Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy that people who increase their earnings from work should always be financially better off as a result.

The Government’s policy is that people should be better off in work and better off working more. That is why we are introducing Universal Credit, which has been designed to reduce poverty and ensure that work pays more than a life on benefits. The single taper rate of 65% ensures that Universal Credit reduces gradually as earnings increase and claimants benefit from each extra £1 they earn.