Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department will take to incentivise young people who live in supported accommodation to work more hours.

We acknowledge the challenge presented by the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for those residing in supported housing. However, people in supported housing and in receipt of Housing Benefit are always better off in work than not working at all.

It is the department’s priority to ensure that those who can work are supported to enter the labour market and to sustain employment. DWP is working in conjunction with West Midlands Combined Authority on a Proof of Concept which will test financial support for eligible 18–24-year-olds living in commissioned supported housing who move into work or increase their working hours and cease receiving Universal Credit. We are hopeful that this will provide new insight to inform future policy.

The Government’s Back to Work Plan is critical to growing the economy. This includes implementing a new national jobs and career service to help get more people into work alongside a Youth Guarantee. This will mean more quality opportunities for training, apprenticeships and help to find work for all young people aged 18-21 years old, preventing them from becoming excluded from the world of work at a young age.