Autumn Budget 2018 and Universal Credit

The Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the much anticipated Autumn Budget 2018.

As expected the Welfare System was discussed with the Chancellor stating that “the old benefits system was broken” and “Universal Credit is here to stay and we are putting in the funding it needs to make it a success…… work should always pay.”

To date £3.5bn has been pumped into the Governments flagship welfare benefit to aid the transition, today the Chancellor announced that a further £1bn would be provided to aid additional measures in the transition over the next five years and that there will be “additional protections” however details of such protections were not announced.

Many claimants (or partner) who have the responsibility of a child or limited capability to work, who are in work and are receiving Universal Credit have suffered financial hardship due to the way work allowance is currently calculated. Work allowance is the amount that you can earn before your Universal Credit is calculated.

The Chancellor aware of the concerns regarding allowances and rates will now increase “work allowance” by £1000 per annum at the cost of £1.7bn annually once the Universal Credit rollout is complete. As a result of this 2.4 mil working families with children and those with disabilities will benefit by £630 a year.

In addition, it was announced that the national living wage will increase to £8.21 in April a £2,750 annual payrise for those on minimum wage and personal tax to rise to £12,500 from April 2019, while the higher rate threshold will be raised to £50,000 from next April.

I have attached the following links on the Autumn Budget for further reading:

https://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2018/october/autumn-budget-2018/

http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8422/CBP-8422.pdf