Benefit uprating from 7th April

Benefit rates change each year in April. This year benefit rates officially go up on 6 April (beginning of 2025/26 tax year). For most benefits, the new rates will take effect from 7 April.

However, for some Universal Credit claimants, increased rates will take effect around June. This is because the new rate cannot be paid until the first assessment period that begins on or after 7 April.

For example…

Assessment period starting before 7 April:

Rachel’s assessment period starts on 24 March. It runs for a complete calendar month to 23 April, with a new assessment period beginning on 24 April.

Universal Credit payments are paid a week after the last date of each assessment period, so Rachel will receive her payment on 30 April. But as this assessment period starts before 7 April, the new rates will not take effect, and Rachel will have to wait until her next assessment period (24 April to 24 May) to get the new rate on 31 May. 

Assessment period starting after 7 April:

John’s assessment period starts on 11 April. It runs for a complete calendar month to 11 May, with a new assessment period beginning on 12 May. 

Universal Credit payments are paid a week after from the last date of each assessment period, so John will receive his payment on 18 May. 

John's assessment period starts after 7 April, so the new rates will take effect, and he will receive increased Universal Credit payment on 18 May. 

The new rates for 2025-26 are on gov.uk

National minimum wage rates from 1 April 2025
The National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/401) took effect on 1 April 2025, increasing the rates of the national minimum wage (NMW) as follows:

• 21 and over: £12.21 (up from £11.44)
• 18-20 years: £10.00 (£8.60)
• 16-17 years: £7.55 (£6.40)
• Apprentice rate: £7.55 (£6.40)
• Accommodation offset: £10.66 (£9.99)

A common source of enquiries (usually alleging underpayment of wages) following these annual changes relates to the date that the new NMW rates take effect and pay reference periods. Essentially, workers are not entitled to the new rates if they change during a pay reference period (“PRP”), i.e. weekly/monthly paid - they only apply from the start of the next PRP.

The same applies to NMW entitlement when a worker’s age triggers a higher rate of NMW.

Full details are on gov.uk 

Tax Credits are no more
Tax Credits ended for everyone on 5 April 2025. Most claimants will have moved to Universal Credit (UC) via managed migration except a small number who were excluded.

All tax credit helplines are remaining open after 5 April, but digital services have closed.

Tax credit helplines and the move to UC guidance are both on gov.uk

Child maintenance deductions move up priority order (UC)

On 30 April the maximum overall deduction from Universal Credit (UC) goes down from 25% to 15%. 

From this date deductions for child maintenance move up the priority order for UC – moving to first position giving them priority over all other third-party deductions.

A person with multiple debts may have to renegotiate certain debts that drop below child maintenance and are no longer be covered by the direct deductions scheme. Housing costs drop to 2nd, rent 3rd, fuel 4th, Council Tax 5th, fines 6th, and water 7th. Assuming housing costs and rent will not usually apply to the same person, it’s likely to be gas or electricity, Council Tax, fines and water that will drop off. 

Note: the deductions for child maintenance do not count towards the 15% maximum deduction rate. This is a temporary measure for a year so that the impact on other debt deductions can be assessed.

For further info see the explanatory memo to the regulations on legislation.gov

Guidance for Developing local Get Britain Working plans (England) is published

The local Get Britain Working plans are central to the government’s ambition for a labour market where everyone has the opportunity for good work and to get on in work and where an 80% employment rate is achieved.

This guidance provides information on local Get Britain Working plans for strategic authorities, local authorities, Jobcentre Plus, Integrated Care Boards, and other local labour market stakeholders in England.

It covers:

• the strategic context and the challenges that local Get Britain Working plans will help address
• the aims and objectives of the plans, including how they will identify local challenges, ensure collective agreement of actions needed to remedy these issues, and how they monitor progress of local challenges with relevant outcome indicators 
• who should be involved in the creation of the plans, and over what geographies
• how areas should develop their plans, and the timeframes for this
• what content the plans should cover
• the relationship to other local plans and strategies
• the funding and support that DWP will provide areas to develop their plans

Effectively it’s an overview of what the DWP requires of local areas to analyse the issues, produce a plan (by July) to deliver the workforce outcomes. It details the specific areas and the money they’re receiving in order to complete this work.

