Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claims have been closed in each of the last 24 months for which data is available; and what the reasons were for the closure of those claims.

Information surrounding Universal Credit (UC) claim closure reasons and volumes for the last 24 months of available data are shown in the attached tables.

Monthly assessment periods align to the way the majority of employees are paid and also allows UC to be adjusted each month. This means that if a claimant’s income falls, they will not have to wait several months for a rise in their UC.

If a claimant’s earnings are sufficient enough in an assessment period to reach and/or exceed their nil earning threshold, their UC claim will be closed. Should the claimant then choose to reclaim, a claimant only has to update or confirm their information, rather than making a full new UC claim. This process allows claimants to return quickly and easily to UC by minimising the administrative burden on them.