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1128212

registered interest
date	22/05/2019
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 people have had their deductions under universal credit reduced from the maximum rate of 40 per cent of an individual's standard allowance in the last (a) month and (b) 12 months.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	257510
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/06/2019 answer text <p>The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>The Government recognises the importance of safeguarding the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. Universal Credit already has procedures and regulations in place to protect claimants from excessive deductions. The maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed 40 per cent of the Universal Credit standard allowance, and from October 2019 this will be reduced to 30 per cent.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 10/06/2019 14:52:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1127966

registered interest
date	21/05/2019
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 and what proportion of universal credit claims that had a deduction applied had (a) up to 20 per cent, (b) between 21 and 30 per cent, (c) between 31 and 40 per cent and (d) more than 41 per cent deducted in the latest period for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	257147
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>The Government recognises the importance of safeguarding the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. Universal Credit already has procedures and regulations in place to protect claimants from excessive deductions. The maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed 40 per cent of the Universal Credit standard allowance, and from October 2019 this will be reduced to 30 per cent.</p><p> </p><p>However, last resort deductions can be applied to protect vulnerable claimants from eviction and/or having their fuel supply (gas/electricity) cut off, by providing a last resort repayment method for arrears of these essential services. In these circumstances, when it is considered to be in the best interests of the claimant and their family, deductions may be taken above the 40 per cent limit.</p><p> </p><p>If a claimant is in financial difficulty as a result of the level of deductions being made they can contact the Department to request that a reduction in deductions be considered.</p><p> </p><p>Of all eligible claims to Universal Credit Full Service due a payment in Feb 2019, 57% (840,000 claims) had a deduction.</p><p> </p><p>Of this 840,000 claims with a deduction:</p><p>a) 50% (420,000 claims) had deductions up to 20% of the Standard Allowance (29% of all eligible claims).</p><p>b) 20% (170,000 claims) had deductions between 21% and 30% of the Standard Allowance (12% of all eligible claims).</p><p>c) 28% (238,000 claims) had deductions between 31% and 40% of their Standard Allowance (16% of all eligible claims).</p><p>d) 1% (13,000 claims) had deductions above 40% of their Standard Allowance (1% of all eligible claims).</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p>Claim numbers may not match official statistics caseloads due to small methodological differences.</p><p>Claim numbers are rounded to the nearest 1,000</p><p>When categorising claims into the groups above the figures for the percentage of the Standard Allowance for individual claims have been rounded to the nearest percent.</p><p>Deductions include advance repayments and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties which are reductions of benefit rather than deductions.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p /> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 04/06/2019 15:57:14 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1127967

registered interest
date	21/05/2019
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 plans her Department has to introduce an affordability test for deductions taken from universal credit payments.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	257148
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2019 answer text <p>I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to Question 218205 answered on 7 February 2018.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 04/06/2019 15:33:51 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George

1064763

registered interest
date	21/02/2019
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 much has been deducted from universal credit claimants' standard allowance in each month since April 2017.
tabling member constituency	High Peak
tabling member printed	Ruth George
uin	224493
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/05/2019 answer text <p>Internal figures are provided in the table below from two DWP datasets.</p><p> </p><p>The Government recognises the importance of safeguarding the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. The aim of the deductions policy in Universal Credit is to protect vulnerable claimants from eviction and/or having their gas, electricity and water cut off, by providing a last resort repayment method for arrears of these essential services.</p><p> </p><p>The increase in Universal Credit caseload and activity to increase awareness of advances has had an effect on deductions. Increased awareness has resulted in around 60% of eligible new claims to Universal Credit receiving an advance in October 2018, providing further financial support until their first payment.</p><p> </p><p>Total amount deducted from Universal Credit payments between April 2017 and October 2018</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Month</p></td><td><p>Amount deducted [rounded to the nearest million]</p></td><td><p>Amount of Universal Credit paid [rounded to the nearest million]</p></td><td><p>Amount deducted as a percentage of Universal Credit paid</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-17</p></td><td><p>£9,000,000</p></td><td><p>£140,000,000</p></td><td><p>7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May-17</p></td><td><p>£10,000,000</p></td><td><p>£148,000,000</p></td><td><p>7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-17</p></td><td><p>£10,000,000</p></td><td><p>£159,000,000</p></td><td><p>6%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jul-17</p></td><td><p>£11,000,000</p></td><td><p>£166,000,000</p></td><td><p>6%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aug-17</p></td><td><p>£11,000,000</p></td><td><p>£176,000,000</p></td><td><p>6%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-17</p></td><td><p>£12,000,000</p></td><td><p>£186,000,000</p></td><td><p>6%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Oct-17</p></td><td><p>£13,000,000</p></td><td><p>£195,000,000</p></td><td><p>7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Nov-17</p></td><td><p>£13,000,000</p></td><td><p>£205,000,000</p></td><td><p>7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Dec-17</p></td><td><p>£15,000,000</p></td><td><p>£216,000,000</p></td><td><p>7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jan-18</p></td><td><p>£17,000,000</p></td><td><p>£232,000,000</p></td><td><p>7%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Feb-18</p></td><td><p>£19,000,000</p></td><td><p>£243,000,000</p></td><td><p>8%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Mar-18</p></td><td><p>£22,000,000</p></td><td><p>£257,000,000</p></td><td><p>8%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Apr-18</p></td><td><p>£23,000,000</p></td><td><p>£266,000,000</p></td><td><p>9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May-18</p></td><td><p>£25,000,000</p></td><td><p>£284,000,000</p></td><td><p>9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jun-18</p></td><td><p>£27,000,000</p></td><td><p>£319,000,000</p></td><td><p>8%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Jul-18</p></td><td><p>£29,000,000</p></td><td><p>£335,000,000</p></td><td><p>9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Aug-18</p></td><td><p>£32,000,000</p></td><td><p>£360,000,000</p></td><td><p>9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Sep-18</p></td><td><p>£35,000,000</p></td><td><p>£380,000,000</p></td><td><p>9%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Oct-18</p></td><td><p>£39,000,000</p></td><td><p>£410,000,000</p></td><td><p>10%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p> </p><p>Data sources: Universal Credit Live Service Reference Datasets and Full Service PDM data, UC Analysis Division</p><p> </p><p>1. Figures are provided for the total of UC Live Service and Full Service. The data is sourced from two different computer systems and the information available is slightly different on each system.</p><ul><li>Full Service deductions include advance repayments and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties which are deductions of benefit rather than deductions.</li><li>Live Service deductions do not include sanctions which are reductions of benefit rather than deductions, but may include Fraud Penalties as these could not be removed from the Live Service data.</li><li>The Full and Live Service datasets use slightly different definitions for the month. Full Service data uses the month the UC payment is due, whereas Live Service data uses the month the assessment period related to the payment ends. The 'Total' column sums the figures using these different definitions.</li></ul><p> </p><p>2. Increase in the total deduction amounts by month reflects the effect of Universal Credit (UC) roll out as more people move onto UC.</p><p> </p><p>3. Amount of Universal Credit paid reflects the amount of money paid to claimants and their landlords as part of their award. It does not include other payments such as advances and hardship payments.</p><p> </p><p>4. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 15/05/2019 16:55:20 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 104615 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
tabling member	4662 label Biography information for Ruth George