Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the judgment of the Court of Appeal of 22 June 2020 in the case of Johnson, Woods, Barrett and Stewart v. the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy that claimants whose universal credit award was reduced because they received two wage payments in one assessment period will receive compensation for money previously lost.

The legislation we have put in place to provide a remedy to satisfy the Court of Appeal’s Judgment in the case of Johnson and Others will mean that in future, for cases affected by this issue, monthly earnings will be reallocated to another assessment period, which means that only one set of earnings will be taken into account rather than two, and certain claimants will be able to benefit from any applicable work allowance.

The Court of Appeal’s judgment did not require the Department to apply the new arrangements retrospectively.