Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Universal Credit taper in incentivising part-time work.

The taper rate aims to make customers financially better off in work by ensuring that their Universal Credit award is reduced by less than their earned income.

Universal Credit has a single taper rate of 55% and some customers will also benefit from a work allowance which is the amount someone can earn before their Universal Credit award starts to reduce.

Once a customer is earning more than their work allowance (if applicable), their Universal Credit starts to be reduced at a consistent rate.