Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate she has made of the number of claimants that have received less money as a result of moving from working tax credits to universal credit.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Currently, claimants moving from existing benefits to Universal Credit will only do so because they will have had a change in their circumstances that would previously, under the legacy system, have triggered a new claim to benefits or tax credits. In such circumstances they would always have had their entitlement calculated based on the rules of their new benefit. This principle has been maintained for those moving to Universal Credit.