabling member constituency	Bermondsey and Old Southwark
tabling member printed	Neil Coyle
uin	54925
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/06/2020 answer text <p>Advances are provided for in legislation as payments on account of future entitlement to benefit. They are accounted for accordingly.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/06/2020 16:57:56 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4368 label Biography information for Neil Coyle

1200611

registered interest
date	04/06/2020
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 claimants of universal credit are repaying an advance payment.
tabling member constituency	South Shields
tabling member printed	Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck
uin	54921
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2020 answer text <p>Universal Credit advance repayments are made gradually over 12 months, and deductions are capped at 30% of claimants’ standard allowance. This is further to the reduction of the overall maximum level of deductions from 40% to 30% of the standard allowance since October 2019.</p><p> </p><p>From October 2021, the repayment period will be extended from 12 months to 24 months and the reduction of the deductions cap from 30% to 25%.</p><p> </p><p>For those who find themselves in unexpected hardship, advance repayments can be deferred for up to three months in certain cases.</p><p> </p><p>For Universal Credit payments due in February 2020, 43% (1,068,000 claims) had a deduction for an advance repayment.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes:</strong><br>1. Claim numbers may not match official statistics caseloads due to small methodological differences</p><p>2. Claim numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000.</p><p>3. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 10/06/2020 16:18:01 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 27450 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4277 label Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck

1199993

registered interest
date	03/06/2020
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 new universal credit claimants received their first payment on time from 16 March 2020 to 30 April 2020.
tabling member constituency	Bermondsey and Old Southwark
tabling member printed	Neil Coyle
uin	54120
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/06/2020 answer text <p>Universal Credit’s system are standing up to the challenge in this unprecedented time. The Digital Approach of UC has allowed us to get support to over 2.2 million people over the last 3 months, which would not have been possible under our legacy system. Latest statistics show 90% of new claimants are paid in full and on time and we expect to achieve this level in the future.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 08/06/2020 13:03:58 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4368 label Biography information for Neil Coyle

1200339

registered interest
date	03/06/2020
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	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 2 June (HL Deb, col 1279), why they do not suspend the repayment of universal credit advance payments for six months as opposed to converting advances into non-repayable payments, as recommended by the Resolution Foundation.
tabling member printed	Baroness Lister of Burtersett
uin	HL5214
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2020 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p>Nobody has to wait five weeks for a payment under Universal Credit. Advances are a mechanism for getting claimants faster access to their entitlement; allowing claimants to receive 13 payments over 12 months with up to 12 months to repay the advance.</p><p> </p><p>New Claims Advances of up to 100 per cent of potential entitlement are available if a claimant needs support during their first assessment period. Face-to-face checks for Universal Credit advances have been scrapped due to COVID-19, so people get the support they need despite COVID-19 restrictions.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has already taken steps to help ease the burden of the repayment of advances.</p><p>We have reduced the maximum deduction from 40 per cent to 30 per cent of a claimant’s standard allowance. The Budget 2020 set out that the maximum level will be further reduced, so that standard deductions will not exceed 25 per cent of a claimant’s Standard Allowance from October 2021.</p><p> </p><p>The repayment time for advances has already been extended from six months to 12 months, and a further extension to 24 months from October 2021 was announced in the budget. Claimants can ask for repayments to be delayed for up to three months if they can’t afford them.</p><p> </p><p>We continue to review our policies but have no further planned changes at this time.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 17/06/2020 17:00:02 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	4234 label Biography information for Baroness Lister of Burtersett

1198452

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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 steps he is taking to ensure that people are provided with information on the potential effect of making a claim for universal credit claim on the continued receipt of existing benefits.
tabling member constituency	East Dunbartonshire
tabling member printed	Amy Callaghan
uin	52510
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/06/2020 answer text <p>The Department has prioritised ensuring people have the information they need to understand the benefits and employment support they may be eligible for, including launching a new website to help people navigate the range of support available and apply for it.</p><p> </p><p>Although DWP cannot advise existing claimants of legacy benefits whether they should claim UC, we actively encourage them to use benefit calculators to check their eligibility for Universal Credit before applying, and have strengthened communications to ensure that people understand that claiming UC will stop existing legacy benefits. This includes adding information to HMRC’s Interactive Voice Response for people calling on the phone, and updating GOV.UK pages. We have used the DWP Twitter and Facebook channels to share messages, and have used paid media to ensure we reach millions of people.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The Department continually makes improvements to the UC service in response to feedback and user research. Therefore, on 3 June we introduced a check-through box to remind claimants to check their eligibility before making a claim and to remind them that legacy benefits will cease when the UC claim is submitted.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 09/06/2020 17:00:51 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4770 label Biography information for Amy Callaghan

1198540

registered interest
date	01/06/2020
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 claimants have moved from legacy benefits to universal credit in each of the last six months through (a) natural migration and (b) managed migration.
tabling member constituency	Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East
tabling member printed	Stuart C McDonald
uin	52072
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2020 answer text <p>a) Claimants move from existing benefits to Universal Credit when they experience a significant change in their circumstances that triggers a new claim to benefit. We do not centrally collate the number of claimants that have made a new claim to Universal Credit as a result of such a change in circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>Data surrounding Universal Credit caseload growth at national, regional and constituency level is published at: <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk </a></p><p>Guidance for users is available at:</p><p><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><p> </p><p>b) The Move to UC Pilot has been temporarily suspended following the outbreak of COVID-19.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 04/06/2020 15:09:09 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4393 label Biography information for Stuart C McDonald