Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2019 to Question 263062 on Universal Credit: Overpayments, if she will place in the Library an estimate of the costs of answering that Question.

The Department for Work and Pensions follows guidance from Cabinet Office in setting the Disproportionate Cost Threshold. The current Disproportionate Cost Threshold across Government is set at £850.

All waiver documents are stored clerically. We have estimated that reviewing the remaining waiver documents to ascertain how many related to Universal Credit overpayments would take around 51 hours of staff time and therefore would breach the cost limit of £850.