23 November 2017
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions - Statement on Universal Credit
Following yesterday's Budget announcements on Universal Credit, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions David Gauke gave a statement to the House of Commons. The full statement can be found on the Parliament UK website.
In addition to confirming the measures announced in the Budget, new measures announced in the statement include:
- local authorities being able to recoup over 80% of the money they spend on temporary accommodation directly from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) rather than from the claimant, preventing losses of more than £70 million over 2018/19
- extended partnership working with Citizen’s Advice, to provide more face to face support to Universal Credit claimants
According to GOV.UK 'to allow these improvements to be made as quick as possible, we will also be changing the rate of Universal Credit full service roll-out for 3 months from February 2018 to 10 Jobcentres a month, increasing to 41 in May 2018'. The timetable for the UC full service transition has been updated as a result of the announcement.
In addition Mr Gauke confirmed:
'To help to ensure a smooth transition to full service, we have also decided to close new claims to our prototype universal credit live service. That will not affect any existing claims. In addition, currently any new UC claim from a family with three or more children will be routed back to tax credits until November 2018. With the extension to the roll-out plan that will now shift to the end of January 2019'
- Next entry: Tax-Free Childcare roll-out continues
- Previous entry: Autumn Budget, November 2017 – Universal Credit roll-out slowed down