Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of advice given by (a) work coaches and (b) universal credit journals on claiming the advance payment of universal credit.
Any need for an advance payment or other financial or budgeting support should be established at the outset of a claim for Universal Credit. This includes existing benefit claimants who move to Universal Credit through a change of circumstances. In the initial new claim interview, work coaches are trained to offer personal budgeting support and assess whether claimants need help to manage until their first Universal Credit payment. If so they are advised to apply for an advance. Furthermore, additional work has been done by the Department to raise awareness of advances nationally, including providing options on the UC Helpline, and signposting through the new “Universal Credit & you” guide for claimants and on the new online Money Manager tool offered by the Money Advice Service. We will shortly be publishing data on advances.