DWP to publish daily counts of universal credit claims and advances on a weekly basis until the end of June 2020

New figures covering period from 1 March to 28 April 2020 will be published on 5 May, with further releases published every Tuesday thereafter

The DWP is to publish daily counts of universal credit claims and advances on a weekly basis until the end of June 2020.

In new guidance on upcoming releases of management information and ad hoc analyses, the DWP says that management information on daily universal credit claims and advances for the period from 1 March to 28 April 2020 will be published on 5 May 2020, and that -

'Further releases of this information will be published weekly on a Tuesday until the end of June 2020.'

NB - in the explanatory notes to the management information on daily universal credit claims and advances for the period from 1 March to 12 April 2020, published on 21 April 2020, the DWP confirmed that -

'Since the start of the [coronavirus (COVID-19)] pandemic, there has been unprecedented levels of demand for universal credit. In the 6 weeks to 12 April 2020, the DWP received over 1.8 million declarations to universal credit. This is almost five times higher than the amount of declarations received from individuals in the same period last year .'

The guidance on upcoming releases of management information and ad hoc analyses is available from gov.uk