Universal Credit
(asked on 12th December 2018) - View Source
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 number of payments of universal credit paid to claimants on time and correct at (a) first assessment and (b) second assessment; what the average amount of time taken has been to resolve such payments; and what the longest outstanding claim has been by number of weeks before it was resolved in (i) Merthyr Tydfil, (ii) South Wales and (iii) the UK.
Universal Credit Full Service rolled out in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney on 27 June 2018. For new claims to Universal Credit Full Service in ‘Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney constituency’, that were due a first payment in August 2018, our internal data shows that 85% were paid in full on time and 92% were paid in part on time. The information requested for data on payment timeliness for second assessment period payments is not held as the sample size is not sufficient to provide a robust measure of payment timeliness for these claims.
The information requested for data on payment timeliness details for South Wales is not held.
Our most recent payment timeliness statistics for claims in Great Britain have been published on gov.uk and can be accessed at:
This shows that for Great Britain, for first Assessment Periods where the payment was due in August 18: 84% were paid in full on time, and 89% paid in part on time. Our internal data shows for second Assessment Periods where the payment was due in August 18: 92% were paid in full on time and 96% paid in part on time.
Social Security is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland and the delivery of Universal Credit in Northern Ireland is the responsibility of the Department for Communities, part of the Northern Ireland Executive.
To provide analysis of the longest wait for payment would incur disproportionate cost as the information is not readily available.
In many cases where full payment is not made on time, it is due to unresolved issues such as: claimants not accepting their Claimant Commitment or passing identity checks, or having outstanding verification issues, such as housing costs and self-employed earnings. In order to support claimants to claim, we have taken steps to improve verification processes. For example, we have listened to feedback and built processes into the system to make it easier and quicker for people to verify their housing costs, for example through the landlord portal.
For anyone waiting for their first Universal Credit payment, advances are available, so no one should be left without means of support.