Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the waiting times faced by people awaiting the outcome of earning disputes in relation to universal credit as of 21 February 2022.

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

The waiting time for an earnings dispute can depend on the complexity of the query. DWP will triage all disputes and are able to resolve non-complex queries internally, where the query is more complex DWP will seek support of HMRC to resolve, we aim to resolve disputes, both complex and non-complex, within 7 working days.

There are variations in regional demand, and some areas are currently experiencing waiting times in excess of 7 working days, which we are working to bring back in line.

HMRC have been embarking on employer education to reduce future occurrences of error. Large employers have dedicated customer compliance leads that work with employers to mitigate the risk of high volumes of citizens being impacted at any one time. HMRC have guidance to reiterate to employers the importance of reporting accurate dates and the impact on payment cycles; the Financial Secretary to the Treasury is also working closely with HMRC and employers to encourage accurate reporting dates.