News

This week, the changes to Universal Credit announced last month by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, in the Autumn Budget came into effect. These changes see the dreaded Universal Credit taper (how much an individual’s Universal Credit gets reduced by for every pound they earn) reduced from 63 pence to 55 pence, allowing millions of working Brits in receipt of the benefit to keep more of their earnings.

In Wednesday’s Budget, one of the major announcements from the chancellor was that the Universal Credit taper will be reduced from 63% to 55% in a bid to help those full-time workers keep more of their earnings.

Over the weekend, the government announced a new £65m support package to help vulnerable renters who have fallen into rent arrears during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s to be provided during the winter months and distributed directly to landlords through local councils, who will decide the best way to use the funding to support households behind on their rent.

Last week, in his first budget as chancellor, Rishi Sunak announced a £30bn package to tackle the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. One of the measures included temporarily removing the Minimum Income Floor for Universal Credit claimants, to ensure those on zero-contract hours and the self-employed are not financially worse off if they are forced not to work due to the spread of Coronavirus.