Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, under what conditions married women can claim universal credit in their own right.

Under Universal Credit couples in the same household must make a joint claim. Payment is normally once a month into a bank account nominated by the couple, which could be a joint or an individual account. Where there is financial abuse that is affecting the rest of the family, or other more fundamental problems such as domestic violence, we have the ability to split the payment between partners, allowing each claimant to receive a separate payment.