Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Social Security (Additional Payments) Bill would give an entitlement to cost of living payments to self-employed Universal Credit claimants who do not receive a regular payment due to the minimum income floor.

Claimants who had their UC award reduced to zero by the Minimum income floor and did not receive a UC payment during the qualifying period, will not be eligible for a cost-of-living payment.

For those that are not eligible for this support, or for families that still need additional support; the Government is providing an additional £500 million to help households, on top of what has been provided since October 2021, bringing total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England, this will take the form of an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £421m and is administered by Local Authorities. Devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula.