Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will change Universal Credit policy so that claimants whose assessment period misses the uprating date of the first Monday of the tax year do not have to wait two months before receiving an uplift.

Increases in Universal Credit come into force from the start of the first assessment period beginning on or after the first Monday of the tax year (or from the start of the first assessment period beginning on or after any earlier date in April). As Universal Credit is a calendar monthly assessed benefit that is paid in arrears, a claimant will receive their newly-uprated benefit award at their first full Assessment Period that follows the change. There are no current plans to alter how the uprating of benefits interacts with claimants’ assessment periods.