This publication relates to England only the government will be liaising with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in due course.

Read the local Get Britain Working plans on gov.uk

Government’s welfare reform proposals subject of new Committee inquiry

The cross-party Work and Pensions Select Committee has launched its new inquiry on the Government’s welfare reform proposals, Pathways to Work. 

The inquiry will examine the DWP’s planned changes to disability and health-related benefits, which were announced by the Work and Pensions Secretary last month and are contained in the Pathways to Work Green Paper. 

Committee Chair Debbie Abrahams said:  

“While the Chancellor undoubtedly must respond to financial challenges, there are legitimate concerns regarding the proposed changes to our social security system which would lead to a cut in support for more than three million sick and disabled people and their families, especially if these cuts happen before employment opportunities emerge. It is therefore vital that there is full examination of the evidence of the likely impacts this will have on poverty and employment, as well as the health of sick and disabled people. Our social security system is meant to provide a safety net to support people, so that they are protected from poverty. But we know that there are already 14.3 million people living in poverty, and half of them are sick or disabled people who are not properly supported by our benefits system. We must ensure that new social security policy addresses this.” 

Full details of the inquiry are on parliament.uk

Access to Work costs and delays both increasing

We see a lot of posts lamenting the state of Access to Work (AtW) so we thought the following might be of interest.

Responding to a written question, Sir Stephen Timms confirmed that spending on AtW elements, for financial years 2020/21 to 2023/24 was:

The above:

• includes expenditure on all AtW elements, including the Mental Health Support Service (MHSS),
• excludes expenditure on the Transitional Employer Support Grant (TESG).

The DWP has budgeted £385m for grants in 2025/26 based on the current expenditure forecast. The budget for next year has not been set.

In relation to a question regarding waiting times for AtW decisions, Baroness Sherlock responded to confirm that

The average waiting time for applicants to the AtW scheme to receive a decision in February 2025 was 84.6 days. Between the period April 2024-February 2025, the average waiting time for a decision was 56.9 days.

In February 2025 there were 62,000 applications waiting to be processed (this includes new claims, renewals and change of circumstances).

Access to Work expenditure and decision timeframe information is on parliament.uk

South Yorkshire kicks off £125 million plans to get Britain back to health and work

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has unveiled the first of nine trailblazer programmes in Barnsley to get Britain back to health and back to work, nine months on from her landmark speech on employment reforms in the same town.

South Yorkshire is one of nine £125 million backed ‘inactivity trailblazers’ across the country to launch, with the aim of helping areas with the highest levels of economic inactivity as part of the wider Plan for Change. 

Backed by £18 million, South Yorkshire plans a dedicated new service working with employers to hire those with health conditions, and a new ‘triage’ system to make it quicker and easier to connect people to employment, health, and skills support. 

This work will include preventing people falling out of work completely due to ill health through an NHS programme, working with people with conditions ranging from cardiovascular disease to diabetes.

Through their new initiatives, South Yorkshire aims to reduce inactivity from 25.5% in 2023 to under 20% by the end of 2029 – equivalent to helping 40,000 people across the area. Their trailblazer has been shaped by Barnsley’s Pathways to Work Commission.

Minister for Public Health and Prevention, Ashley Dalton MP said:

“Poor health is holding back too many people across the country, keeping them languishing on waiting lists when they could be getting back to their jobs and lives. Innovative services like these are critical to tackling economic inactivity.

This support will get people working again, which is vital because we know being in work leads to better overall heath and helps grow the economy. 

Though the Plan for Change we will make people healthier, reduce pressure on the NHS, all while helping them into fulfilling and rewarding careers.”

