Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has provided any guidance to employers who have employees in receipt of universal credit on how to accurately report earnings to such reports are correct for any given assessment period.

The Government is working with employers to ensure that they use the most appropriate payment practices and comply with Real Time Information guidelines in order to minimise the incidence of erroneous or late reporting by employers, and HMRC have recently updated guidance to reiterate to employers the importance of reporting accurate dates and the impact on payment cycles.

We have produced guidance to help ensure claimants, staff and representatives are aware of how different earnings patterns can affect their Universal Credit award. This can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-different-earning-patterns-and-your-payments/universal-credit-different-earning-patterns-and-your-payments-payment-cycles

Additionally, claimants can always discuss the implications of this with their case managers and work coaches and can be referred to Personal Budgeting Support to help them manage their budgeting.