Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has assessed the potential merits of extending in-work progression services to all low-paid workers in receipt of means-tested benefits and not just universal credit.

Universal Credit is replacing six key in-work and out-of-work benefits. Universal Credit supports and encourages claimants who are in low-paid work, or in low-income households, to earn more. It does this by removing the financial cliff edges of the legacy benefit system and replacing them with a single, smooth taper rate of 63%. This means that claimants will always be £37 better off for every £100 net increase in their earnings. Claimants on existing legacy benefits whose circumstances have not changed will begin to migrate over to Universal Credit from 2019 as part of DWP’s Managed Migration process and will be subject to the new entitlement conditions.

We are developing the evidence base to help us understand how best to support people in work to reach their potential, to progress, and to be more productive. We recently completed the delivery of a large-scale Randomised Control Trial, for which the final evaluation will be published in the autumn and will inform any further policy development.