Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has plans to include an income assessment form in the application for advance payments for universal credit; and if she will make a statement.
Introducing an income assessment could cause delay to Universal Credit (UC) new claim advances, the purpose of which is to provide fast access to a payment for people in financial need until their first UC payment’s due.
The Department will increase the maximum recovery period for advances on new claims from 12 months to 16 months from October 2021. If an unforeseen event occurs that would result in hardship once recovery begins, in certain circumstances, repayments can be deferred for up to 3 months.