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1170465

	registered interest
	date	13/01/2020
	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 claimants did not receive their December payment before Christmas day 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	2679
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2020 answer text <p>The information requested surrounding the volume of Faster Payments made on 24 December 2019 is not readily available and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost to the Department.</p><p>Universal Credit payments are issued on the same date every month throughout the year. This helps to ensure claimants manage a household budget effectively by knowing when to expect their payment.</p><p> </p><p>The Department’s banking system identifies when a payment date falls on a bank holiday or weekend, and will automatically issue the payment on the last working day before the bank holiday or weekend to ensure that claimants are not disadvantaged.</p><p> </p><p>We have substantial experience of making alternative payment arrangements where necessary, and publicise any changes through channels including Jobcentres and online at GOV.UK.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 2680 2681 3293 question first answered 21/01/2020 18:20:58 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1170467

	registered interest
	date	13/01/2020
	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 her Department took to ensure that universal credit claimants received their December payment before Christmas day 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	2680
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2020 answer text <p>The information requested surrounding the volume of Faster Payments made on 24 December 2019 is not readily available and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost to the Department.</p><p>Universal Credit payments are issued on the same date every month throughout the year. This helps to ensure claimants manage a household budget effectively by knowing when to expect their payment.</p><p> </p><p>The Department’s banking system identifies when a payment date falls on a bank holiday or weekend, and will automatically issue the payment on the last working day before the bank holiday or weekend to ensure that claimants are not disadvantaged.</p><p> </p><p>We have substantial experience of making alternative payment arrangements where necessary, and publicise any changes through channels including Jobcentres and online at GOV.UK.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 2679 2681 3293 question first answered 21/01/2020 18:20:58 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1170468

	registered interest
	date	13/01/2020
	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 payments of universal credit were made as a same-day payment on 24 December 2019.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	2681
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2020 answer text <p>The information requested surrounding the volume of Faster Payments made on 24 December 2019 is not readily available and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost to the Department.</p><p>Universal Credit payments are issued on the same date every month throughout the year. This helps to ensure claimants manage a household budget effectively by knowing when to expect their payment.</p><p> </p><p>The Department’s banking system identifies when a payment date falls on a bank holiday or weekend, and will automatically issue the payment on the last working day before the bank holiday or weekend to ensure that claimants are not disadvantaged.</p><p> </p><p>We have substantial experience of making alternative payment arrangements where necessary, and publicise any changes through channels including Jobcentres and online at GOV.UK.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 2679 2680 3293 question first answered 21/01/2020 18:20:59 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1170592

	registered interest
	date	14/01/2020
	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 Department's policy to ensure that universal credit payments for December are received by claimants before Christmas Day.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	3293
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2020 answer text <p>The information requested surrounding the volume of Faster Payments made on 24 December 2019 is not readily available and to provide it would incur a disproportionate cost to the Department.</p><p>Universal Credit payments are issued on the same date every month throughout the year. This helps to ensure claimants manage a household budget effectively by knowing when to expect their payment.</p><p> </p><p>The Department’s banking system identifies when a payment date falls on a bank holiday or weekend, and will automatically issue the payment on the last working day before the bank holiday or weekend to ensure that claimants are not disadvantaged.</p><p> </p><p>We have substantial experience of making alternative payment arrangements where necessary, and publicise any changes through channels including Jobcentres and online at GOV.UK.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 2679 2680 2681 question first answered 21/01/2020 18:20:59 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1221219

	registered interest
	date	06/07/2020
	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 recent assessment her Department has made of the effect on the finances of claimants of making advance payments of universal Credit grants instead of loans.
	tabling member constituency	Manchester, Gorton
	tabling member printed	Afzal Khan
	uin	69669
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2020 answer text <p><strong> </strong></p><p>A new system of grants could not be implemented without significant reprioritisation of current measures: our focus remains firmly on ensuring that millions of new and existing claimants continue to receive their payments on time, and that we do everything possible to support people back into work where it is right to do so.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>We introduced measures that could be quickly and effectively operationalised following the outbreak of COVID-19, supported by over £6.5bn of additional funding to the welfare system and which benefitted as many disadvantaged claimants as possible. This includes temporarily increasing the Universal Credit standard allowance by the equivalent of £20 per week – worth up to £1,040 this year. This is in addition to the 1.7% inflation increase as part of the Government’s decision to end the benefits freeze and means more financial support for millions of claimants across the country.</p><p> </p><p>Universal Credit advances allow new claimants to request additional support during the first assessment period. Advances can be repaid over a year, allowing new claimants to receive 13 payments during that period instead of 12.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 14/07/2020 16:42:18 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4671 label Biography information for Afzal Khan

