Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what consideration his Department makes of trends in the costs of essential goods and services when setting the basic rate of Universal Credit during the uprating process.

The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) estimates how the prices of goods and services bought by households rise or fall and is used as an indication of inflation in Universal Credit uprating. Last year, The Secretary of State increased most working age benefits across Great Britain for 2026/27 by 3.8% in line with CPI in the year to September 2025.