Owen Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government plans to provide transitional protection for tax credit recipients who have been naturally migrated onto universal credit.

Priti Patel

Natural migration occurs where people have had a significant change of circumstances that would previously have triggered a new claim to benefits or tax credits. They would always have had their entitlement recalculated based on a new set of rules. That principle is maintained in Universal Credit, and therefore transitional protection is not appropriate. Universal Credit is already proving better than the system it replaces with claimants moving into work faster and earning more. It also provides a seamless taper as well as better support for childcare.