Written question asked by Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party) on Tuesday, 17 June 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 June 2025. It was answered by Stephen Timms (Labour) on Wednesday, 25 June 2025 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.
Maternity Allowance: Universal Credit
- Question
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To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of treating Maternity Allowance as earned income for the purposes of calculating Universal Credit.
- Answer
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No assessment is planned.
Universal Credit treats Maternity Allowance in the same way as legacy means-tested benefits, such as Income Support or Income Based Jobseeker’s Allowance, in that it is taken fully into account. Whilst we keep all policies under review, we have no plans to review how Maternity Allowance is taken into account in UC.
Maternity pay is primarily designed as a health and safety provision for pregnant working women. We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work in the later stages of their pregnancy and following childbirth, if they wish, for their own health and wellbeing.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 60534
- Session
- 2024-26
- Subjects
- Earned income Universal credit Maternity allowance
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2025-09-05 23:28:11 +0100
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-25/60534
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-25/60534
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-25/60534