Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 June 2023 to Question187662 on Universal Credit: Deductions, what the (a) number and (b) total amount of debts to the Government registered against Universal Credit households between March 2022 and February 2023 was, broken down by each Department.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Information on the number and amount of Universal Credit debt broken down by each department is not held.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claims were subject to deductions in the most recent month for which data is available, broken down by parliamentary constituency; how much on average was deducted in each constituency; what the total sum was of deductions in each constituency; and what proportion of each of those sums was deducted to repay advance payments; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government recognises the importance of supporting the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. We seek to balance recovery of debt against not causing hardship for claimants and their families. Processes are in place to ensure deductions are manageable, and customers can contact the DWP Debt Management Team if they are experiencing financial hardship, to discuss a reduction in their rate of repayment, or a temporary suspension, depending on their financial circumstances.
Since April 2021, we have reduced the normal maximum rate of deductions in Universal Credit from 40% to 25% of a claimant’s Standard Allowance. These positive measures were put in place to support claimants to manage financial difficulties.
Advances are a claimant’s benefit entitlement paid early, allowing claimants to access 100% of their estimated Universal Credit payment upfront. They ensure nobody has to wait for a payment in Universal Credit, and those who need it are able to receive financial support as soon as possible. Claimants can receive up to 100% of their estimated Universal Credit award if required, resulting in 25 payments over a 24-month period. This is not a debt.
The requested analysis of Universal Credit claims with a deduction in February 2023 by parliamentary constituency in Great Britain (GB) is provided in the separate spreadsheet.
Data for February 2023 has been provided in line with the latest available Universal Credit Household Statistics.
Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many, and what proportion, of Universal Credit claims were subject to deductions in the most recent month for which data is available, broken down by parliamentary constituency; how much was the (1) total, and (2) average, sum of deductions in each constituency; and what proportion of those sums was deducted to repay advance payments.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises the importance of supporting the welfare of claimants who have incurred debt. We seek to balance recovery of debt against not causing hardship for claimants and their families. Processes are in place to ensure deductions are manageable, and customers can contact the DWP Debt Management Team if they are experiencing financial hardship, to discuss a reduction in their rate of repayment, or a temporary suspension, depending on their financial circumstances.
Since April 2021, we have reduced the normal maximum rate of deductions in Universal Credit from 40% to 25% of a claimant’s Standard Allowance. These positive measures were put in place to support claimants to manage financial difficulties.
Advances are a claimant’s benefit entitlement paid early, allowing claimants to access 100% of their estimated Universal Credit payment upfront. They ensure nobody has to wait for a payment in Universal Credit, and those who need it are able to receive financial support as soon as possible. Claimants can receive up to 100% of their estimated Universal Credit award if required, resulting in 25 payments over a 24-month period. This is not a debt.
The requested analysis of Universal Credit claims with a deduction in February 2023 by parliamentary constituency in Great Britain (GB) is provided in the separate spreadsheet.
Data for February 2023 has been provided in line with the latest available Universal Credit Household Statistics.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households had a Universal Credit deduction in Enfield North constituency from (a) March 2022 to February 2023, (b) March 2021 to February 2022 and (c) March 2020 to February 2021; and how many children lived in such households in each of those periods.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The primary aim of the Universal Credit deductions policy is to protect vulnerable claimants by providing a last resort repayment method for arrears of essential services. In recent years, the standard UC deduction cap has been reduced twice – from 40% to 30% of the Standard Allowance in October 2019, and down to 25% in April 2021.
From April 2020 to July 2020, a temporary freeze on government and third party deductions was introduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The requested information is provided in the separate spreadsheet.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit deductions for (a) households and (b) households with children in Enfield North constituency there were from (i) March 2022 to February 2023, (ii) March 2021 to February 2022 and (iii) March 2020 to February 2021.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The primary aim of the Universal Credit deductions policy is to protect vulnerable claimants by providing a last resort repayment method for arrears of essential services. In recent years, the standard UC deduction cap has been reduced twice – from 40% to 30% of the Standard Allowance in October 2019, and down to 25% in April 2021.
From April 2020 to July 2020, a temporary freeze on government and third party deductions was introduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The requested information is provided in the separate spreadsheet.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much was taken from Universal Credit payments to households subject to a benefit deduction in Enfield North constituency in (a) March 2020 to February 2021, (b) March 2021 to February 2022 and (c) March 2022 to February 2023.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The primary aim of the Universal Credit deductions policy is to protect vulnerable claimants by providing a last resort repayment method for arrears of essential services. In recent years, the standard UC deduction cap has been reduced twice – from 40% to 30% of the Standard Allowance in October 2019, and down to 25% in April 2021.