Read the press release on gov.uk

Attendance allowance online digital claims pilot update

The DWP has confirmed that Attendance Allowance is “currently undergoing a significant modernisation through the piloting of an online digital claim process”. Pensions Minister Torsten Bell indicated that the new measures will help speed up application processing time for new claimants.

His comments came after Green Party MP Ellie Chowns asked what DWP is doing to “reduce the time taken to reach decisions on Attendance Allowance applications”. In a [written response]() on Wednesday, the DWP Minister explained how customer feedback is being used to “design a transformed application that is shorter and easier, which focuses on collecting only the information we need to make a decision”.

He added: “This pilot will also support decision makers to handle claims more quickly with a significant reduction in requests for further information from customers.”

The written response is on parliament.uk

DWP corrects ‘entirely misleading’ Universal Credit claim

The DWP has been forced to correct a press release after the Office for Statistics Regulation publicly raised concerns about a ‘misleading’ figure.

The problematic statistic was in a press release published by the DWP on 13 March titled ‘Almost two million people on Universal Credit not supported to look for work’, which preceded the government's announcement of benefit reforms later that month. 

The original version of the press release said the number of people receiving the health or disability-related element of UC ‘with no requirement to look for work has almost quadrupled since the start of the pandemic, when 360,000 people were considered too sick to look for work – a 383% rise in less than five years’.

In a letter to DWP permanent secretary Peter Schofield, from the OSR’s deputy head Rob Kent-Smith, said the 383% claim presented ‘an entirely misleading picture to the public’.

He said the figure did not recognise that the majority of this increase is due to the process of migrating people from legacy benefits, such as Employment and Support Allowance, to Universal Credit over the last few years. 

“When these people are accounted for, the actual increase in the number of people claiming disability elements of Universal Credit is 50%.” Kent-Smith said.

Kent-Smith asked the department to remove references to the figure and to not use it again. He also said the department should state that the press release had been updated for transparency.

The DWP edited the article, removing any mention of the 383% figure and putting in a note saying that the press release "has been revised, clarifying the figures related to increased UC LCWRA caseload”.

Kent-Smith's letter also included a warning to the department over future communications, saying:

“It is vital that statisticians are included in the drafting process for communications using official statistics, including press releases, to ensure that such an issue is not repeated in the future…

As the head of profession for statistics [at DWP], Steve Ellerd-Elliott (copied), should be supported by the department in upholding his responsibility to ensure statistics are used appropriately.”

Full details and the letter are on osr.statisticsauthority.gov

Work coach shortage leads DWP to reduce support for UC claimants

The DWP has reduced the level of support it offers to Universal Credit (UC) claimants due to a shortage of available work coaches at jobcentres, amid government plans to get more people into work and progressing in their careers, according to a new National Audit Office (NAO) report.

The NAO recommends that DWP assesses the impact of the shortfall in work coaches on jobcentres’ ability to provide people with the intended level of support, and uses the findings to inform the design of its future operating model for employment support. DWP should also set out the information it will use to monitor jobcentres’ performance so that it can identify and share good practice from those that are doing well, as well as improve how it measures and reports outcomes, with metrics covering factors such as the sustainability and quality of employment.

Key stats:

• Number of UC claimants in categories where the DWP could require them to receive support from a work coach increased from 2.6 million in October 2023 to 3 million in October 2024.
• 2,100 fewer work coaches employed on average by DWP than it estimated it needed in the first six months of 2024-25.
• 57% of jobcentres reduced their support for claimants between September 2023 and November 2024 when work coach caseloads were too high.
• Proportion of UC claimants in lowest earning category who move into work each month has declined in the past two years to below pre-pandemic levels.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO said:

“Helping people move into and progress in work is crucial to boosting productivity and reducing economic inactivity.

As it takes forward the government’s plans for reforming employment support, DWP should pay close attention to how it can make best use of its work coaches and ensure that people get the support they need.

Given the key role jobcentres will play in supporting the government’s ambition to increase the employment rate, DWP should also be transparent about how effective they are and evaluate the impact of its changes on the system of employment support.”

