Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that universal credit claimants paying rent weekly do not face a one-week shortfall in their universal credit housing element in 2020.
Answered by Will Quince
No-one will face a one-week shortfall in their Universal Credit (UC) housing element in 2020 as no year contains 53 weeks. This perceived issue of there being a one-week shortfall due to there being 53 weeks in a year arises where a landlord charges rent weekly on a Monday and, because of the way the calendar falls every 5 or 6 years, requiring 53 rent payments in a year, with the 53rd payment in part covering the tenancy for the first few days of the following year.
Where a tenant makes a 53rd rent payment in a given year, this payment will cover some days in the subsequent year. This will mean the following month only has four payment dates and, as such, the claimant will be ‘overpaid’ for their housing and their shortfall will be recovered.
Universal Credit payments are designed to mirror the world of work, with monthly payments reflecting the way many working people are paid. This model of monthly payments allows claimants to take responsibility for budgeting their own income and helps prepare them for getting back to work.
We are aware of a separate issue with respect to the way the calculation in the Universal Credit regulations converts a weekly liability into a monthly allowance. The conversion is achieved by multiplying the weekly rent by 52 and then dividing by 12. This effectively means one day’s rent a year (two days in a leap years) are not covered by UC. We are currently considering whether this formulation around weekly rents, and potentially other weekly amounts in the UC calculation, should be amended.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will work with housing associations to share data to support tenants when undergoing transfer from legacy benefits onto universal credit.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We are working with Trusted Partners, including Housing Associations, to identify how best to support claimants within the Harrogate Move to UC pilot as they move from legacy benefits to UC. We will explore whether data sharing is required as part of this support.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will bring forward the extension of the repayment period of the Advance Payment Loan available to universal credit claimants.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Advances are not loans; they are an interest free advance payment of benefit, available to help people who need immediate financial support, which is then recovered over an agreed period.
We have carefully considered the impact and deliverability of the measures announced in the Autumn Budget 2018 for Universal Credit. The delivery dates we announced achieve the best balance between continually improving Universal Credit to respond to claimant need and ensuring the service is technically and operationally scalable as the volumes on Universal Credit continue to rise through 2019 and 2020.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will provide universal credit claimants (a) with payments rather than advance payment loans and (b) with those payments earlier than five weeks to ensure that they do not fall into rent arrears.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Universal Credit payments are designed to mirror the world of work, with monthly payments reflecting the way many working people are paid. This model of monthly payments allows claimants to take responsibility for budgeting their own income and helps prepare them for getting back to work.
Advance payments of Universal Credit are not loans. They are Universal Credit paid early, which is then recovered over an agreed period via deductions from the claimant’s Universal Credit award. No claimant has to go five weeks without receiving support, as advances, worth up to 100 per cent of a claimant’s indicative award, are available up front, if there is need. Advances are paid back over a period of 12 months and in the Autumn Budget 2018, we announced that from October 2021, the payback period for these advances will be extended further, up to 16 months. This is just one of a number of measures the Department has put in place to support claimants such as paying those claimants moving from Housing Benefit onto Universal Credit a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.
Asked by: Chris Elmore (Labour - Ogmore)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Written Statement of 14 January 2019, Official Report HCWS1249, how many mixed-age couples will be affected by the change to pension credit in (a) Wales and (b) Ogmore.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The mixed age couples change that came in on 15 May 2019 will not affect couples who were entitled to Pension Credit and/or pension age Housing Benefit immediately before May 15, unless their entitlement to both those benefits subsequently ends. Anyone who would be eligible for the pension age benefits under the previous rules but have not claimed before 15 May will have up to 13 August to make a backdated claim to 14 May and we encourage them to do so.
The specific information requested about the number of mixed age couples that are estimated to be affected by the forthcoming changes in (a) Wales and (b) Ogmore is not available.