Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the five-week wait for Universal Credit on (a) debt and (b) poverty levels.

We are reviewing Universal Credit, to make sure it is doing the job we want it to. We are committed to considering how we can support people during the Initial Assessment Period, often referred to as the 5-week wait, before they receive their first payment as part of the review and will provide an update in due course.

Published research on debt whilst on UC can be found here: Impacts of external debt for indebted Universal Credit claimants - GOV.UK; DWP ad hoc research - GOV.UK and the latest Universal Credit deductions statistics are published here Universal Credit statistics, 29 April 2013 to 10 April 2025 - GOV.UK