Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of social security claimants who will receive less money once they have migrated to universal credit.

Comparisons between entitlement in legacy benefits and Universal Credit fail to reflect that, until recently, people only claimed Universal Credit as a result of a change in their circumstances.

It is important to remember that there are £2.4 billion of unclaimed benefits not going to the people who need them because they are unaware of how to claim, or that they may be entitled. Universal Credit makes sure that welfare payments reach those who need them most, and when we complete moving legacy benefit claimants over to Universal Credit, an estimated 700,000 more people will get paid their full entitlement because of Universal Credit.

The Government have committed to spending in excess of £3 billion over 10 years on transitional protection for 1.1 million households. This will help fund assistance for those moving from Housing Benefit to Universal Credit including a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.