Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the time applicants wait for their first payment of universal credit; and if she will make a statement.

Our latest published data shows that around 85% of new claimants are being paid in full and on time. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/universal-credit-29-april-2013-to-14-february-2019

In many cases where full payment is not made on time, it may be due to unresolved issues such as: claimants not accepting their Claimant Commitment or passing identity checks; or having outstanding verification issues, such as housing costs and self-employed earnings. In order to support claimants to claim, we have taken steps to improve verification processes. For example, we have listened to feedback and built processes into the system to make it easier and quicker for people to verify their housing costs, for example through the landlord portal.

From 1 April 2019 Citizens Advice (England and Wales) and Citizens Advice Scotland are delivering the new ‘Help to Claim’ support to claimants making a new Universal Credit (UC) claim or moving from a legacy benefit to UC because of a change of circumstances. The Citizens Advice Help to Claim offers tailored, practical support to help people make a UC claim up to receiving their first full correct payment on time. It will be available online, through web-chat, through a Freephone number and face to face through local Citizens Advice services.

New claimants can also apply for a UC advance and can receive payment within a day if needed. The Department has previously increased the maximum amount available for advances from 50 per cent to 100 per cent of the claimant’s total indicative award, and have increased the repayment period from 6 months to 12 months.