November 2021 – The Budget and Important Benefit Changes

 The universal credit taper is to be reduced from 63 per cent to 55 per cent and work allowances are to be increased by £500. The changes that will be introduced by 1 December 2021 and are expected to benefit 1.9 million working households across Great Britain, with the Northern Ireland Executive funded to match them.

The government will continue the temporary increase in the surplus earnings threshold to £2,500 for universal credit claimants until April 2023, when the threshold will reduce to £300. They have also announced a revised roll out completion date for Universal Credit of March 2025.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) rather than proceed with a plan to introduce minimum award periods in order to reduce the frequency of health assessments, they now intend to better triage cases by testing a new Severe Disability Group.

Exemptions to the local housing allowance shared accommodation rate for victims of domestic abuse and victims of modern slavery will be brought forward from October 2023 to October 2022.

Plans to create a new housing element of pension credit in place of pensioner Housing Benefit are now intended to take effect in April 2025 (previously April 2023) to align with the full rollout of working-age Housing Benefit into Universal Credit

The national living wage will be increased to £9.50 an hour from April 2022

A further £639 million in funding over the period to 2024/2025 was announced to go towards rough sleeping initiatives

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