Universal Credit

SIR – Fraser Nelson (Comment, October 20) is right to highlight the moral case for Universal Credit. As I said in my party conference speech earlier this month, its aim is to help get anyone who can work get back into work, so they can reach their potential. The programme is succeeding in doing that – people are more likely to be in work, and to progress, than they were under the old system.

Yet there are misunderstandings about Universal Credit that need to be clarified, and none more so than the payment structure and the built-in safeguards in the programme.

Since its inception, Universal Credit has been based on monthly payments paid in arrears, as is the case with most people in work. The first payment has always been paid after a claimant’s income has been assessed over a month, plus some days for processing. It is true that some claimants have to wait seven days before they are eligible for Universal Credit, but this requirement does not apply to people who were on benefits before or other groups of more vulnerable people.

But no one who needs money during that five- or six-week wait has to actually wait, because they can get an advance payment upfront. That can be as much as 50 per cent of the first payment and is paid back over six months. For people who are changing to Universal Credit from the old system, it is paid back over 12 months.

When this expansion is complete, we expect 250,000 more people to be in work. That is a prize worth pursuing.

David Gauke MP (Con)

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

London SW1