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 potential effect on vulnerable claimants of the roll-out of universal credit under (a) current systems and (b) the managed migration process.

We intend to build safeguards into the managed migration process to ensure that people will not have a break in their benefit entitlement and will ensure that claimants are supported. Managed migration will begin with a testing period commencing in 2019, in which up to 10,000 claimants will be migrated, ensuring our process are working effectively before we take on larger volumes from 2020 onwards.

We have already implemented a number of measures this year to assist claimants during the transition to their first Universal Credit payment, including the removal of waiting days, a Universal Credit Transitional Housing Payment (which provides a two week Housing Benefit run-on), 100% advances and a longer repayment period.

The Department is working with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that the managed migration process works for everyone, especially vulnerable claimants. As part of this, earlier this month we held a large scale stakeholder event, engaging with over 70 organisations, including those representing vulnerable claimant groups, seeking their detailed input on the managed migration process.

Over £2.4bn in benefits are currently unclaimed and Universal Credit ensures that vulnerable claimants receive the money they are entitled to. More severely disabled people will receive higher payments under Universal Credit, with around 1 million disabled households gaining on average about £110 more per month.

Transitional protection payments proposed in our managed migration regulation will also ensure there are no cash losers at the point of transition. These include protections for claimants receiving a Severe Disability Premium, to ensure they are not moved onto Universal Credit ahead of managed migration, and to provide financial support for those who have already moved over.