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1134009

registered interest
date	24/06/2019
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 her Department has made of the effect on a universal credit claimant’s health and well-being of the ability to repay hardship payments.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
uin	268345
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>Hardship payments are available as a safeguard if a claimant demonstrates that they cannot meet their immediate and most essential needs (including accommodation, heating, food and hygiene) as a result of a benefit sanction.</p><p> </p><p>Work Coaches ensure they consider the claimant’s circumstances, including issues relating to their health and well-being, at the point of the new claim to Universal Credit, to tailor the service accordingly. This also includes when claimants are repaying any hardship payments.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/06/2019 14:23:18 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1134120

registered interest
date	24/06/2019
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 the date of a universal credit claim is protected in the contract Citizen's Advice have with her Department to support such claims.
tabling member constituency	Glasgow Central
tabling member printed	Alison Thewliss
uin	268555
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>The Help To Claim support is not a contract arrangement with Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland. They are funded by a grant agreement to deliver the Help To Claim service that runs alongside the national Jobcentre offer, and provides additional and alternative support for claimants who need help making their first claim. This personalised support helps to ensure that there is no need for a claimant to have their claim backdated to the point of contact. Instead, through either Citizens Advice or DWP, claimants are able to access immediate support to make their claim in a timely manner.</p><p> </p><p>There are some specific, designated circumstances in which the Department has the ability to backdate a claim, for example if someone is taken ill. However, there is not a legal basis whereby a third party, including Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland, can ‘protect the date of claim’ for Universal Credit claimants based on first contact. A Universal Credit claim begins when a completed claim is submitted.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/06/2019 13:43:34 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4430 label Biography information for Alison Thewliss

1134139

registered interest
date	24/06/2019
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 estimate her Department has made of the number of people who will be moved on to universal credit through natural migration in 2019.
tabling member constituency	Bermondsey and Old Southwark
tabling member printed	Neil Coyle
uin	268561
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department currently estimates that there will be approximately 600,000 households who will have moved to Universal Credit due to a change of circumstance in 2019: as with all our estimates we keep this under review.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 27/06/2019 14:11:29 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4368 label Biography information for Neil Coyle

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

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

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

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