Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what alternatives are available to universal credit claimants who do not have the currently requested identity documents to make and verify their claims.

Claimants can verify their identity in several ways, including online using the Government Gateway service or GOV.UK and by providing documentary evidence of their identity when they attend their Initial Evidence Interview.

If a claimant does not have documentary evidence we can verify their identity by biographical tests and checks, using information held on the Department’s systems, by the confirmation of third party organisations and by two members of the Jobcentre staff knowing and recognising the claimant as part of their work.

In addition, the Flexible Support Fund can be used to support the claimant obtain new identity documents in the form of duplicate driving licences, birth certificates etc, and can help with opening new bank accounts if necessary.

Universal Credit guidance is routinely placed in the House of Commons library and it is updated at regular intervals. This guidance covers the different ways a claimant might verify their identity.