The Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has dismissed plans within her own Government for a one-off Universal Credit payment.
Dr Thérèse Coffey said any financial support was "welcome", but a £500 or £1,000 'bonus' was not her "preferred approach" and not the "best way" of supporting the poor.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is understood to have looked at the payment in exchange for cutting Universal Credit by £20 a week from April, reports Mirror Online.
Earlier this week, Ms Coffey told MPs on the Work and Pensions Committee: "I think there's a very fair point about disincentives. There are some challenges about fraud."
She added: "That would not be one of the department's preferred approaches on providing that financial support... We're not sure that's the best way to deliver that."
The comments ramp up tensions between the DWP and Chancellor Rishi Sunak over whether to plunge thousands of claimants into poverty from April 12 - the start of the new financial year.
Ms Coffey admitted she still doesn't know if the Chancellor will cut Universal Credit for 5.9 million people in his March 3 Budget.
The standard allowance was raised due to Covid but that was temporary, and faces being cut back by £85 a month.
She suggested keeping the £20 rise was "politically complicated" and said: "If we had a decision I would love to tell you, but we haven't quite got there yet."
She added: "Discussions are still ongoing with other parts of Government and no decision has yet been reached."
Ms Coffey appeared to admit she may not get much choice about whether the £20 rise is kept - at a cost of £6billion a year.
"How can I put it - I wouldn't say no to a one-off payment if in the end that was the decision that was taken, because it still would be financial support," she told MPs.
A £500 or £1,000 payment was raised last month as one way of compensating people for cutting Universal Credit, but campaigners, charities and Labour slammed the idea, saying it would cut off people who joined the benefit a day too late.
Peter Tutton of debt charity StepChange said a one-off sum could get "swallowed up" by people's debts by pushing them over relief thresholds.
Ms Coffey said the future of Universal Credit was under "active discussion" and suggested it may be announced earlier than March.
She told MPs: "Budget proposals are still being worked up and will go through the normal process. This has been a separate approach which is under active discussion."
She refused to say if she backed keeping the £20 rise, but slapped down claims it would "reduce work incentives" as many claimants are already in work.
