Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timeframe is for her Department to bring forward legislative proposals for severe disability premium to be available under universal credit.

The Department laid The Universal Credit (Managed Migration Pilot and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019 before Parliament on 22 July 2019. This means we can identify claimants who are potentially eligible for Severe Disability Premium transitional payments and start making these payments as soon as possible.

From 24 July 2019, eligible claimants will be considered for backdated payments covering the time since they moved to Universal Credit. We estimate that by 2024/25, approximately 45,000 of the most vulnerable claimants will benefit from this package of support, worth an estimated £600million over the next six years.