Universal Credit

(asked on 4th June 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of claims under universal credit for the (a) standard allowance, (b) carer element, (c) child element, (d) childcare element, (e) disabled child element, (f) housing element and (g) limited capability for work element were not paid (i) on time and (ii) in full in each for the last six months for which information is available.


Answered by
Alok Sharma Portrait
Alok Sharma
COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
This question was answered on 13th June 2019

The information requested is available in the attached document for both new claims and existing claims. The Limited Capability for Work (LCW) addition is no longer payable on new claims to Universal Credit (UC) since 3rd April 2017.

Figures for the proportion of claims paid in full on time is subject to fluctuation. This particularly effects the figures for LCW in the first assessment period which are subject to change.

Claimants in the Limited Capability for Work and Work Related Activity (LCWRA) group may not receive their additional element within the first assessment period due to the additional element being calculated based on the outcome of their Work Capability Assessment (WCA) which, due to the need for medical evidence and assessment, may not be complete by the end of the first assessment period.

Claimants who naturally migrate to UC from Employment and Support Allowance, and are currently receiving the LCW / LCWRA addition, will continue to receive it on their UC claim from day 1 as long as there has been no break in their claim and they have declared the same health condition when they moved across to UC.

UC payment timeliness has continued to improve during its rollout, we are also continually introducing improvements to its design, for example most recently, by making childcare and housing verification easier. These improvements are not yet fully reflected in the data supplied.

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