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1132054

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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 he is taking to ensure that universal credit claimants paying rent weekly do not face a one-week shortfall in their universal credit housing element in 2020.
tabling member constituency	Ogmore
tabling member printed	Chris Elmore
uin	264450
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>No-one will face a one-week shortfall in their Universal Credit (UC) housing element in 2020 as no year contains 53 weeks. This perceived issue of there being a one-week shortfall due to there being 53 weeks in a year arises where a landlord charges rent weekly on a Monday and, because of the way the calendar falls every 5 or 6 years, requiring 53 rent payments in a year, with the 53<sup>rd</sup> payment in part covering the tenancy for the first few days of the following year.</p><p> </p><p>Where a tenant makes a 53<sup>rd</sup> rent payment in a given year, this payment will cover some days in the subsequent year. This will mean the following month only has four payment dates and, as such, the claimant will be ‘overpaid’ for their housing and their shortfall will be recovered.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit payments are designed to mirror the world of work, with monthly payments reflecting the way many working people are paid. This model of monthly payments allows claimants to take responsibility for budgeting their own income and helps prepare them for getting back to work.</p><p> </p><p>We are aware of 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 21/06/2019 11:44:35 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4572 label Biography information for Chris Elmore

1132055

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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, if his Department will work with housing associations to share data to support tenants when undergoing transfer from legacy benefits onto universal credit.
tabling member constituency	Ogmore
tabling member printed	Chris Elmore
uin	264451
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>We are working with Trusted Partners, including Housing Associations, to identify how best to support claimants within the Harrogate Move to UC pilot as they move from legacy benefits to UC. We will explore whether data sharing is required as part of this support.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 21/06/2019 13:22:16 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4572 label Biography information for Chris Elmore

1132056

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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, if he will bring forward the extension of the repayment period of the Advance Payment Loan available to universal credit claimants.
tabling member constituency	Ogmore
tabling member printed	Chris Elmore
uin	264452
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>Advances are not loans; they are an interest free advance payment of benefit, available to help people who need immediate financial support, which is then recovered over an agreed period.</p><p> </p><p>We have carefully considered the impact and deliverability of the measures announced in the Autumn Budget 2018 for Universal Credit. The delivery dates we announced achieve the best balance between continually improving Universal Credit to respond to claimant need and ensuring the service is technically and operationally scalable as the volumes on Universal Credit continue to rise through 2019 and 2020.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 21/06/2019 13:14:28 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4572 label Biography information for Chris Elmore

1132082

registered interest
date	13/06/2019
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, if she will provide universal credit claimants (a) with payments rather than advance payment loans and (b) with those payments earlier than five weeks to ensure that they do not fall into rent arrears.
tabling member constituency	Ogmore
tabling member printed	Chris Elmore
uin	264458
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2019 answer text <p>Universal Credit payments are designed to mirror the world of work, with monthly payments reflecting the way many working people are paid. This model of monthly payments allows claimants to take responsibility for budgeting their own income and helps prepare them for getting back to work.</p><p> </p><p>Advance payments of Universal Credit are not loans. They are Universal Credit paid early, which is then recovered over an agreed period via deductions from the claimant’s Universal Credit award. No claimant has to go five weeks without receiving support, as advances, worth up to 100 per cent of a claimant’s indicative award, are available up front, if there is need. Advances are paid back over a period of 12 months and in the Autumn Budget 2018, we announced that from October 2021, the payback period for these advances will be extended further, up to 16 months. This is just one of a number of measures the Department has put in place to support claimants such as paying those claimants moving from Housing Benefit onto Universal Credit a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 21/06/2019 13:05:34 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4572 label Biography information for Chris Elmore