Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2019 to 228698, when electronic access will be provided to a claimant in order for them to access their previous universal credit claim without the need for a claimant to ask a case manager for information.

The Department has no plans, at present, to provide claimants with direct access to their previous claims.

A key reason a claimant cannot access a previous claim is that it could contain information the Department has an obligation to protect. This could include, for example, information about a previous partner. However, if a claimant, who has had a previous claim closed, needs to access their own information contained in previous statements or their journal, a case manager can access this information on their behalf and provide them with any information they might require.