Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Stedman-Scott on 16 October (HL8845), what adjustments are made to ensure fairness of treatment between those pension contributions made under net pay arrangements and relief at source pension contributions when calculating the earnings figure used for Universal Credit entitlement.

It remains the policy, when assessing entitlement to Universal Credit, that all contributions to personal and occupational pension schemes are deducted from the calculation of earnings in the same way as any National Insurance or income tax paid in the assessment period. This ensures equity of treatment of pension contributions in the calculation of Universal Credit.