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<p>This Government is committed to providing a strong welfare safety-net for those
who need it. There is a well-established system of hardship payments, benefit advances
and budgeting loans for those who need extra support.</p><p> </p><p>Our deductions
policy strikes a fair balance between a claimant’s need to meet their financial obligations
and their ability to ensure they can meet their day-to-day needs. Since October 2019,
Universal Credit deductions are a maximum of 30% of a claimant’s standard allowance
down from 40% previously.</p><p> </p><p>We also recognise the importance of safeguarding
the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt, so last resort deductions over the
30% cap can be applied to protect vulnerable claimants from eviction and/or having
their fuel supply disconnected, by providing a repayment method for arrears of these
essential services.</p><p> </p><p>Of all eligible claims to Universal Credit Full
Service due a payment in November 2019, 58% (1,307,000 claims) had a deduction.</p><p>
</p><p>Of this 1,307,000 claims with a deduction:</p><p> </p><p>a) 44% (569,000 claims)
had deductions up to and including 20% of the Standard Allowance (25% of all eligible
claims).</p><p> </p><p>b) 52% (681,000 claims) had deductions between 20% and 30%
of the Standard Allowance (30% of all eligible claims).</p><p> </p><p>For last resort
deductions –</p><p> </p><p>c) 4% (51,000 claims) had deductions between 30% and 40%
of their Standard Allowance (2% of all eligible claims).</p><p> </p><p>d) 1% (7,000
claims) had deductions above 40% of their Standard Allowance (0.3% of all eligible
claims).</p><p> </p><p>Notes:</p><p> </p><p>1. Claim numbers may not match official
statistics caseloads due to small methodological differences.</p><p>2. Claim numbers
are rounded up to the nearest 1,000.</p><p>3. Deductions include advance repayments
and all other deductions, but exclude sanctions and fraud penalties which are reductions
of benefit rather than deductions.</p><p>4. Deduction bands exclude the lower limit
but include the upper limit, i.e. 'between 20% and 30% of the Standard Allowance'
includes claimants having 30% of their standard allowance deducted but not those having
20% deducted.</p>
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