Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of the demand on the services of food banks, whether they plan to introduce any modifications and improvements to the administration of Universal Credit; and in particular whether they will reduce (1) the waiting time for first payments, and (2) the level of advance loan repayments.

We continuously modify and improve Universal Credit in response to feedback, and have also implemented a number of further improvements.

This package of measures, which are set out below, not only addresses concerns raised around the first assessment period and the budgeting issues faced by some claimants at the start of their claim, but also supports the vast majority of claimants transitioning onto Universal Credit. They include:

• from 29 November 2017, all DWP Universal Credit phone lines are free and claimants will not be charged when they need to get help with their Universal Credit claim.

• from 3 January, the repayment period of Universal Credit advances has been increased to 12 months and claimants can now get up to 100 per cent of their estimated monthly entitlement upfront. These advances are available to claimants interest-free. Earlier this month (July 2018), advances also became available to apply for online.

• from 14 February, the seven-day waiting period that some claimants had at the start of their Universal Credit claim was removed; and,

• from 11 April, we have provided an additional payment for claimants already receiving support towards their housing costs of two weeks of their Housing Benefit to support them as they transfer onto Universal Credit. Claimants will not be required to repay this money.