More than a fifth of universal credit claims closed without being paid due to non-compliance with claimant commitment or initial interview requirements.

According to figures supplied by the DWP in a response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request. More than a fifth of universal credit claims are closed without being paid due to the claimant failing to comply with the claimant commitment or initial interview requirements.

In the FOI response, dated 3 February 2020, the DWP sets out figures for the period from January 2019 to October 2019 based on the proportion of universal credit claims that were paid along with the proportion that were closed and not paid, broken down into the reasons for claims being closed.

The figures illustrate how, on average over the ten month period, 21.2 per cent of claims were closed and not paid due to them not being 'process compliant' for the following reasons :

• 9.7 per cent were closed due to a failure to book an initial interview
• 2 per cent were closed due to a failure to attend an initial interview
• 9.5 per cent were closed due to a failure to accept a claimant commitment, either because of a failure to book or attend a claimant commitment interview, or a failure to accept the claimant commitment at an interview.

The FOI response from the DWP is available from whatdotheyknow.com