Rachel Reeves – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2014-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the effect on the number of people subject to improved incentives to work of the introduction of universal credit.

Esther McVey

Universal Credit will encourage claimants to move into employment by allowing individuals to keep more of their income as they move into work and by introducing a smoother and more transparent reduction of benefits.

Once Universal Credit is fully rolled out, the number of households losing more than 70% of their earnings when starting work of ten hours per week will fall by 800,000.

Overall it is estimated that up to 300,000 individuals will move into work as a result of Universal Credit, through improved financial incentives, increased simplicity of the system and increased conditionality.

These estimates are consistent with the policy assumptions underpinning the Universal Credit costings published by the Office for Budget Responsibility.