We’ve been asked by readers to check a viral claim on Twitter that says: “The £5,435 an MP gets to feed *each* of their children (on top of their salary) is more than the £3,087.96 a Universal Credit claimant gets each year.”
The £5,435 an MP gets to feed *each* of their children (on top of their salary) is more than the £3,087.96 a Universal Credit claimant gets each year. Why the hell aren’t MPs feeding their own kids?
— RD Hale (@RD_HaIe) August 4, 2021
MPs do not get a specific allowance to feed their children.
The post seems to be referring to how much MPs with dependant children can spend on rented accommodation.
All MPs (except those in the London area, or who, because of their position have access to “grace and favour” residences) can claim back the costs of accommodation in relation to a property at one location—their constituency or London. This is “designed to meet costs incurred by MPs as a result of working from two permanent locations”.
This can cover hotel accommodation, rental payments or for those MPs who own the property, associated costs like utility bills, broadband and council tax. For MPs claiming for rental costs in London, the annual allowance is £23,290, while those renting in their constituencies outside of London can claim up to £16,320.
However, if the MP has “caring responsibilities”, they may have their rental accommodation budget limit increased by £5,500 a year for each dependant for whom they need to provide accommodation, up to a maximum of three. The figure used in the Facebook post was the additional budget last year, at £5,435 per dependant.
Dependants can be children of the MPs up to the age of 18, family members in receipt of certain benefits that they care for, or children between 18 and 21 in full time education, as long as the MP was claiming the costs of this dependant before April 2017, and the MP is their sole carer.
How much is universal credit?
The exact Universal Credit payment someone will get depends on their circumstances.
As well as the standard allowance (the value of which depends on whether you’re over or under the age of 25, and if you are in a couple), if you have one or two children you’ll get an extra amount per child. (Those with three or more children may get more but it depends on a number of other factors.)
The figure of £3,087.96 in the tweet appears to refer to the value of the annual standard allowance for a single applicant aged under 25 from October 2021. Currently, Universal Credit recipients receive an additional £20 per week, which was introduced during the pandemic, but is due to be removed from the end of September.
The extra amount someone can receive for a first child born before April 2017 is £3,390, and if the child was born after that date it’s £2,844.96. There are extra amounts available for disabled children and for childcare costs.