Universal Credit

A huge shake-up to Universal Credit, the eligibility criteria for Personal Independence Payments and a raft of other measures have been confirmed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in today's Spring Statement.

The Chancellor Rachel Reeves has today announced a host of changes to benefits, transport and more in her Autumn Budget. MoneySavingExpert.com founder Martin Lewis has shared his instant reaction and explained what the changes mean for you, and we've added more detail on them below.

The full State Pension is set to rise by £362.65 (4.1%) a year for most pensioners on 6 April 2025, under what's known as the 'triple lock' guarantee. Those on the full new state pension will see a rise of £474.85. Meanwhile certain benefits, including Universal Credit, are expected to increase by 1.7%.

If you claim universal credit and other support payments you could sign-up to Vodafone's newly-launched social tariff, 'Vodafone Essentials Broadband', which costs £12 a month. It is the cheapest social tariff on the market with a speed of 38Mb but the price will near double after 12 months. 

Parents on Universal Credit with high childcare costs will soon be able to claim £100s more in support each month, as the Government is boosting the help available from Wednesday 28 June. In addition, some of those eligible will also be able to get one month's childcare paid for them upfront, instead of having to pay the full cost and getting it reimbursed later.

Eligible parents of children as young as nine months in England are to be offered up to 30 hours of government-funded childcare each week. Meanwhile, parents who get universal credit will see the maximum amount they can claim for childcare costs raised. Both announcements form a package of new measures designed to help parents, revealed by the Chancellor in the Budget.

The Prime Minister today (19 October) said she was "completely committed" to the triple lock, meaning millions of people claiming the state pension could receive a 10.1% increase in payments from April. However, given the ongoing cost of living crisis and economic uncertainty the Government has yet to officially confirm whether this will be the case, or whether benefits will rise by the same amount. 

Almost eight million people in the UK are currently struggling to pay their bills, according to the financial regulator. If you are facing financial difficulty, we explain how to check if you're eligible for support and how to try and cut costs and save on essential bills. 

More than 100,000 people claiming universal credit will be asked to "take active steps" to increase the hours they work or find better paid jobs – or face having their benefits reduced. Here's what it means for you.

All reception year schoolchildren in Wales will start receiving free meals from September this year, with pupils in year one and year two to get free meals by April 2023, the Welsh Government has announced. It's expected that all 200,000 primary school children in Wales will receive free school meals by 2024.