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1691340

registered interest
date	23/02/2024
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 real time information disputes were raised by Universal Credit claimants in the most recent twelve month period for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Sir Stephen Timms
uin	15401
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/02/2024 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p /> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 28/02/2024 10:27:13 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1690342

registered interest
date	20/02/2024
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 his Department has made an estimate of the number and proportion of monthly universal credit payments that differed from the amount listed in a claimant's journal in the last 12 months.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Sir Stephen Timms
uin	14776
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2024 answer text <p>Monthly Universal Credit payments are not listed in a customer’s journal. Payment details are recorded on a customer statement.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 23/02/2024 12:02:08 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1684027

registered interest
date	22/01/2024
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 legislative proposals to ensure that the payment of Universal Credit is adjusted in 2024 to take into account the 53-week rent year.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Sir Stephen Timms
uin	10699
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/01/2024 answer text <p>Universal Credit always converts weekly amounts to monthly sums using 52 weeks. This may lead to a slight advantage to the claimant when converting weekly incomes and to a slight disadvantage when dealing with outgoings. The system is used because it is simple to operate and understand.</p><p> </p><p>Discretionary Housing Payments can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. Since 2011, the government has provided nearly £1.7 billion in Discretionary Housing Payments to local authorities.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 10701 question first answered 25/01/2024 15:42:16 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1671973

registered interest
date	21/11/2023
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 he has made of the number of Universal Credit claimants who will have 53 charging days for rent in 2024.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Sir Stephen Timms
uin	2745
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2023 answer text <p>Universal Credit always converts weekly amounts to monthly sums using 52 weeks. The issue of there being 53 rent charging days in a year is relevant only for Universal Credit (UC) claimants who have their rent charged on a weekly basis and have 53 charging periods in a calendar year.</p><p> </p><p>UC claimants in the Social Rented Sector are typically charged rent weekly every Monday and so in a typical year their 12 monthly UC payments will align with the 52 charging periods. Every six years, or five if including a leap year, they will have 53 charging periods. In 2024 there will be 53 of these periods with the 53rd rent payment occurring on the final day of the calendar year. 53 charging periods will not apply in all UC claims and some claimants will not have a 53 charging period year during the life of their benefit claim.</p><p>We have considered alternative options for those with weekly tenancies, but each have their own limitations and disadvantages for claimants. The matter occurs because weekly charging periods can never be accurately aligned with monthly periods. Tenants of social housing providers are used to managing varying outgoings every month depending on whether four or five rent payments are due – not just during a year in which there are 53 charging periods.</p><p>Discretionary Housing Payments can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. Since 2011, the government has provided nearly £1.7 billion in Discretionary Housing Payments to local authorities.</p><p>We do not have forecasts for this group for 2024. The most recent data from DWP’s statistical release platform <em>Stat-Xplore</em> is for August 2023 which shows that there were 1,664,104 Social Rented Sector households receiving housing support through UC, of which the department’s analysts estimate that approximately 1.4 million (85%) were charged weekly.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 2746 question first answered 27/11/2023 16:17:00 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1671974

registered interest
date	21/11/2023
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 he has made of the (a) financial and (b) practical implications for Universal Credit claimants of 53 charging days for rent in 2024.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Sir Stephen Timms
uin	2746
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2023 answer text <p>Universal Credit always converts weekly amounts to monthly sums using 52 weeks. The issue of there being 53 rent charging days in a year is relevant only for Universal Credit (UC) claimants who have their rent charged on a weekly basis and have 53 charging periods in a calendar year.</p><p> </p><p>UC claimants in the Social Rented Sector are typically charged rent weekly every Monday and so in a typical year their 12 monthly UC payments will align with the 52 charging periods. Every six years, or five if including a leap year, they will have 53 charging periods. In 2024 there will be 53 of these periods with the 53rd rent payment occurring on the final day of the calendar year. 53 charging periods will not apply in all UC claims and some claimants will not have a 53 charging period year during the life of their benefit claim.</p><p>We have considered alternative options for those with weekly tenancies, but each have their own limitations and disadvantages for claimants. The matter occurs because weekly charging periods can never be accurately aligned with monthly periods. Tenants of social housing providers are used to managing varying outgoings every month depending on whether four or five rent payments are due – not just during a year in which there are 53 charging periods.</p><p>Discretionary Housing Payments can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. Since 2011, the government has provided nearly £1.7 billion in Discretionary Housing Payments to local authorities.</p><p>We do not have forecasts for this group for 2024. The most recent data from DWP’s statistical release platform <em>Stat-Xplore</em> is for August 2023 which shows that there were 1,664,104 Social Rented Sector households receiving housing support through UC, of which the department’s analysts estimate that approximately 1.4 million (85%) were charged weekly.</p> answering member constituency Mid Sussex answering member printed Mims Davies grouped question UIN 2745 question first answered 27/11/2023 16:17:00 answering member 4513 label Biography information for Mims Davies
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1667501

