Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2024 to Question 11564 on Universal Credit: Veterans, for what reason the Department did not seek to capture data on the number of veterans that claimed Universal Credit prior to April 2021.

Once it became clear that an “identifier” on the Universal Credit system would be the best way to help ensure that veterans and other members of the armed forces community received appropriate help and support, we introduced it as soon as operationally feasible, taking account of other high priority changes required for the Universal Credit systems.