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1401757

registered interest
date	11/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to restore the £20 universal credit uplift.
tabling member constituency	Newport West
tabling member printed	Ruth Jones
uin	101825
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2022 answer text <p>The government has always been clear that the £20 per week increase to Universal Credit (UC) was a temporary measure to support households whose incomes and earnings were affected by the economic shock of COVID-19.</p><p>There have been significant positive developments in the public health and economic situation since the uplift was first announced. Now that the economy has reopened, the government is focusing on supporting people to move into and progress in work.</p><p>To continue to boost employment, wages and living standards, the government is continuing or enhancing the most successful Plan for Jobs schemes and introducing a new package of measures – taking the total DWP spend on labour market support to more than £6 billion over the next three years. This includes investing over £900m each year on work coaches, who will provide effective support to help job seekers on Universal Credit move into work and, for the first time ever, help people progress once in work, and funding for the Kickstart scheme, which has so far supported over 112,000 young people into Kickstart jobs.</p><p> </p><p>The government has also taken decisive action to make work pay by cutting the Universal Credit taper rate from 63p to 55p, and increasing Universal Credit work allowances by £500 a year. This is effectively a tax cut for the lowest paid in society worth around £2.2bn in 2022-23 and strengthens incentives to move into and progress in work. 1.9m households will keep, on average, around an extra £1000 on an annual basis.</p> answering member constituency Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland answering member printed Mr Simon Clarke question first answered 14/01/2022 13:43:43 answering member 4655 label Biography information for Sir Simon Clarke
tabling member	4716 label Biography information for Ruth Jones

1400598

registered interest
date	06/01/2022
answering body	Treasury
answering dept id	14
answering dept short name	Treasury
answering dept sort name	Treasury
hansard heading	Universal Credit
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to increase Universal Credit payments in the event that energy bills increase.
tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
uin	HL5203
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2022 answer text <p>The Government recognises the recent increase in wholesale global gas prices will be a cause of concern for consumers, businesses, and energy suppliers across the UK.</p><p> </p><p>There is a wide range of Government support in place to support consumers with their energy costs. The Energy Price Cap has been shielding millions of consumers from the volatility in the wholesale markets, and the Government is supporting low income and fuel poor households with their energy bills in a number of ways, the total value of this support being £2.5 billion a year including:</p><p>• The Warm Home Discount, which provides eligible households with a £140 discount.</p><p>• Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments, which help ensure those most vulnerable are better able to heat their homes over the colder months.</p><p>There is also support available this winter through the £500m Household Support Fund, which helps those in greatest need with the cost of essentials over the coming months.</p><p> </p><p>The Government has also taken decisive action to support low-income working households on Universal Credit by cutting the taper rate from 63p to 55p and increasing work allowances by £500 a year. These changes are effectively a tax cut for low paid households on Universal Credit worth £2.2 billion in 2022-23 and mean that 1.9 million households will keep on average around an extra £1,000 on an annual basis.</p><p> </p><p>In the long-term, the best way to reduce energy bills for households is to invest in energy efficiency. The Government has allocated over £500 million to Local Authorities this year for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and the Sustainable Warmth programmes. These schemes will help reduce low-income households’ energy use through efficiency improvements, which are estimated to save participants an average of £350-450 per year on their energy bills. At the Spending Review, an additional £1.8bn was confirmed to accelerate these programmes over the next three years.</p> answering member printed Lord Agnew of Oulton question first answered 20/01/2022 13:07:02 answering member 4689 label Biography information for Lord Agnew of Oulton
tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