registered interest
date	07/11/2023
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 make an estimate of the number of working Universal Credit recipients who received an incorrect payment as a result of an incorrect employer's real time information submission to HM Revenue and Customs in the latest month for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Sir Stephen Timms
uin	17
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/11/2023 answer text <p>Legislation provides for the use of RTI in the calculation of UC entitlements. That system is working well and providing accurate information but where a claimant thinks the information provided by their employer to HMRC is wrong they are asked to raise a dispute with HMRC for them to investigate. Over the last 12 months 99.8% of RTI returns by employers to support UC claims were found to be correct. For the 0.2% of cases, where employers adjust their returns, we endeavour to correct UC entitlements as soon as possible.</p> answering member constituency Bury St Edmunds answering member printed Jo Churchill question first answered 14/11/2023 15:31:15 answering member 4380 label Biography information for Jo Churchill
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1651886

registered interest
date	11/07/2023
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 he has made of the reasons for approximately a third of registrations for Universal Credit not leading to a claim being submitted in the year to February 2023; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Sir Stephen Timms
uin	193282
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/07/2023 answer text <p>The requested information is not held as claimants are not required to inform the Department why they have chosen not to continue their claim, and there may be multiple reasons why they have chosen not to.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 17/07/2023 14:05:00 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1645041

registered interest
date	15/06/2023
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 he plans to amend Universal Credit regulations to allow claimants of legacy benefits to be eligible for transitional protection if their initial claim was rejected due to a lack of information but was then approved in a subsequent claim.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Sir Stephen Timms
uin	189745
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/06/2023 answer text <p>We have no plans to amend the regulations.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>The regulations allow transitional protection to be considered in all instances where there is a qualifying Universal Credit (UC) claim made within the given deadline, for which all the necessary information is provided.</p><p> </p><p>Guidance has been issued to decision makers making this clear. We also issue reminders to claimants during this period about the need to make a UC claim to continue receiving benefit.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 21/06/2023 09:01:29 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1603491

registered interest
date	13/03/2023
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 any decisions on people’s Universal Credit entitlement are fully automated; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Sir Stephen Timms
uin	163695
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2023 answer text <p>As a modern digital service, Universal Credit uses a high degree of automation to make claims and changes to claims, making it easier for claimants and more efficient for the department. The Department continues to review the way in which decisions are made within the Universal Credit service as processes are further automated.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 21/03/2023 14:01:27 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1486031

registered interest
date	04/07/2022
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 Universal Credit claims have been identified as not correct through the reverification exercise to date; and, of those, how many claimants have applied for mandatory reconsideration.
tabling member constituency	East Ham
tabling member printed	Sir Stephen Timms
uin	29856
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/07/2022 answer text <p>In March 2020 the Department introduced a temporary verification easement to Universal Credit claims to support people during the height of the pandemic. This easement meant the Department successfully paid an additional 2.4 million claims during the early months of the pandemic.</p><p>We reported last year on how we were reviewing cases paid under these temporary verification easements, known as “Trust and Protect”, and were re-applying these specific checks. The number of cases where evidence has been reviewed under this process has now risen from the figure of 900,000 previously reported to 1.1 million.</p><p>Of that number, 125,000 cases have been found to have an element of incorrectness that has affected the original entitlement decision. Decisions made as a result of this exercise have generated c14,500 (12%) Mandatory Reconsideration requests. (This data is based on internal and emerging internal management information and therefore has not been subject to the same degree of scrutiny and quality assurance as an official statistic.)</p><p>The learning from this work is informing the new Targeted Case Review exercise announced in the ‘Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System’ plan (published May 2022) which will review over 2 million UC claims over the next 5 years.</p> answering member constituency Macclesfield answering member printed David Rutley question first answered 07/07/2022 14:29:53 answering member 4033 label Biography information for David Rutley
tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms