The Government\u2019s priority remains securing a deal to leave the EU. We have more people in work than ever before, with wages continuing to grow. DWP has contingency plans to ensure we can continue to provide our vital services to those who need them.<\/p>
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The Department already has a number of mechanisms in place to provide additional support to those who need it.<\/p>
<\/p>
New claimants to Universal Credit can apply for an advance if they need financial support until the first regular payment of Universal Credit is made. Furthermore, we have recently implemented a £1000 increase in Work Allowance rates for some of the most vulnerable low paid working families. It will increase the amount that families can earn before Universal Credit is tapered away, providing 2.4 million working families with an extra £630 a year.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4014", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Sharma"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Reading West"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Alok Sharma"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-04-09", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-04-09T16:42:23.697Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "29"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Work and Pensions"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-04-04", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Low Incomes"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what additional funding her Department plans to provide to support people on low wages and insecure income in the event of increases to food prices and living costs as a result of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4510", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Helen Hayes"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Dulwich and West Norwood"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Helen Hayes"} ], "uin" : "241062"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }