AQW 7696/17-22

Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 28/09/2020
Answered On Date: 21/12/2020
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities whether there are enough resources within her Department to deal with the next wave of applications to Universal Credit expected when furlough ends; and whether redundancy payments received during the assessment period will be taken into consideration when officers calculate Universal Credit benefit level.

Answer:

My Department has prioritised the payment of benefit to ensure that the Covid-19 crisis does not lengthen the time that any person, including those on Universal Credit has to wait to receive their benefit payment. Indeed, throughout the Covid-19 period over 98% of customers due a Universal Credit payment have received their payment on time.

As to the level of resources to manage any future increase in the number of applications to Universal Credit, I can advise that my Department always

keeps the level of resourcing under review.

As to the treatment of redundancy payments, Universal Credit is calculated using assessment periods and any earnings, income or capital received in a household during that assessment period will be taken into consideration when calculating a person(s) entitlement. Therefore, if a person where to receive a redundancy payment during their Universal Credit assessment period this would be considered as capital and would be included as part of the overall calculation of the level of their Universal Credit award.