Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Welfare Delivery at the Work and Pensions Select Committee on 23 April 2020, what steps she has taken to ensure that universal credit claimants that are self-employed are aware that capital set aside for their self-assessment tax bill will not affect their claim.

The Understanding UC website provides information on UC and self-employment including the treatment of business assets. The Department also provides regular updates to self-employment groups, including the Federation of Small Business, with the ability for stakeholders to ask questions about issues of concern and engages regularly with the media to ensure information is disseminated.

For claimants with capital over £16,000 we contact the claimant to understand the composition of their capital to determine eligibility. Part of that consideration would be whether the declared capital included business assets which would be disregarded.