1399360

registered interest
date	04/01/2022
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 potential merits of removing the two-child limit from universal credit as recommended by the Social Mobility Commission in its State of the Nation 2021 report.
tabling member constituency	Bradford East
tabling member printed	Imran Hussain
uin	96898
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2022 answer text <p>No assessment has been carried out since the Social Mobility Commission’s report. However, latest figures from April 2021 indicate that over 50% of those households with three or more children who are in receipt of Universal Credit, are not affected by the two-child policy, with over 4% of those being in receipt of an exception. Statistics relating to this policy are published annually, most recently on the 15 July 2021, and are available on GOV.UK.</p><p> </p><p>Statistics from the Office for National Statistics show that in 2020, of all families with dependent children, 85% had a maximum of two in their family. For lone parent families, this was 83%.</p><p> </p><p>The government therefore feels it is proportionate to provide support through Universal Credit for a maximum of two children. A benefits structure adjusting automatically to family size is unsustainable.</p><p> </p><p>On 9 July 2021, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in the judicial review of the two-child policy. The court found the two-child policy lawful and not in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights</p><p> </p><p>This policy ensures fairness by asking families on benefits to make the same financial decisions as families supporting themselves solely through work. We recognise that some claimants are not able to make the same choices about the number of children in their family, which is why exceptions have been put in place to protect certain groups.</p><p>.</p><p>Exceptions to the two-child policy are any child in a household who is:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Adopted, when they would otherwise be in Local Authority care;</li><li>Children living long term with friends or family, who would otherwise be at risk of entering the care system;</li><li>A child born to a young person under 16, who is living with their parents or carers (until they make a separate claim upon turning 16);</li><li>Third and subsequent children who are:</li></ul><p>- additional children in a multiple birth;</p><p>- likely to have been born as a result of non-consensual conception (which for this</p><p>purpose includes rape or where the claimant was in a controlling or coercive</p><p>relationship with the child’s other biological parent at the time of conception).</p><p> </p><p>More information regarding this policy and its exceptions, can be found on GOV.UK.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 12/01/2022 17:13:03 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4394 label Biography information for Imran Hussain

1399555

registered interest
date	04/01/2022
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 with limited capability for work and work-related activities were previously included in their parents’ claim for child tax credit with disabled child element in 2021.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	96982
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2022 answer text <p>The information requested is not available.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 11/01/2022 11:29:53 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1388573

registered interest
date	16/12/2021
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 her Department has plans to amend universal credit regulations so that maternity allowance is treated as earned income.
tabling member constituency	Edmonton
tabling member printed	Kate Osamor
uin	94449
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2022 answer text <p>We have no plans to change the way that Maternity Allowance is treated in Universal Credit.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 11/01/2022 11:18:24 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	4515 label Biography information for Kate Osamor

1388826

registered interest
date	16/12/2021
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 universal credit claims were found to be inaccurate since April 2020; and in how many of those cases (a) recovery action has been initiated and (b) an overpayment has been identified.
tabling member constituency	Westminster North
tabling member printed	Ms Karen Buck
uin	94284
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/01/2022 answer text <p>Our annual Monetary Value of Fraud and Error Estimates 2020/21 (table 5) published May 2021, provide information on the proportion of Universal Credit cases overpaid:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-financial-year-2020-to-2021-estimates" target="_blank">Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2020 to 2021 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a></p><p> </p><p>It should be noted that many will only have a very small overpayment, as the measurement doesn’t distinguish between a very small overpayment and a whole award error, which is considerably rarer. The biggest area of loss from these overpayments is fraud, which includes cases where people exploited our suspension of face-to-face identification checks at the start of the pandemic.</p><p /><p>Since April 2020, DWP has referred over one million Universal Credit overpayments for recovery, of which 694k have led to a recovery of money.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 11/01/2022 11:12:31 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	199 label Biography information for Ms Karen Buck

1387837

registered interest
date	14/12/2021
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 it is her policy to use digital by default when contacting universal credit recipients; and if she will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Garston and Halewood
tabling member printed	Maria Eagle
uin	92820
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2022 answer text <p>It is not the Department’s policy to use digital methods by default when contacting all Universal Credit recipients.</p><p> </p><p>We have a number of methods to support us in communicating with claimants. When making an initial application for Universal Credit, individuals are able to opt for their preferred contact method.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Work coaches and claimants can also use Universal Credit online journals to communicate, unless it has been previously identified that this is not an option for the claimant. In these cases, the journal will be updated, however the claimant will also be contacted in a way that suits their individual needs, for example by a phone call.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 05/01/2022 16:38:35 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	483 label Biography information for Maria Eagle

