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Written Question
Universal Credit
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to tackle discrepancies in entitlements for people on legacy benefits who are required to migrate to Universal Credit.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government has given a commitment that no eligible customer, notified they must claim Universal Credit (UC) by the Department for Work and Pensions, and whose circumstances remain the same, will have a lower entitlement on claiming UC than their existing entitlement to legacy benefits. To meet this commitment, eligible customers will be assessed for Transitional Protection and where necessary awarded a Transitional Element as part of their UC award.

Transitional Protections are also applied to customers who would not normally meet UC entitlement conditions. Normal UC entitlement rules of not being in full time education are disregarded for the duration of the course the customer was undertaking on claiming UC and having capital over £16,000 does not prevent entitlement for UC for 12 assessment periods.


Written Question
Free School Meals: Universal Credit
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the eligibility threshold for means-tested free school meals for Universal Credit recipients in line with (a) inflation and (b) national living wage increases.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Over 2 million pupils are currently eligible for benefits based free school meals (FSM). Close to 1.3 million additional infants receive free and nutritious meals under the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy.

A threshold must be set somewhere, and the department believes that the current eligibility threshold level, which enables pupils in low-income households to benefit from FSM while remaining affordable and deliverable for schools, is the right one.

The department does not have plans to change the current eligibility conditions for FSM. However, the department continues to keep eligibility under review to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2024 to Question 17113 on Universal Credit and with reference to the National Audit Office's report entitled Progress in implementing Universal Credit, published on 27 February 2024, whether he has taken steps in response to the finding on the proportion of people claiming legacy benefits who (a) have not transferred to universal credit after receiving notice to switch and (b) have had their legacy benefits stopped.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Our priority is the ensure that everyone who wishes to make a claim to Universal Credit is able to do so. The Department undertook research to better understand why some tax credit only households were not making a claim to Universal Credit and our findings were published on 29 February 2024, Move to Universal Credit – insight on Tax Credit migrations and initial Discovery activity for wider benefit cohorts. The Department will be undertaking further surveys with IPSOS, which are due to commence in April 2024. Once this is complete, we are committed to publishing all our findings.

It is the customers responsibility to choose whether to make an application for Universal Credit. There is no evidence to suggest any actions the Department has taken or should have taken are influencing that choice.


Written Question
Rented Housing
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has had recent discussions with (a) housing associations and (b) renter groups on the potential impact of a 53 week rent year in 2024-25.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

There has been no recent conversations with housing associations or renter groups regarding the formula to convert weekly rental liabilities to calendar monthly values in Universal Credit.

Universal Credit always converts weekly amounts to monthly sums using 52 weeks. This may lead to a slight advantage to the claimant when converting weekly incomes and to a slight disadvantage when dealing with outgoings. The system is used because it is simple to operate and understand. The department has considered alternative options for those with weekly tenancies, but each have their own limitations and disadvantages for claimants and so there are no plans to change.

The legitimacy of this calculation formula in Universal Credit was confirmed by the High Court in 2020 who found it to be neither irrational or discriminatory.

Discretionary Housing Payments can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. Since 2011, the government has provided nearly £1.7 billion in Discretionary Housing Payments to local authorities.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit Migration Notice letters he plans to send to people in (a) Liverpool, Walton constituency and (b) the UK by 31 March 2025.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department plans to send Migration Notices to over 1 million households by 31 March 2025.

We intend to publish constituency level data at a future date.


Written Question
Tax Credits: Universal Credit
Monday 18th March 2024

Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)

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 potential reasons why people receiving tax credits are not voluntarily migrating to Universal Credit.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

It is the customers responsibility to choose whether to make an application for Universal Credit. There is no evidence to suggest any actions the Department has taken or should have taken are influencing that choice.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received an advance payment of universal credit between 1 April 2023 and 12 March 2024.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, 880,000 Universal Credit (UC) households received at least one advance payment of UC and between 1 April 2023 and 30 November 2023, 610,000 UC households received at least one advance payment of UC.

Notes:

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10,000.

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

3. Data up to November 2023 has been provided in line with the latest available UC Household Statistics.

4. This analysis includes New Claims, Change of Circumstances and Benefit Transfers as these are an advance of a Universal Credit payment. Budgeting Advances have been excluded since these are loans to help with emergency household costs and not an advance of Universal Credit payment.

5. Households with more than one advance payment in the stated time period have only been counted once.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received an advance payment of universal credit between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, 880,000 Universal Credit (UC) households received at least one advance payment of UC and between 1 April 2023 and 30 November 2023, 610,000 UC households received at least one advance payment of UC.

Notes:

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10,000.

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

3. Data up to November 2023 has been provided in line with the latest available UC Household Statistics.

4. This analysis includes New Claims, Change of Circumstances and Benefit Transfers as these are an advance of a Universal Credit payment. Budgeting Advances have been excluded since these are loans to help with emergency household costs and not an advance of Universal Credit payment.

5. Households with more than one advance payment in the stated time period have only been counted once.


Written Question
Employment: Disability
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answers of 6 March 2024 to Question 16495 and of 11 March 2024 to Question 17444 on Employment: Disability, what guidance his Department issues to employers on home assessments to ensure the suitability of equipment for disabled people taking on home-based employment.

Answered by Mims Davies - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

An employer has the same health and safety responsibilities for people working from home, including those with disabilities, as for any other workers. Employers must protect their workers from health and safety risks from working on a computer or laptop (display screen equipment or DSE) at home and should check to see if the Display Screen Equipment Regulations apply. HSE guidance provides more information: Managing home workers' health and safety - Overview – HSE

Separately, the Chance to Work Guarantee will remove reassessments for the majority of Universal Credit (UC) or Employment and Support Allowance claimants (ESA) with no work-related requirements. The purpose of the Guarantee is to encourage claimants who have been assessed without work-related requirements to try work without the fear of reassessment, within existing permitted work rules in ESA and work allowance rules in UC.


Written Question
Universal Credit
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what is the average waiting time for those on Universal Credit to see a work coach for an initial interview.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The requested information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.