Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how the additional funding announced for claimants migrating to Universal Credit will be spent.

At Autumn Budget 2018 we announced a package worth £4.5 billion across the next five years, to support those on Universal Credit. These measures include:

• A £1000 annual increase in the Work Allowance from April 2019,which will provide a £630 boost for households with children, and for people with disabilities.
• Reducing, from October 2019, the maximum rate at which deductions can be made from a Universal Credit award from 40 per cent to 30 per cent of the standard allowance. Additionally, from October 2021, the recovery period for advances will increase from 12 to 16 months. This will help over 600,000 families to manage their debts at any one point when roll-out is complete, providing them with, on average, £295 extra a year as their debts are repaid over a longer period.
• Introducing, from July 2020 a two week transitional run on (similar to the Housing Benefit run-on introduced earlier this year) of income related legacy benefits (Income Support, income related Employment and Support Allowance and income based Jobseeker’s Allowance) for two weeks after a claim for Universal Credit has been made. This measure means that around 1.1 million households will see a one-off gain of approximately £200, between 2020/21 and 2023/24.
• Commencing from July 2020, supporting the transition to Universal Credit for all self-employed people, by extending the 12-month grace period (the period before the Minimum Income Floor applies) to all gainfully self-employed people; giving claimants time to grow their businesses to a sustainable level. This will be implemented fully from September 2020.
• An extension in the surplus earnings disregard exception for up to £2500 for another year from 2019 to 2020