Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has she made of the (a) adequacy of the rate of legacy benefits and (b) benefits of extending the £20 uplift in Universal Credit to legacy benefits.

No assessment has been made. There is no objective way of deciding what an adequate level of benefit should be as everyone has different requirements. Income related benefit rates are not made up of separate amounts for specific items of expenditure.

The Government has always been clear that the £20 increase was a temporary measure to support households affected by the economic shock of Covid-19. It has always been the case that claimants on legacy benefits can make a claim for Universal Credit if they believe that they will be better off.

Working age benefits, which include legacy benefits, were increased by £1bn (1.7 per cent) from April 2020 and received a further £500m (0.5 per cent) increase from April 2021 as part of the Government’s annual up-rating exercise (both figures in cash terms).

Claimants on legacy benefits can make a claim for Universal Credit if they believe they will be better off. The Government encourages anybody to go on GOV.UK and use one of the independent benefit calculators to check carefully their eligibility, because on applying for Universal Credit their entitlement to legacy benefits will cease and they will not be able to return to them in the future. Neither DWP nor HMRC can advise individual claimants whether they would be better off moving to Universal Credit or remaining on legacy benefits. They can get help through the government funded Help to Claim scheme as well as the Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland.

Since July 2020, a two-week run-on of housing benefit, income support and income-related employment and support allowance and income-based jobseeker’s allowance is paid to eligible claimants to provide additional support to move to Universal Credit.