Third Special Report - Universal Credit: the wait for a first payment: Government Response to the Committee’s Third Report

This is the government's response, published 12 January 2021.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government notes the Committee's report and, in the sections summarised here, declines to adopt most of its main recommendations, saying that advances mean "No one has to wait five weeks for a payment".

• On research into the impact of the wait, the Department states that it "will not be conducting nor commissioning any research", saying resources were reallocated to the COVID-19 response.
• On a starter payment, the Government says there "is not a need for a starter payment in UC" because New Claim Advances are available, and cites increased fraud risk. It says it will "not be introducing" more frequent payments by default.
• On the deduction cap, it points to the lowering from 30% to 25% of the standard allowance, "effective from October 2021", and says further lowering "would not be an effective way to protect vulnerable claimants".
• It states that it "does not agree that monthly updates" on Work Coach recruitment are appropriate, but will ensure "relevant updates" are supplied to Parliament. It also reports a commitment to increase Work Coaches by 13,500 by end of March 2021.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error