Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Trussell Trust’s Guarantee our Essentials research, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of uplifting Universal Credit to £120 per week.

The purpose of the standard allowance is to provide towards basic living costs. Additional amounts are added to provide for individual needs such as housing, disability, and childcare costs.

Around 4 million households will benefit overall from the Government’s decision to increase the Universal Credit standard allowance – estimated to be worth £725 annually by 2029/30 in cash terms based on Spring Statement 2025 economic assumptions - £250 annually above inflation for a single household aged 25 or over.

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.