Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the effect on the Exchequer of ending the £20 uplift to universal credit.

In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of ministerial discussions are not normally disclosed.

The Government has always been clear that the £20 per week increase to Universal Credit was a temporary measure to support households whose incomes and earnings were affected by the economic shock of Covid-19. Extending the uplift permanently would come at a very significant annual cost, equivalent in 2022-23 to adding 1p on the basic rate of income tax, in addition to a 3p increase in fuel duty.

The Government is committed to helping low-income families with the cost of living, including providing £670 million in 2021/22 for local authorities to support households struggling with their council tax bills, £140 million in 2021/22 for Discretionary Housing Payments, expanding the Holiday Activities and Food programme to all children in England, increasing Healthy Start vouchers, and establishing a 60-day breathing space period for those in problem debt.

Within the welfare system, the Government is maintaining the increase to Local Housing Allowance rates for private renters on Universal Credit and Housing Benefit in cash terms in 2021-22. This increase was worth over an extra £600 on average in 2020-21 for more than 1.5 million households.

The Government is also maintaining its focus on helping people back into work. As part of the comprehensive Plan for Jobs, the Government announced the new three year Restart programme, which will provide intensive and tailored support to over one million unemployed Universal Credit claimants across England and Wales, and the £2 billion Kickstart scheme, which will create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people at risk of long-term unemployment. To date, over 50,000 Kickstart jobs have been started by young people across a range of different sectors, including construction, health and social care, manufacturing, retail, and transport.