Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the implications of her policies of the findings of Citizens Advice Scotland, published in February 2021, that the value of standard allowance of universal credit without the £20 uplift is less in real terms than in 2013.

No such assessment has been carried out.

There is no objective way of deciding what an adequate level of benefit should be as everyone has different requirements. Income related benefit rates are not made up of separate amounts for specific items of expenditure such as food or fuel charges.

The Government is committed to helping people with the cost of living and providing a safety net for those that need it. We have injected billions into the welfare system for those most in need, including increases to the Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit standard allowances of up to £1040 this financial year, and uplifts to the Local Housing Allowance rates to cover the lowest 30% of market rents. The Covid Winter Grant Scheme builds on that support with an additional £170m for local authorities in England, to support families with children and other vulnerable people, with the cost of food and essential utilities this winter.