Dataset: Households on Universal Credit
Description
The number of households on Universal Credit is defined as the number of households that have an assessment period that spans the count date.
There is a further condition that entitlement must have been calculated for the period. This will include households with claims that are live and in payment, live and have a nil award (due to earnings or deductions) or temporarily suspended.
These figures are presented on a household basis rather than by individual claimant, therefore it is not possible to cross tabulate this information with the individual level figures on People, Starts and Claims to Universal Credit.
To be counted as a person on Universal Credit, an individual has to have completed the Universal Credit claim process and accepted their Claimant Commitment. This has to happen on or before the count date, with no record of a termination of their claim.
To be counted as a household on Universal Credit, there must be an assessment period spanning the count date. Entitlement to Universal Credit must also have been calculated.
Most people get captured in both measures - but some can appear in one and not the other.
Some people on Universal Credit may not have provided all the information needed to work out their entitlement, or their entitlement to Universal Credit may be in the process of being calculated. These individuals may not have an assessment period spanning the count date. Despite being counted as a person on Universal Credit, they will not appear in the household measure.
Conversely, some people who are not counted as being on Universal Credit on the count date, may be included in the corresponding household measure. This may occur where an individual accepted their claimant commitment after the count date - but once accepted, their Universal Credit award will be paid for the period of time covered by the Assessment Period in which the count date falls. This is illustrated below:
This data includes information about the average household payment to Universal Credit. The average is influenced by the nil awards of cases which are not in payment, (for example, where earnings are sufficiently high to remove the household's entitlement to Universal Credit). To show the average payment of households receiving a Universal Credit award, the data should be filtered by the payment indicator, so that only households with an award are included in the average.
In line with the continuous development of these statistics, data sources are still being developed and investigated. Universal Credit awards are sometimes retrospectively revised which means information held on entitlements may also change in the future. Consequently, both the methodology and figures are likely to be revised in the next release.
Statistical disclosure control has been applied with Stat-Xplore, which guards against the identification of an individual claimant.
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