Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of women with children who are not in work and (a) claim Universal Credit and (b) live with someone who claims Universal Credit.

In November 2022 there were 350,000 women with children who were not in work, in receipt of Universal Credit and living with someone else who is entitled to Universal Credit.

Notes:

1. A couple is defined where entitlement to UC standard allowance is higher than the maximum entitlement for a single person
2. This total will exclude any couples with children awarded a single person’s standard allowance due to their partner being ineligible for Universal Credit
3. For UC households of two women and at least one child where neither of the women are working, the total shown in this response includes two women (i.e. each woman in this household type is counted separately).
4. On UC is defined as in receipt of UC and in payment on the November 2022 count date.
5. Employment status is based on whether earnings were recorded within an individual’s completed Universal Credit assessment period closest to the November 2022 count date and includes employed earnings only. Therefore, figure shown will include individuals who had no earnings and will also include individuals who were self-employed only.
6. This figure has been rounded to the nearest 10,000