Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Young of Cookham on 16 November (HL Deb, col 2187), whether they plan to revert to uprating working age benefits in line with inflation at the end of the current four-year freeze.

The Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 has frozen the majority of working-age benefits and tax credits for four tax years, from 2016-17 to 2019-20. These rates will therefore remain the same over this period.

Once these provisions cease to have effect, the pre-existing statutory obligations will re-apply, requiring the Government to undertake a review of the rates of tax credits and benefits in light of price inflation in the preceding year.