1131195

	registered interest
	date	11/06/2019
	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 bring forward proposals to simplify the process by which social housing landlords advise her Department of a rent increase in order for a tenant in receipt of universal credit to receive an uplift in housing benefit.
	tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
	tabling member printed	Alan Brown
	uin	263186
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/06/2019 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>Many claimants are capable of managing their own financial affairs and for these claimants a Managed Payment to Landlord is not appropriate. However, we recognise that additional support is sometimes necessarily to ensure rent is paid on time.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Our Trusted Partner scheme allows social landlords to play a key role in engaging with their tenants who are on Universal Credit, helping those who cannot manage their housing payments to access the support available and to help put managed payments in place where appropriate. We are rolling out the scheme alongside the Landlord Portal, which provides social landlords with the ability to submit information directly to the Universal Credit online system, supporting the timely and accurate payment of housing costs to Universal Credit claimants.</p><p> </p><p>The Department is developing a facility whereby social landlords whose tenants are on the landlord portal are able to advise Universal Credit about an annual rent change through the platform. This will help reduce administration for landlords and ensure the correct housing costs are paid.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 17/06/2019 15:07:19 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4470 label Biography information for Alan Brown

1132858

	registered interest
	date	18/06/2019
	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, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2019 to Question 263186 on Universal Credit, what the timeframe is for the (a) Landlord portal going live and (b) platform within the Landlord portal to enable social landlords to notify his Department of annual rent increases.
	tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
	tabling member printed	Alan Brown
	uin	266176
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department maintains guidance on GOV.UK, relevant for private and social sector landlords, with information about Universal Credit including the landlord portal which has existed since 2017. This can be accessed at: <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-rented-housing--2/universal-credit-and-rented-housing-guide-for-landlords" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-and-rented-housing--2/universal-credit-and-rented-housing-guide-for-landlords</a></p><p> </p><p>The Department will deliver improvements which include: (a) an online form for all landlords to request a managed payment for rent from Universal Credit, and (b) an upload facility for social landlords to notify annual rent changes via the existing landlord portal. Both systems are expected to be fully operational by the end of 2019 following completion of rigorous testing.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 24/06/2019 13:28:17 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4470 label Biography information for Alan Brown

1175969

	registered interest
	date	04/02/2020
	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 she plans to change the calculation of universal credit payments to take account of when earnings are scheduled to be paid to claimants.
	tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
	tabling member printed	Alan Brown
	uin	12354
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2020 answer text <p>Assessment periods allow for UC awards to be adjusted on a monthly basis, ensuring that if a claimant’s income changes, they do not have to wait several months for a corresponding change in their UC award.</p><p> </p><p>Earnings are taken into account in the assessment period they are received and in this way the UC paid to claimants reflects, as closely as possible, the actual circumstances of a household during each monthly assessment period.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has been working closely with HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC) since UC went live in 2013 to support and inform employers who report payroll earnings, to emphasise the importance of timely reporting via the Real Time Information (RTI) system.</p><p> </p><p>HMRC have updated their guidance to reiterate to employers the importance of reporting payroll accurately and the impact of reporting payments late.</p><p> </p><p>Employers should already record on HMRC’s RTI system the date a salary is scheduled to be paid, rather than the date it is paid, where it is earlier due to a weekend, bank holiday or at Christmas.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince grouped question UIN 12286 question first answered 12/02/2020 16:34:51 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4470 label Biography information for Alan Brown

1176309

	registered interest
	date	05/02/2020
	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, with reference to the High Court judgment of 11 January 2019, [2019] EWHC 23 (Admin), on universal credit and periodic assessments of income, what submissions on remedies her Department has made to the court.
	tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
	tabling member printed	Alan Brown
	uin	12944
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/02/2020 answer text <p>The judgment affects a small number of people on Universal Credit (UC), with specific characteristics. The Department is currently appealing this judgment, and as such will await the outcome of that process before taking any further action.</p><p>Monthly assessment periods align to the way the majority of employees are paid and also allows UC to be adjusted each month. This means that if a claimant's income falls, they will not have to wait several months for a rise in their UC.</p><p>The amount of UC paid to claimants reflects the actual circumstances of a household during each monthly assessment period, as closely as possible<strong>.</strong></p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 14/02/2020 14:59:59 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4470 label Biography information for Alan Brown

1285089

	registered interest
	date	09/02/2021
	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 changes she has made to the universal credit system to comply with the Court of Appeal judgement of 22 June 2020 on assessing two wage payments received within a single assessment period.
	tabling member constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
	tabling member printed	Alan Brown
	uin	151764
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/02/2021 answer text <p>The Universal Credit (Earned Income) Amendment Regulations 2020 were laid in October 2020, so for cases affected by this issue, monthly earnings can be reallocated to another assessment period. To support this, we have designed a tool which interacts with the Universal Credit Service to allow the redistribution of earnings where appropriate, with guidance having been issued to staff to ensure that where an issue is identified, the correct remedial action is taken.</p><p> </p><p>Automated identification of affected claimants is expected to be implemented in early 2021. This will allow us to proactively correct Universal Credit awards before they are paid without the claimant needing to raise the issue.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 16/02/2021 11:31:48 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
	tabling member	4470 label Biography information for Alan Brown