Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent progress his Department has made in the completion of the Universal Credit split payment impact assessment; and whether they plan to use split payments as the default mechanism for all joint claims.

The Department is currently considering the policy design specification provided by the Scottish Government for its proposal to make split payments the default option for Universal Credit customers in Scotland.

The Department has no plans to make split payments the default arrangement for all joint Universal Credit claims.