Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have considered the potential merits of including the need to use a food bank, alongside undue hardship, in the criteria which may exempt claimants from having deductions taken from their universal credit claim.

There has been no specific consideration around the merits of including food bank usage when considering claimants for an exception from deductions.

The Government recognises the importance of supporting claimants to manage their liabilities. Under Universal Credit, there is a co-ordinated approach to deductions from benefit, which supports claimants to manage their financial obligations. The primary aim of deductions in Universal Credit is to protect vulnerable claimants by providing a last resort repayment method for arrears of essential services. We continue to aim to strike the right balance between ensuring those protections are in place, and allowing claimants to retain as much of their award as possible for day-to-day needs.

If a claimant is struggling financially, they can ask for the amount of certain deductions to be reconsidered. Financial hardship decisions are made for any of the following:

• Repaying benefit overpayments,
• Social Fund loan; and
• Rent arrears.

Benefit debts and Social Fund loans can see deductions reduced and/or deferred. The DWP will always try to ensure that Government debt is recovered effectively without causing undue hardship.

For those repaying a New Claim Advance, a deferral of up to 3 months is available, in exceptional circumstances, which allow those claimants to temporarily receive their Universal Credit awards without advance repayments being deducted.

For rent arrears, claimants can ask Universal Credit staff to exercise their discretion to fix rent arrears deductions at the lowest rate in legislation – 10% of the Standard Allowance. This can be done using the Journal or by telephone. However, UC staff would not agree to remove a rent arrears deduction entirely to ensure a claimant is protected from eviction.

We encourage anyone unable to afford the proposed rate of repayment to contact DWP Debt Management at the earliest opportunity - all DWP notifications advise how to get in touch. We seek to do as much as we are able to support claimants through the recovery of their overpayments.