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1133583

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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 assessment she has made of the effect on universal credit claimants of the 53-week rent year in the 2019-20 financial year.
	tabling member constituency	Knowsley
	tabling member printed	Sir George Howarth
	uin	267199
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2019 answer text <p>Neither tenants or landlords lose a week’s rent in a 53 weekly rent payment year as has been alleged; no year contains 53 weeks. The problem is alignment between weekly and monthly cycles. Each month the UC housing element is a constant figure but claimants with weekly tenancy agreements will be required to make either four or five rent payments within this period. If the claimant always pays their rent on time, in five payment months they are effectively making payment for part of the following month. That month will always be a four rent payment month, so the combination of the advance payment and the ‘overpayment’ of housing support during that month will get the claimant back on track.</p><p>Where a landlord charges rent weekly on a Monday, because of the way the calendar falls every 5 or 6 years, they will seek 53 rent payments in a year, with the 53rd payment in part covering the tenancy for the first few days of the following year. 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><p>There is a separate issue with respect to the way the calculation in the Universal Credit regulations converts a weekly liability into a monthly allowance. The conversion is achieved by multiplying the weekly rent by 52 and then dividing by 12. This effectively means one day’s rent a year (two days in a leap years) are not covered by UC. We are currently considering whether this formulation around weekly rents, and potentially other weekly amounts in the UC calculation, should be amended.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 26/06/2019 12:28:22 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	481 label Biography information for Sir George Howarth

1133561

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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, whether there is a minimum level of income that a claimant of universal credit must retain after a 40 per cent reduction to repay an advance.
	tabling member constituency	Birmingham, Selly Oak
	tabling member printed	Steve McCabe
	uin	267165
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>There is no set minimum level Universal Credit award for a claimant to retain. A claimant’s award will reflect their individual circumstances, topping up any earnings or other income that they may have, so their Universal Credit might just constitute a small proportion of their total income. Deductions from the award are calculated in relation to the Universal Credit standard allowance and the maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed 40 per cent of the Universal Credit standard allowance. From October 2019 this will be reduced to 30 per cent.</p><p /><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 266652 question first answered 24/06/2019 16:41:12 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	298 label Biography information for Steve McCabe

1133649

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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 claimants of universal credit are subject to deductions as a result of a fixed penalty notice for an environmental offence; and if he will publish the number of offences committed under each classification.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	267192
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p><strong> </strong>Information surrounding the volume of Universal Credit claims with a deduction for a fixed penalty notice specifically for an environmental offence is not held by the Department.</p><p>However, between November 2018 and February 2019, 11,000 claims had at least one Universal Credit payment with a deduction for fines. This equates to 1% of all claims with at least one Universal Credit payment with a deduction during this period.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><ol><li>Figures rounded to nearest 1000.</li><li>Deductions include advance repayments, third party deductions and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties.</li><li>Data on the breakdown of third party deductions was not collated on the UCFS systems prior to November 2018.</li><li>Figures are for Universal Credit full service</li></ol><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 267193 question first answered 25/06/2019 16:35:38 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1133651

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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 claimants of universal credit have had deductions attached to their claim for fixed penalty notices for environmental offences since 2013.
	tabling member constituency	Birkenhead
	tabling member printed	Frank Field
	uin	267193
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p><strong> </strong>Information surrounding the volume of Universal Credit claims with a deduction for a fixed penalty notice specifically for an environmental offence is not held by the Department.</p><p>However, between November 2018 and February 2019, 11,000 claims had at least one Universal Credit payment with a deduction for fines. This equates to 1% of all claims with at least one Universal Credit payment with a deduction during this period.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p><ol><li>Figures rounded to nearest 1000.</li><li>Deductions include advance repayments, third party deductions and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties.</li><li>Data on the breakdown of third party deductions was not collated on the UCFS systems prior to November 2018.</li><li>Figures are for Universal Credit full service</li></ol><p> </p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma grouped question UIN 267192 question first answered 25/06/2019 16:35:38 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	478 label Biography information for Lord Field of Birkenhead

1133709

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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 steps she is taking to increase financial support for vulnerable claimants of universal credit to ensure that the amount of benefit they receive is not lower than what they received through the legacy system.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	267340
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/06/2019 answer text <p>Claimants currently only move from existing benefits to Universal Credit when they experience a significant change in their circumstances that triggers a new claim to a benefit that Universal Credit replaces. Their entitlement is then calculated on the rules of their new benefit and their new circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>For those claimants who are moved onto Universal Credit without a change in their circumstances, the Department has committed to providing transitional protection to ensure that they see no decrease in their benefit entitlement at the point of transition.</p><p> </p><p>There are £2.4 billion of unclaimed legacy benefits not going to the people who need them, because they do not know that they are entitled to them or how to claim. Universal Credit makes sure that welfare payments reach those who need them most.</p><p> </p><p>We have also introduced a number of measures to assist claimants during their transition to Universal Credit. Claimants moving onto Universal Credit can access a Universal Credit advance, which is worth up to 100 per cent of their indicative award and is available from the date of their claim. This advance is currently repayable over 12 months, but as announced in the 2018 Budget, from October 2021 the maximum repayment period will be extended to 16 months. Claimants may also be entitled to a two-week Universal Credit Transitional Housing Payment. From July 2020 the Government is introducing a new two-week run on for income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support and income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support and income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 28/06/2019 10:09:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

1133718

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2019
	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 steps she is taking to prevent loansharks applying on behalf of an individual for a universal credit advance payment which is then issued as a loan to the individual.
	tabling member constituency	Leigh
	tabling member printed	Jo Platt
	uin	267343
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department takes any suspicious or fraudulent activity very seriously, especially when it has the potential to impact our vulnerable claimants.</p><p> </p><p>We investigate any allegations of fraudulent activity quickly and look to establish the facts, communicating quickly with our staff and colleagues to ensure that awareness is raised. We also continuously work to improve our services and create more robust processes to help our claimants interact with us in an easier, yet secure way which protects the most vulnerable.</p><p> </p><p>We cannot provide details about current investigations, but we investigate promptly and will refer to the relevant authorities to seek prosecution where appropriate.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 25/06/2019 16:49:49 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4673 label Biography information for Jo Platt