Universal Credit

(asked on 21st April 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Universal Credit Programme Board minutes, Paper 1, deposited in the Library on 15 April 2021, what the evidential basis is for her assessment of the merits of people going immediately onto universal credit and fewer people needing Transitional Protection as a result of the end date for managed migration being moved to the end of 2023 from March 2023.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 26th April 2021

The Universal Credit Programme Board papers deposited in the Library relate to meetings held between October 2018 and March 2019.

In Spring 2020, at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the Department refocused considerable resource to ensuring that all those who needed support during this time could access it, and be paid in full and on time. Since that time, the volume of people on the Universal Credit has doubled to 6 million, which means that our planning for those requiring Transitional Protection has evolved accordingly. We currently anticipate that the process of moving legacy benefit claimants to Universal Credit will be completed by the end of 2024.

Universal Credit offers many advantages over the legacy benefit system: from improved support and access to Work Coaches to improved incentives to increase earnings through the taper rate and Work Allowance. As a consequence, it is reasonable to assume that there will be claimants who do not wish to wait to be moved, or experience a change in their circumstances, which prompts them to claim Universal Credit, and we are looking at how we can support those claimants.

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