Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what prior warning individuals moving from legacy benefits to Universal Credit are given about deductions from their first Universal Credit payment about tax credit debt.

HMRC notifies the customer of the amount of debt being transferred and explains that DWP will recover by deduction from Universal Credit. Once transferred to DWP for recovery, any Tax Credit debt is recovered in the same way as overpaid DWP benefits. Where the customer is in receipt of Universal Credit, deductions are taken from the next available assessment period. Customers are advised of the rate of deduction through a notification posted in their journal.

DWP has a well-established process for working with individuals to support them to manage their debt. We remain committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and encourage anyone who cannot afford the proposed rate of repayment to contact us.