Universal Credit: Enfield North
Question
Feryal Clark
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much was taken from Universal Credit payments to households subject to a benefit deduction in Enfield North constituency in (a) March 2020 to February 2021, (b) March 2021 to February 2022 and (c) March 2022 to February 2023.
Answer
The primary aim of the Universal Credit deductions policy is to protect vulnerable claimants by providing a last resort repayment method for arrears of essential services. In recent years, the standard UC deduction cap has been reduced twice – from 40% to 30% of the Standard Allowance in October 2019, and down to 25% in April 2021.
From April 2020 to July 2020, a temporary freeze on government and third party deductions was introduced as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The requested information is provided in the separate spreadsheet.