Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to reduce the taper rate of universal credit during the covid-19 outbreak to help alleviate staff shortages.

Throughout the pandemic this Government has continued to support the lowest-paid families by targeting our support to those most in need by raising the national living wage, spending hundreds of billions to safeguard jobs, boosting welfare support by billions and introducing the £170m Covid Winter Grant Scheme. It has also pledged to put an extra £1.7 billion a year into Work Allowances by 2023/24, increasing them by £1,040 a year for working parents and disabled claimants.

There are currently no plans to reduce the Universal Credit taper rate. This Government has already made significant investment to reduce it from 65% to 63% in 2017.