Our national Research and Campaigns team published a briefing on how Universal Credit can adapt to promote income stability for working households, particularly those with fluctuating or non-monthly pay. We call on the government to consider policy options in the Universal Credit Review that would promote income stability for claimants.
Our advisors brought to our attention how rigidity of UC’s model makes working and receiving UC harder than it needs to be, including by making it difficult to anticipate how your income will change if you increase your earnings.
We are calling for the government to consider in the UC review, how UC can be reformed to better reflect the reality of claimants’ working lives by:
- Expanding Alternative Payment Arrangements (APAs), in line with Scottish choices, to give more people the option of being paid twice a month.
- Accommodating greater flexibility by allowing claimants to change their AP and UC payment dates after their claim has started.
- Ensuring passported benefits take multiple months of earnings into account, to avoid sudden cliff-edges in support when earnings fluctuate.
- Improve communication with claimants about how earnings and UC entitlement interact.
The client stories and frontline perspectives that many advisers have shared, have made this research possible.
