Universal Credit: Fines
(asked on 29th January 2021) - View Source
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to Answer of 22 January to Question 134402 on Universal Credit, what the value of claims with a deduction for court fines is in each month since November 2018.
The information is provided in the table below
Month Payment Due | Number of claims with a deduction for court fines | Proportion of all claims with a deduction for court fines | Total value of UC claims with a court fines deduction |
Nov-18 | 7,000 | 1% | £5,600,000 |
Dec-18 | 7,000 | 1% | £6,000,000 |
Jan-19 | 8,000 | 1% | £6,200,000 |
Feb-19 | 8,000 | 1% | £6,600,000 |
Mar-19 | 13,000 | 1% | £9,800,000 |
Apr-19 | 37,000 | 2% | £26,100,000 |
May-19 | 61,000 | 3% | £43,400,000 |
Jun-19 | 82,000 | 4% | £59,300,000 |
Jul-19 | 101,000 | 5% | £74,100,000 |
Aug-19 | 111,000 | 5% | £82,700,000 |
Sep-19 | 116,000 | 5% | £87,200,000 |
Oct-19 | 113,000 | 5% | £85,300,000 |
Nov-19 | 108,000 | 5% | £79,100,000 |
Dec-19 | 112,000 | 5% | £83,000,000 |
Jan-20 | 116,000 | 5% | £85,900,000 |
Feb-20 | 122,000 | 5% | £90,800,000 |
Mar-20 | 126,000 | 5% | £94,300,000 |
Apr-20 | 68,000 | 2% | £53,600,000 |
May-20 | 71,000 | 2% | £63,700,000 |
Jun-20 | 139,000 | 3% | £125,500,000 |
Jul-20 | 126,000 | 3% | £114,900,000 |
Aug-20 | 120,000 | 3% | £108,700,000 |
Notes
1.Claim figures rounded to the nearest 1,000, payments to the nearest £100,000.
2. Total value of Universal Credit claims reflects the amount of money paid to claimants and their landlords as part of their award, including the amount which they would have been entitled to had it not been deducted/sanctioned. It does not include other payments such as advances and hardship payments.
3.Figures are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.
4.Claim numbers may not match official statistics caseloads due to small methodological differences.
5.The increase in the proportion of claims with deductions for fines is due to an improved manual process phased in between February and the end of March 2019 for courts to send through their court fines deductions.
6.The decrease in number of claims with deductions for court fines, and total deducted from October 2019 is because the maximum deductions limit was reduced from 40% of the standard allowance to 30% of the standard allowance.
7.Figures for April and May 2020 are affected by the temporary suspension of third party deductions due to Covid-19.
8.During June 2020, third party deductions were reinstated but other deductions (for benefit overpayments etc.) were still suspended. This led to an increase in the total deducted for court fines, as a result of their place in the deductions priority order. From July 2020, other deductions began to be reinstated, following a phased approach.