HALF a million Brits will see their Universal Credit boosted by £1,000 a year from today- in a win for The Sun’s campaign.
The harsh taper rate is being slashed just before Christmas as Rishi Sunak’s Budget surprise comes into force and hits bank accounts on Wednesday.
Last week Brits should have received confirmation of their benefits boost in their usual monthly statement, with the money being made available from today.
Half a million people are expected to get the extra cash this week, thanks to cutting the taper rate down by eight pence a pound.
The first recipients will start getting their increased funds today, with the rest receiving their instalments depending on pay dates.
Around two million should get the extra cash before Christmas.
DWP boss Therese Coffey last week hailed The Sun’s Make Universal Credit Work campaign, as working households get to keep more of what they earn.
Work allowances will be boosted by £500 and the taper rate cut by eight per cent for some of the poorest working Brits, helping nearly two million working families.
And it will be a boost to millions who saw their benefits cut after the pandemic’s £20 a week extra cash came to an end just weeks ago.
Vulnerable households can also get access to a new £500million support fund to help them with essentials over the coming months.
Ms Coffey wrote last week: “The Sun, supported by its readers, has campaigned to ‘Make Universal Credit Work’ and these changes do just that.
“It means hard working people aren’t penalised for taking on more hours – unlike the legacy system which takes away all benefits at once when people do 16 hours or more of paid work.
“With people feeling a difference in their pockets from the 1st of December, this will come as a welcome boost ahead of the festive season.”
Hundreds of thousands more Brits will be entitled to it amid a massive expansion of the welfare state’s reach.
Single parents paying the higher rate of tax will be entitled to the benefit for the first time as the Government extends help to the middle classes.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak added: “We want this to be a country that rewards hard work by helping the lowest income families keep more of their hard-earned cash.
“That’s why at Budget, I announced an effective tax cut for 2 million people worth over £2 billion.
“These changes come into force today and will mean that with Christmas approaching, hard-working families keeping an extra £1,000 a year of what they earn.”
Vulnerable households will also be able to access a new £500million pot of cash to help them with essentials over the winter months.
Tax cut for millions of working Brits means a happier Christmas
By Thérèse Coffey, Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions
MORE pounds in people’s pockets.
That’s our plan for almost two million working families who are on the lowest incomes and have their wages topped up by Universal Credit.
From today we are making changes which will provide an effective tax cut of £2.2 billion for the lowest paid, who will be better off to the tune of £1,000 a year on average.
For example, a single mother of two, renting in Darlington, working a full-time job on the National Living Wage, will see her take-home income increase by £1,200 on an annual basis.
Or a couple with two children, renting their home, where one partner works full time at the National Living Wage and the other works 16 hours a week earning the same, will be £1,800 per year better off.
We’re doing this by making two changes.
The first is a change to the taper rate which means people will keep more of their Universal Credit payment as they earn more in work.
The second is a £500 increase on the Work Allowance which means people can earn even more before their Universal Credit payment reduces.
The Sun, supported by its readers, has campaigned to ‘Make Universal Credit Work’ and these changes do just that.
It means hard working people aren’t penalised for taking on more hours – unlike the legacy system which takes away all benefits at once when people do 16 hours or more of paid work.
And because we have brought in these changes a week earlier than announced at the Budget, up to half a million more low income households will get extra cash before Christmas.
With people feeling a difference in their pockets from the 1st of December, this will come as a welcome boost ahead of the festive season.
Budget: Massive Universal Credit shake-up so 2million can keep an extra £1,000 a year
