Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit claimants on a non-monthly earning cycle missed out on each of the first and second Cost of Living Payment instalments due to receiving a nil Universal Credit award as a result of higher earnings than usual during the qualifying assessment period.

It is not possible to identify how many households did not receive the Cost of Living payment because of the way their wages were paid during the qualifying month.

A claimant may not be eligible to receive a Cost of Living payment if they have an increase earnings during the qualifying period. We are unable to distinguish whether this fluctuation is temporary or permanent. This fluctuation could be the result of a household receiving additional earnings due to being paid more frequently or another reason.

During the first qualifying period, with an assessment period end date between 26/4/2022 and 25/5/2022 inclusive, there were 464,000 Universal Credit households where earnings reduced their Universal Credit award to £0 for the qualifying period. This was equivalent to 551,000 Universal Credit claimants.

Figures for the second Cost of Living payment are not available as these payments have not yet been made.

In collaboration with Local Authorities we have a well-established system of hardship payments, including the Discretionary Housing Payments, available as a safeguard for if claimants demonstrate they cannot meet their immediate and most essential needs due to the rise in the cost of living. For those who require additional support we have provided an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £421m, running from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. The devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula as usual.

Notes:

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 1,000.

2. Great Britain level figures have been provided.

3. Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.

4. Numbers are not comparable with Official Statistics Household series as a household may receive a nil award for reasons other than earnings.

5. The methodology and data source used is different to those used to derive the Official Statistics Household series.