Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the interaction between universal credit's minimum income floor and the requirement for self-employed universal credit claimants to report income monthly on the differential amount of universal credit received by self-employed claimants compared to employed claimants.

Self-employed earnings are reported on a simplified 'cash accounting' basis, which asks for the total income from receipts into the business and details of payments out of the business under defined categories during the assessment period. The requirements were designed to be as simple as possible in order for self-employed claimants to easily report their earnings. Most claimants now report monthly on-line, via their Universal Credit account, with a telephone service still available where additional support is required.

Company directors and those combining employed work with their self-employed activities may receive a salary using the PAYE system. All earnings processed through PAYE are reported automatically to the DWP through HMRC’s RTI feed. Monthly reporting of earnings and other income is a fundamental part of the design of Universal Credit and allows the Universal Credit award to be adjusted on a monthly basis to reflect the circumstances of the household.