Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to introduce a mechanism into universal credit to allow claimants to move their review date, in order to avoid fluctuations in their benefit payments when there is no change in wages.

Assessment periods allow for UC awards to be adjusted on a monthly basis, ensuring that if a claimant’s income changes, they do not have to wait several months for a corresponding change in their UC award.

Earnings are taken into account in the assessment period they are received and in this way the UC paid to claimants reflects, as closely as possible, the actual circumstances of a household during each monthly assessment period.

The Department has been working closely with HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC) since UC went live in 2013 to support and inform employers who report payroll earnings, to emphasise the importance of timely reporting via the Real Time Information (RTI) system.

HMRC have updated their guidance to reiterate to employers the importance of reporting payroll accurately and the impact of reporting payments late.

Employers should already record on HMRC’s RTI system the date a salary is scheduled to be paid, rather than the date it is paid, where it is earlier due to a weekend, bank holiday or at Christmas.