Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 1 December 2014 to Question 216015, what criteria his Department sets for eligibility for free NHS prescriptions for households in receipt of universal credit.

Alistair Burt

The Department has introduced two earnings thresholds to determine entitlement to Help with Health Costs, including free NHS prescriptions, for those getting Universal Credit. A higher earnings threshold has been set at £935 net per month for claimants who are responsible for a child or who have limited capability for work, and a lower one at £435 net per month for all other claimants. These thresholds became effective on 1 November 2015, and replace the interim arrangement whereby all Universal Credit claimants were entitled.

In setting these earnings thresholds, we have broadly aligned entitlement through Universal Credit with the arrangements for those benefits which currently provide entitlement and which Universal Credit will replace, within the constraints imposed by the different structure of Universal Credit and the need to avoid additional costs to the NHS. The thresholds will make sure that those claimants on the lowest incomes continue to get Help with Health Costs.