Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward (a) the planned expansion of legacy benefit run-ons and (b) the extension of the advance payment repayment period to 16 months for claimants moving onto universal credit.

We have carefully considered the impact and deliverability of the measures announced in the recent Budget for Universal Credit. The delivery dates we announced achieve the best balance between continually improving Universal Credit to respond to claimant need and ensuring the service is technically and operationally scalable as the volumes on Universal Credit continue to rise through 2019 and 2020.

Subject to Parliamentary approval of the Universal Credit (Managed Migration) Regulations, discretionary hardship payments will be available from July 2019 to support the successful transition of claimants who are moved from legacy benefits to Universal Credit, who experience hardship. The two-week Transitional Housing Payment is already available to eligible claimants who move from legacy benefits to Universal Credit.