Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce payment times for universal credit applicants.

We continue to make changes to improve payment timeliness: since February 2018, Universal Credit claimants have been able to upload digital copies of their childcare cost receipts or invoices through their online Universal Credit account; in 2017 we started rolling out a ‘landlord portal’ to social landlords to make it easier and quicker to verify people’s housing costs. We have also listened to feedback and built processes into the system to improve verification for tenants in the private rented sector. All of this makes it easier for claimants to apply for Universal Credit and ensure they receive their entitlement on time and in full.