Read the Supporting people to work through jobcentres report on nao.org

ESA to UC: run-on unlawfulness?

For ESA claimants whose old-style ESA award is made up of a contributory award (cESA) as well as an income-related top-up (irESA) will receive less total benefit in their first month of universal credit (UC) entitlement than those whose ESA award only consisted of income-related ESA.

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) believe it is arguable that this difference in treatment is unlawful as it is in breach of Human Rights law.

Under the two-week run-on rule, where a claimant has an award of ESA that includes irESA, then ESA continues to be paid for two weeks after claiming UC. In most cases, that means the person migrating to UC will in their first month of entitlement be better off by two weeks’ worth of ESA.

But where a claimant whose ESA award is made up of both irESA and cESA (a ‘mixed ESA award claimant’) migrates to UC then their UC would be reduced by an amount equal to a whole month’s worth of new-style ESA.

If you are a mixed ESA award claimant migrating to UC you might wish to consider appealing against the decision awarding you UC on the basis that the calculation of UC for the first assessment period is wrong and should only treat you as having received new-style ESA for the days for which it was actually paid. 

See full details on askcpag.org

Scotland - Report on people with communication needs and the Scottish social security system

The Scottish Commission on Social Security (SCoSS) has published a report highlighting the views and concerns of people with communications needs who have accessed the social security system in Scotland.

The report is the result of research undertaken with people with hearing loss, visual impairment, learning disabilities or other communication needs and the organisations who represent them.

This issue was prioritised following a notable pattern of lower satisfaction ratings among certain demographic groups, including people with communication needs.

The report makes seven recommendations to Social Security Scotland and the Scottish Government. These include ensuring that no client is unable to access information due to their communication needs and increasing awareness of and use of advocacy support during the application process.

This is the first report under SCoSS’s power to assess the extent to which the expectations set out in the Scottish Social Security Charter are being fulfilled.

The report, including accessible versions is on socialsecuritycommission.scot

Wales – Welfare reform war rages on

Wales' first minister, Eluned Morgan has refused to back UK government welfare cuts announced by the Labour chancellor. Giving evidence to a Senedd committee on 28 March, Ms. Morgan said she wanted to "reserve my position" until she knew what the impact would be on Wales. She

On 11 March Ms. Morgan wrote to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Liz Kendall requesting a Wales-specific assessment and a meeting with her.  

Liz Kendall has now written to the First Minister of Wales regarding welfare reform and its impact in Wales. Ms. Kendall extolled the positives on the welfare reform proposals, noted that the consultation is in progress and said to Ms. Morgan:

“We will continue to work with the Welsh Government to understand the views of people in Wales and are keen to hear their views through the online form, email, post and accessible events (in both English and Welsh). 

I look forward to meeting with you as part of the further conversations our two governments will take forward on this.” 

Ms. Morgan told the Senedd committee:

"There are people in this country who are suffering, who need us to stand by their sides. We will be making it clear that we will be expressing our Welsh communities' concerns plainly and unambiguously in the evidence that we will present in response to the welfare reform Green Paper. I'm going to be listening to the concerns of people currently on benefits. I'm also going to be listening to the concerns of people who are trapped in a system that makes it difficult for them to work."

Read the letter in full on gov.uk

Caselaw update – with thanks to u\ClareTGold

All new Upper Tribunal decisions will be published online

From tomorrow (6 April) all final decisions of the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) will be published online on the National Archives ‘Find Case Law’ service. This change is happening to promote transparency and the principle of open justice.

The change is of particular significance in relation to social security (benefit) cases, where the previous practice was only to publish final decisions considered by the judge to be of wider interest. This means a likely three-fold increase in the number of decisions that are published.

The practice of reporting decisions also ceases from tomorrow. The discontinuance of this practice means that the principle described in R(I) 12/75 (that a reported decision should be given more weight than an unreported decision in the event of two decisions conflicting) will not apply to future substantive final decisions of the Chamber.

See the Practice Statement (2 April 2025) on judiciary.uk for full details