Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants took advance payments during the five-week waiting period for their first universal credit payment in (a) October, (b) November and (c) December 2018 in Yorkshire and the Humber.

New Claim and Benefit Transfer Advances are available to support claimants until their first Universal Credit payment. The table below gives the number of these advances paid in Yorkshire and the Humber for the months requested.

The Universal Credit caseload continued to increase in 2018 as the number of offices delivering Full Service increased. Subject to some fluctuation, the rate of advance take-up has been broadly consistent, at around 60%.

Notes

1. The number of New Claim and Benefit Transfer advances is rounded to the nearest 10
2. Paid New Claims are rounded to the nearest 100
3. Proportions are rounded to the nearest per cent
4. The data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. The data should therefore be treated with caution.