Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 2 March 2020 to Question 21155 on Universal Credit, which organisation has the responsibility for setting and adjusting the rate at which a court fine is deducted from a universal credit claim.

The Department’s deductions policy strikes a fair balance between a claimant’s need to meet their financial obligations and their ability to ensure they can meet their day-to-day needs. Deductions for court fines are based on rates provided in legislation.

HMCTS have the ultimate responsibility for setting the amount of a court fine, which the Department will then make deductions for at their request.

The rate of Universal Credit deductions for court fines is detailed in the Fines (Deduction from Income Support) Regulations 1992, Regulation 4(1B). This piece of legislation was amended to include Universal Credit and can be viewed at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/2182/regulation/4.

Since October 2019, all standard Universal Credit deductions are a maximum of 30% of a claimant’s standard allowance down from 40% previously.