Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she plans to take to increase the Universal Credit rate for people under 25 ahead of the Autumn Budget 2025.

There are currently no plans to increase the Universal Credit rate for people under 25.

Under the Social Security Administration Act 1992 the Secretary of State is required by law to review State Pension and benefit rates each year to see if they have retained their value in relation to the general level of prices or earnings.

We have uprated benefit rates for 2025/26 in line with inflation, with 5.7 million Universal Credit households forecast to gain by an average of £150 annually.

In addition, we have introduced our Universal Credit bill which legislates to rebalance Universal Credit by bringing in, for the first time ever, a sustained above inflation increase to the UC standard allowance for all claimants.