Mims Davies corrected a written answer on Universal Credit: Coronavirus

15 April 2020 · Commons written answer · Department for Work and Pensions

Dawn Butler (Labour, Brent Central) asked written question 33438 on 23 March 2020. Mims Davies answered on 31 March 2020 for the Department for Work and Pensions, and Mims Davies corrected the answer on 15 April 2020. The corrected text adds the figure 10,000, which the original did not give. Altogether 141 words differ between the two versions.

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he will take to increase staffing of the universal credit helpline in response to increasing demand as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Original and corrected answer

Struck through: original only. Bold: correction only.

Original	Corrected
~~As both the Prime Minister~~ and ~~Chancellor have made clear, the Government will do whatever it takes~~ to support ~~people affected by COVID 19~~ and ~~we have been clear in our intention that no one should be penalised for doing~~ the ~~right thing. These are rapidly developing circumstances, we continue to keep~~ the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly. The Department is taking all appropriate steps to protect colleagues and customers, in line with Government advice.	Our priority as a Department is ensuring people get their benefit payments and that we can continue to support those who need us the most. We have mobilised our robust business continuity plans to ensure we can do just that. We are already redeploying 10,000 staff from other parts of DWP and are also recruiting additional staff to assist with the processing of claims, including support from other government departments and the private sector.

Original

Corrected

~~As both the Prime Minister~~ and ~~Chancellor have made clear, the Government will do whatever it takes~~ to support ~~people affected by COVID 19~~ and ~~we have been clear in our intention that no one should be penalised for doing~~ the ~~right thing. These are rapidly developing circumstances, we continue to keep~~ the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.
The Department is taking all appropriate steps to protect colleagues and customers, in line with Government advice.

Our priority as a Department is ensuring people get their benefit payments and that we can continue to support those who need us the most. We have mobilised our robust business continuity plans to ensure we can do just that. We are already redeploying 10,000 staff from other parts of DWP and are also recruiting additional staff to assist with the processing of claims, including support from other government departments and the private sector.

The question and answer on the Parliament website.

Related key figures

People on Universal Credit (Great Britain)

Receipt

Read from	https://questions-statements-api.parliament.uk/api/writtenquestions/questions/1187250?expandMember=true
Date read	15 October 2026
SHA-256	`77212103bee6d8ecbc4fcfb5e990dd039225bf17d20b54fe64077d65816a00b4`