The Universal Credit Bill will complete its passage through the House of Lords in a single day, it has been confirmed.
The Parliament website reports that: “Second reading - the general debate on all aspects of the bill - and all remaining stages - are scheduled for 22 July.
“This bill is known as a "Money Bill", committee stage, report stage and third reading are normally formalities.”
Following its passage through the Lords, the bill only requires Royall Assent before becoming law. There is no time limit for this, but it could happen within a few days.
It means that Labour has managed to rush through a bill that will affect the incomes of millions of universal credit (UC) claimants, and was intended to affect millions of personal independence (PIP) claimants too, in just five weeks.
And yet none of the provisions in the bill will actually come into effect for another nine months, in April 2026.
The haste with which Labour has forced these provisions through, without consultation and with the minimum amount possible of parliamentary scrutiny, raises real concerns about it commitment to co-production when it comes to the Timms review of PIP.
You can download the final version of the bill and the explanatory notes from this page.
The version of the bill is “HL Bill 123 (as brought from the Commons)” – click on the Bill (4) link to get it.
The explanatory notes are “HL Bill 123 Explanatory Notes” – click on Explanatory Notes (3) to get them.