From April 2020 to July 2020, a temporary freeze on government and third party deductions was introduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The requested information is provided in the separate spreadsheet.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
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 impact of the removal of the spare bedroom subsidy on levels of spending on (a) housing benefit and (b) discretionary housing payments in Wales in each year since April 2013.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has not made an assessment of the full impact of the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy on levels of spending on Housing Benefit (HB). We estimate that the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) policy, between May 2013 and February 2023, has seen deductions from Housing Benefit (HB) expenditure in Wales of £190 million. This is broken down for each financial year below:
Financial Year | Total RSRS deductions for HB in Wales |
2013/14* | £21m |
2014/15 | £22m |
2015/16 | £22m |
2016/17 | £22m |
2017/18 | £22m |
2018/19 | £21m |
2019/20 | £18m |
2020/21 | £16m |
2021/22 | £14m |
2022/23* | £12m |
*These years do not include the full 12 months. 2013/14 excludes April 2013 as there is no data for this month. 2022/23 excludes March 2023 as this data is not yet available.
This estimate is based on those households with the RSRS deduction applied. For a full impact assessment, the behavioural impact of the policy would need to be considered, for example where households with a spare bedroom have moved to a right-sized property.
As asked for the total RSRS deductions are for Housing Benefit only, and do not include deductions for those in receipt of the Universal Credit Housing Element (UCHE). Over the time period shown there has been migration of cases from HB to UCHE, and the majority of new claims for housing support for those of working age will be for UCHE since its introduction.
The impact of the RSRS on Discretionary Housing Payment spending has not been fully assessed. DHP funding has historically been distributed using four funding streams based on DWPs best measures of housing need, these are Local expenditure on Housing Benefit (HB)/Universal Credit Housing Element (UCHE), Local Housing Allowance (LHA) shortfalls, RSRS deductions and Benefit Cap deductions. Although the funding is distributed using this broad methodology, local authorities spend according to their own criteria. As part of annual returns LAs include a breakdown of their expenditure by measure including RSRS, though DHP stats include this breakdown only at national level.
The overall RSRS expenditure reported to DWP by Welsh Local Authorities between April 2013 and March 2022 has been over £30 million. This is broken down for each financial year below:
Financial Year | RSRS Expenditure in DHP by Local Authorities in Wales | Percentage of LA’s information is available for |
2013-14 | £3,116,498 | 73% |
2014-15 | £4,427,275 | 86% |
2015-16 | £3,045,024 | 77% |
2016-17 | £3,360,025 | 82% |
2017-18 | £3,062,745 | 77% |
2018-19 | £3,204,905 | 86% |
2019-20 | £2,821,180 | 82% |
2020-21 | £3,702,173 | 91% |
2021-22 | £4,247,069 | 100% |
* Monitoring returns were not provided by all local authorities; for those that did, not all could provide the detailed breakdown
This table shows the expenditure of Welsh LAs on DHPS in respect to RSRS, not what DWP provide to Welsh LAs as a contribution of funding DHPs. DHP statistics are available online:
Discretionary Housing Payments statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 9 May 2023 to Question 182576 on Universal Credit: Deductions, if he will publish an updated version of Table 1 - Deductions to Universal Credit household awards containing data for each of the 12 months from March 2022 to February 2023.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The primary aim of the Universal Credit deductions policy is to protect vulnerable claimants by providing a last resort repayment method for arrears of essential services. In recent years, the standard UC deduction cap has been reduced twice – from 40% to 30% of the Standard Allowance in October 2019, and down to 25% in April 2021.
The requested information is provided in the separate spreadsheet.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what total amount was taken from Universal Credit payments among households subject to a benefit deduction in (a) March 2020 to February 2021, (b) March 2021 to February 2022 and (c) March 2022 to February 2023.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The primary aim of the Universal Credit deductions policy is to protect vulnerable claimants by providing a last resort repayment method for arrears of essential services. In recent years, the standard UC deduction cap has been reduced twice – from 40% to 30% of the Standard Allowance in October 2019, and down to 25% in April 2021.
The requested information is provided in the separate spreadsheet.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) households had a and (b) children lived in households with a Universal Credit deduction from (i) March 2022 to February 2023, (ii) March 2021 to February 2022 and (iii) March 2020 to February 2021.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The primary aim of the Universal Credit deductions policy is to protect vulnerable claimants by providing a last resort repayment method for arrears of essential services. In recent years, the standard UC deduction cap has been reduced twice – from 40% to 30% of the Standard Allowance in October 2019, and down to 25% in April 2021.
The requested information is provided in the separate spreadsheet.