1387280

registered interest
date	13/12/2021
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 her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a transitional top up for claimants who had been in receipt of enhanced disability payments prior to a universal credit transition.
tabling member constituency	Cardiff Central
tabling member printed	Jo Stevens
uin	91991
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2021 answer text <p>There are no plans to introduce transitional payments in Universal Credit for those claimants who had been in receipt of the enhanced disability premium. A transitional payment may be awarded to claimants who were previously entitled to the severe disability premium. These payments are made in recognition of their very specific circumstances.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 20/12/2021 17:08:18 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4425 label Biography information for Jo Stevens

1387281

registered interest
date	13/12/2021
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 his Department has made of the adequacy of support for universal credit claimants who had previously been in receipt of enhanced disability payments.
tabling member constituency	Cardiff Central
tabling member printed	Jo Stevens
uin	91992
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/12/2021 answer text <p>When designing Universal Credit the Government chose to concentrate financial support on the most severely disabled people to create a simpler and more streamlined system.</p><p>The Universal Credit rate for the most severely disabled people, the limited capability for work and work- related activity addition, is more than double the equivalent rate for the Employment and Support Allowance support group. This means claimants who were previously in the Employment and Support Allowance support group and only receiving the enhanced disability premium, are better off on Universal Credit.</p><p>Additional support is available through the National Disability Strategy and the Government’s Health and Disability green paper aims to continue to improve the support available.</p><p /> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 21/12/2021 11:49:07 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
tabling member	4425 label Biography information for Jo Stevens

1386218

registered interest
date	08/12/2021
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 her Department has made of the potential effect of the (a) reduction of the universal credit taper rate and (b) increase in the work allowance on the number of children in poverty.
tabling member constituency	Harlow
tabling member printed	Robert Halfon
uin	89558
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/12/2021 answer text <p>It is not possible to produce a robust estimate of the effect of the reduction of the Universal Credit taper rate or the increase in work allowance on the number of children in poverty. Projecting the impacts of policies on poverty involves projecting forward the impact of the pandemic on every household’s income, which is not possible to do with confidence, not least because the latest comprehensive data on net incomes for households is from 2019-20, before the pandemic began. However, we do know that these changes will leave almost two million workers around £1000 better off per year on average.</p><p> </p><p>Official child poverty statistics covering the period 2020/21, will be published in March 2022, as part of the Department’s (a) Children in Low Income Families and (b) Households Below Average Income publications, subject to the usual checks on data quality.</p><p> </p><p>This Government has always believed that the most sustainable way to lift children out of poverty is by helping their parents to move into and to progress in work wherever possible. Our approach is based on clear evidence about the importance of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time – in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty and in improving long-term outcomes for families and children. In 2019/20, children in households where all adults were in work were around six times less likely to be in absolute poverty (before housing costs) than children in a household where nobody works. Compared with 2010, there were almost 1 million fewer workless households and almost 580,000 fewer children living in workless households in the UK in September 2021.</p><p> </p><p>Furthermore, our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs, which has recently been expanded by £500 million, will help people across the UK to find work and to boost their wages and prospects.</p><p> </p><p>However, we recognise that some people may require extra support over the winter as we continue our recovery from the impacts of the COVID pandemic, which is why vulnerable households will be able to access a new £500 million support fund to help them with essentials. This includes £421 million for the Household Support Fund, which will help vulnerable people in England with the cost of food, utilities and wider essentials.</p><p> </p><p>We have also increased the value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25, helping eligible low income households buy healthy foods such as milk, fruit and vitamins, and are investing over £200m a year from 2022 to extend our successful Holiday Activities and Food programme, which provides enriching activities and healthy meals to children in all Local Authorities in England.</p><p> </p><p /><p> </p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 14/12/2021 17:04:38 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	3985 label Biography information for Robert Halfon