Universal Credit continues to cause untold hardship and distress in Wallasey because of the fixed monthly assessment period. Many workers are not paid monthly or are not always paid on the same date every month. This means that a claimant could be paid twice by their employer or not at all during an assessment period. This results in fluctuations in the amount of Universal Credit that is paid. As a result, people are pushed into debt, rent arrears and forced to turn to food banks for help.

I asked the Government what steps they are taking to resolve payment errors and delays. In reply to my question, the Minister stated that around only 80% of claimants are paid in time, in full. This is appalling, especially considering that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is dealing with less than a million claimants.

The DWP is already struggling with paying claimants on time. It is therefore not clear how the Government plans to deal with the nearly 4 million people who are expected to be transferred onto Universal Credit next year.

The Government have continued to ignore these warnings about the flaws in Universal Credit, instead choosing to press ahead with the accelerated roll out of Universal Credit. I will continue to call on them to listen and pause the roll out until these problems have been addressed to avoid pushing some of the most vulnerable people into poverty.

You can see my questions here.