Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that the annual uprating of benefits does not result in a net loss of income for vulnerable claimants who are subject to transitional protection following migration to Universal Credit.

There has been no assessment on the rules relating to Universal Credit’s Transitional Protection.

Transitional Protection protects benefit entitlement levels at the point of moving to Universal Credit. It is a temporary measure to maintain benefit entitlement levels so that customers will have time to adjust to the new benefit system.

Transitional Protection is not intended to provide indefinite financial protection. The Transitional Element will erode with increases in other UC elements, except childcare costs, so to gradually align the customers UC award with those of new UC customers who were not managed migrated, in the same circumstances. This includes increases due to the annual uprating of benefits, and DWP is not seeking to change this or weaken this key principle of Transitional Protection.