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1131245

	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: Repayments
	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 19 June 2019 to Question 260559 on universal credit, what assessment she has made of the average length of time taken to repay in full advance payments made under universal credit.
	tabling member constituency	Vale of Clwyd
	tabling member printed	Chris Ruane
	uin	263065
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department encourages all Universal Credit claimants to actively consider how best to manage their personal budget, with additional advice and support available from work coaches and case managers. When an advance payment is appropriate, claimants decide what percentage of their expected monthly award to apply for and over what period to repay it, up to a maximum of 12 monthly instalments.</p><p> </p><p>Claimants have the ability to make the decision for themselves on the time period for repayment. Most claimants (around 85%) choose to repay their advance over a 12-month period, with others repaying in a shorter timeframe.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has taken a number of steps to ensure that advances meet the needs of claimants and that recovery arrangements are personalised and reasonable. From October 2019 we are reducing the maximum rate of deductions to 30 per cent and from October 2021 we are increasing the maximum recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 19/06/2019 17:00:48 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma previous answer version 123347 answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	534 label Biography information for Chris Ruane

1130235

	registered interest
	date	05/06/2019
	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: Repayments
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for modifiying the repayment of Universal Credit advance payments in order to take into account individual circumstances such as debts related to (1) utilities, (2) Council Tax, and (3) previous loans.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
	uin	HL16096
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2019 answer text <p>The Department 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>The average advance amount for new claims is around £400, which can be repaid over a period of 12 months, at a rate of £33.33 per month. Therefore, in the majority of cases, advance payment recovery is small in comparison to the whole Universal Credit award, with a current average award of £658 per month.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise that exceptional circumstances may occur to claimants that were not foreseen when the advance was taken out. Help is available for those struggling to meet the recovery rate once recovery begins and if the claimant is facing unexpected financial hardship they can ask the Department for a deferral of the repayment of any advance they have taken out. The deferral periods are up to 3 months for a new claim, benefit transfer or change of circumstances advance and up to 6 months for a Budgeting advance.</p><p> </p><p>Where a claimant has a reduction in benefit due to a Fraud Penalty or Conditionally Sanction that equals or exceeds 40% of their Universal Credit standard allowance then no advance repayment will be taken. If there is insufficient Universal Credit in payment due to reductions such as earnings, other income and capital yield to take the full amount of advances repayment, a lesser amount will be taken.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 19/06/2019 11:35:17 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

1654078

	registered interest
	date	18/07/2023
	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: Repayments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households with deductions in Universal Credit payments for New Claim Loans are on a repayment schedule for this loan of (a) 0-6 months, (b) 6-12 months, (c) 12-18 months, (d) 18-24 months and (e) more than 24 months in the most recent month for which data is available.
	tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Hallam
	tabling member printed	Olivia Blake
	uin	194945
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/09/2023 answer text <p>The information requested is provided in the table below, subject to the caveats set out below</p><p> </p><p><strong>Notes</strong></p><p>1. The number of new claim &amp; benefit transfer advances has been rounded to the nearest 100.</p><p>2. Some households are repaying more than one new claim or benefit transfer advance. This impacts about 19% of households. For example, a household may take a further New Claim advance within the same assessment if they are within the maximum New Claim Advance amount available. This will appear as two different advances on the system.</p><p>3. &quot;New Claim Loan&quot; has been interpreted as new claim advance and figures presented also include benefit transfer advances.</p><p>4. Data for February 2023 has been provided, in line with the latest available Universal Credit Household Statistics.</p><p>5. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available</p><p><strong> </strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><p><strong>Table 2: Repayment Schedule for New Claim &amp; Benefit Transfer Advances in February 2023</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Repayment Schedule<em> (in months)</em></p></td><td><p>Number of New Claim &amp; Benefit Transfer Advances being Repaid</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>0 to 6 months</p></td><td><p>17,300</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>7 to 12 months</p></td><td><p>111,800</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>13 to 18 months</p></td><td><p>69,600</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>19 to 24 months</p></td><td><p>714,300</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr><tr><td><p>More than 24 months</p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td><p> </p></td><td><p> </p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 04/09/2023 15:13:49 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4864 label Biography information for Olivia Blake