Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the introduction of universal credit on the take-up of higher education for full-time disabled students.

Most full time students in higher education do not qualify for Universal Credit. Students, including disabled students and those with health conditions, access fees and living costs support for their higher education courses through various loans and grants funded by the Department for Education.

However, Universal Credit is designed so that a person already in receipt of Universal Credit because of disability or ill health is not discouraged from taking up higher education that may help them in the future.