Universal Credit: payments will be split in cases of domestic violence, says minister

Published by 24publishing for 24dash.com in Central Government and also in Communities, Finance, Health, Legal, Universal Credit

Universal Credit payments will be split between men and women in domestic violence situations, a minister has said.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and Minister for Women and Equalities, Maria Miller (pictured), was responding to a question from MP Yvette Cooper in the House of Commons yesterday.

Cooper voiced concerns that stopping payments to a main carer and having a single payment go to a household could make things harder in cases of financial coercion.

Miller replied: "We have retained powers to ensure, if absolutely necessary, that payments can be split between men and women if domestic violence is in play."

Cooper said: "In addition, the way that housing payments are delivered could make it difficult for refuges, which fear that they could lose around 60% of their funding. It looks as though the detail of universal credit has been designed without any consideration for those vulnerable women. Will the Minister remedy that and ensure that the Government Equalities Offices looks urgently at the matter, and will she discuss the issue with her colleagues to ensure that the regulations are right?"

Miller responded that the issue had already been looked at in detail and the Government had worked with women's aids organisations to "ensure that refuges have special treatment in that respect".