Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on levels of (a) relative and (b) absolute poverty of turning advance loans into grants when an applicant qualifies for universal credit.
Estimating the potential impact of individual policies on future levels of poverty is not possible as it would require making judgements about what will happen to every person’s income in the future and then also isolating potential changes in income due to the effect of specific policies on certain individuals. It is not possible to do this accurately as there is so much uncertainty involved in projecting incomes.