Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Answer of 17 October 2017 to Question 106977, on universal credit, what the enhanced functionality and faster payment contingency function in universal credit are designed to deliver; and if he will make a statement.

The assessment period and payment structure of Universal Credit creates a fixed period between date of entitlement and the first payment. The policy intent is that claimants receive the first payment 5 to 6 weeks after they make their claim.

To ensure people have money over the festive period the Department will conduct a careful assessment of technical system and banking system availability to ensure successful payments can be made ahead of Bank Holidays. This year we have enhanced the functionality and added a faster payment function.

The faster payment function in Universal Credit ensures that where there are insufficient banking days between the issuance of a UC payment via BACS and the date it is due, the service instead issues the payment using faster payment functionality automatically. This ensures that the UC award is paid to the claimant on time. This function additionally supports claimants receiving an advance payment and therefore no additional support will be required for new claimants over the festive period in respect of new claim advances.

Our current and strengthened approach to UC advance payments ensures that awareness is heightened with our claimants, and staff are ensuring that these are offered to claimants in need. It would be highly unlikely for a Universal Credit Full Service new claimant to find themselves ineligible for an advance once they have verified their identity.