DWP Central Freedom of
Information Team
Caxton House
6-12 Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9NA
Charles Ellinson
freedom-of-information-
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
xxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx
DWP Website
Our Ref: FOI2022/74207
18 October 2022
Dear Charles Ellinson,
Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FoI) request received on 20 September. You
wrote:
“The Universal Credit (Administrative Earnings Threshold) (Amendment) Regulations
2022, which come into force on 26.9.22, provides for an increase to the level of the AET.
There is a significant difference to the structure of the amended regulations as compared
to the regulations prior to the amendments.
The new structure seemingly allows for one member of a couple to be placed in the Light
Touch Regime if s/he is earning £494/month, even though the couple between them earn
below the new couple threshold of £782.
However, the regulations prior to the amendment always required a couple to have
earnings (between them) of at least the couple threshold in order for either one of them
to be placed in the Light Touch Regime.
This meant that if one claimant had earnings equivalent to the single claimant threshold,
but the couple between them earned below the couple threshold, NEITHER claimant
would be put in the Light Touch Regime.
1) Please provide any documents or information held by the Department which either
confirms or refutes the above analysis.
2) Transitional protection for claimants who migrate to UC ends if the claimant has a
sustained drop in earnings to below the AET if they were earning at least the AET in the
first AP of their UC claim.
Please provide any documents or information held by the Department regarding the
following scenarios:
(a) A claimant's earnings have stayed static, but are now below the AET due to the
increase in the AET levels. Will Transitional Protection end?
(b) In their first AP, one member of a couple has earnings equivalent to the single
claimant threshold (and is therefore placed in the Light Touch Regime), but the couple
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between them were earning below the couple threshold. Will Transitional Protection end
if that member's earnings fall below the single claimant threshold?”
DWP Response
Response to request 1)
We confirm that we do hold the information you have requested
A copy of the information is provided below.
Produced below in the bullet point is the relevant section of a Submission to the Secretary of
State dated 28/02/22 to seek approval to make and lay The Universal Credit (Administrative
Earnings Threshold) (Amendment) Regulations 2022 regulations.
• The Statutory Instrument (SI) attached to this submission is slightly different to the one
submitted to you on 10 January 2022 as it corrects an anomaly unintentionally introduced
into Regulation 99(6) in 2016 by the Universal Credit and Miscellaneous Amendments
Regulations 2015. This anomaly created ambiguity as to whether the individual Adminis-
trative Earnings Threshold (AET) only applies to single claimants (i.e., someone who is
not a member of a couple), and that only the couple’s threshold applies to a claimant who
is a member of a couple (i.e. an individual who is a member of a couple does not have an
individual threshold). This amendment clarifies the original policy intent by providing that
all claimants whose own, individual employed earnings are equal to or greater than £494
Per Calendar Month (PCM) (12 hours per week at National Living Wage(NLW)) are allo-
cated to the Light Touch Regime (LT); additionally, a claimant who does not have earn-
ings above £494PCM may be allocated to those in the LT if their own earnings, com-
bined with their partner’s earnings are equal to, or exceed £782PCM (equivalent to the
couple working a combined total of 19 hours per week at NLW).
In the interest of being helpful and provided outside of our obligation of the FoI Act you may
find the following helpful:
• The original policy intent of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 was that individual
members of a couple would not have to reach the Administrative Earnings Threshold
for Couples before being placed in the LT. The intent was that a member of a couple
would have both an individual and a couple’s AET. In this way if one member of the
couple was had employee earnings at or above the individual AET then they would be
moved into the LT and that if the total household earnings (whether contributed by one
or both members of the couple) reached the AET for Couples then both members of
the couple would be moved into the LT. The changes to the Universal Credit
Regulations 2013 introduced under the Universal Credit (Work-Related Requirements)
In Work Pilot Scheme and Amendment Regulations 2015 could be construed as
requiring that the combined earnings of a couple would have to be above the AET for
couples before both of them would be placed in the LT and offered no opportunity for
an individual member of the couple to enter that Regime on the basis of their individual
income reaching the AET for individuals. This therefore went against the original policy
intent.
The anomaly has now been corrected by the new 2022 regulations.
Response to request 2(a) & (b)
It may be helpful if we explain the role of the FoI Act. It provides a legal right of access to
recorded information held by a public authority like the DWP, subject to certain exemptions
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that may apply. The Act does not oblige a public authority to create new information to
answer questions; nor does it require a public authority to give advice, opinion or explanation,
generate answers to questions, or create or obtain information it does not hold.
If you ask a question, rather than requesting recorded information, we will provide you with
the recorded information that best answers the question. Once we have provided the
recorded information, we have met our obligations under the Act; interpreting the information
provided is up to you.
Your request makes statements which you want us to respond to. This would need new
information to be created.
We do not hold any recorded information to answer your request and will therefore not be
progressing your request any further.
However, you may find the following explanations useful. We have provided these outside
our obligations under the FoI Act.
Response to request 2) (a)
The Government has said that Transitional Protection will be terminated when a claimant
who has been moved to Universal Credit (UC) has a significant change in the circumstances
they were in when they first claimed UC. This includes where there has been a sustained (3
month) fall in a claimant’s earnings, or the joint earnings of joint claimants, which results in a
change in the labour market conditionality that will be applied. In light of the increase in the
AET we are currently considering what, if anything, needs to be done to maintain the policy
intent.
Response to request 2) (b)
The amendment to level of the AET has not changed how the termination of Transition
Protection should be applied to couples. In this situation, Transition Protection will only
terminate where the couple has joint earnings in their first Assessment Period above the
couple AET threshold and then subsequently those earnings fall below that threshold for
three consecutive months.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact us quoting the reference number
above.
Yours sincerely,
DWP Central Freedom of Information Team
Department for Work and Pensions
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Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act
If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by e-mailing
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxx.xxx.xx or by writing to: DWP Central FoI Team, Caxton
House, 6-12 Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA.
Any review request should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the
Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally, the Commissioner cannot make
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a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Website
: ICO FOI and EIR complaints or telephone 0303 123 1113.
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