Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will temporarily amend the eligibility criteria for universal credit to allow students who are in financial difficulty as a result of the covid-19 pandemic to claim during the summer 2020.

A condition of entitlement for Universal Credit is that the claimant must not be in education, which excludes most students. Financial support for students comes from the system of educational loans, grants and bursaries designed for their needs. To safeguard fairness Universal Credit does not duplicate the support provided by the student support system. Exceptions are made where students have additional needs that are not met through the student support system.

Students will continue to receive scheduled payments of loans towards their living costs for the remainder of the 2019/20 academic year, which covers the summer period.