Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to Answer of 22 January 2021 to Question 134402 on Universal Credit, what assessment her Department has made of the equity of the decision to decrease the maximum deductions limit from 40 per cent to 30 per cent of the standard allowance on the benefits of allowing decision makers to deduct court fines at the minimum of 5 per cent of standard allowance.

The decrease to the maximum deductions limit relates to a reduction in the overall normal maximum rate of deductions from Universal Credit (UC) from 40% to 30% of the claimant’s standard allowance from October 2019. The normal maximum rate of deductions will reduce to 25% of the claimant’s standard allowance in October this year.

Magistrate Courts impose Fines and Compensation orders on offenders, and can instruct the DWP to make a deduction from UC. The rate we can recover court fines is set out in the regulations at a minimum rate of 5% of a claimant’s standard allowance and up to a maximum rate of £108.35 per assessment period, as long as there is sufficient UC in payment. Similarly, the maximum deduction for court fines will not exceed 30% of the claimant’s standard allowance (25% from October.