Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to reduce the time taken to make payments of universal credit.

From February 2018, the seven-day waiting period will be removed for all new Universal Credit claimants. This means that no claimant should wait longer than five weeks to receive their first Universal Credit payment.

DWP has also improved the Universal Credit advances process. Claimants who require support can now get an advance of up to 100 per cent of their expected monthly entitlement while they wait for their first payment. This effectively removes the wait until their first payment altogether.