Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her policy to allow a person to move back to legacy benefits from Universal Credit where that person decided to move from legacy benefits to Universal Credit owing to staff in her Department incorrectly advising that they would receive a higher payment on Universal Credit; and if she will make an estimate of how many people have been misdirected by her Department in that way in each of the last three years.

DWP staff should not advise claimants what to do in terms of whether to submit a claim to benefit, nor if a claimant would be ‘better off’ moving to Universal Credit or remaining on legacy benefits. However, staff will signpost claimants to information available via the Understanding UC website and independent benefit calculators for further information.

The replacement of six legacy benefits by UC is a large and complex undertaking, introduced in a controlled and phased manner. It is therefore as a matter of fundamental policy design that once a claimant makes a claim for Universal Credit their existing legacy benefits will come to an end; this includes Tax Credits.