THE IMPACT OF TRANSFERRING TO UNIVERSAL CREDIT ON CLAIMANTS OF SEVERE DISABILITY PREMIUM

Early day motion 1976, tabled 15 January 2019 by Rosie Duffield (Labour). Signed by 65 members.

That this House expresses its concern about the impact of Universal Credit on claimants of Severe Disability Premium (SDP) as there is no equivalent in Universal Credit; notes that severely disabled people who live without a carer can receive over £180 a month less in Universal Credit than they would do if they were in the Support Group for ESA; further notes the Government’s written statement of 7 June in which it made a commitment that people receiving SDP would not be required to transfer to Universal Credit until managed migration starts and that it would make transitional payments if they had already done so; notes that since then severely disabled people have still been required to transfer to Universal Credit without any transitional protection; acknowledges the Statutory Instrument introduced by the Government on 14 January to provide for a pilot of managed migration and payments to compensate people in receipt of SDP who have already transferred to Universal Credit; observes, however, that the proposed level of payments to people who claimed SDP and who have transferred to the equivalent of the ESA Support group in Universal Credit would still leave them with a loss of over £100 a month; and calls on the Government to compensate all SDP claimants who transfer to Universal Credit at a rate that fully reflects the actual losses incurred.

Signatures by party: Labour 32, Scottish National Party 19, Labour/Co-operative 8, Independent 2, Liberal Democrat 2, Plaid Cymru 2.