Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the minimum income floor self-employed individuals claiming Universal Credit.

Universal Credit for self-employed individuals aims to encourage sustainable work choices and support self-employment where it is a realistic route to financial self-sufficiency.

The Minimum Income Floor is designed to encourage low-earning customers to increase their earnings and grow their business. The level of the Minimum Income Floor is equivalent to what a person in employed work in similar circumstances to the self-employed individual could expect to earn at the National Minimum Wage for their age. The MIF can be tailored specifically for customers’ individual circumstances, including for health conditions and caring responsibilities. It is set using the number of hours the customer can reasonably be expected to work which is a maximum of 35 hours for individuals with no limitations on their expected working hours.