Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of raising the standard allowance of Universal Credit in the context of rising inflation.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has completed his statutory annual up-rating review and State Pension and benefit rates will increase in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) for the year to September 2022. This means the rate of Universal Credit standard allowance will increase by 10.1% from 10 April 2023.

His decisions were announced by means of a written ministerial statement on 17 November 2022 and the rates can be found on gov.uk:

Benefit and pension rates 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)