Universal Credit taper rate reduced from today

As announced in the Autumn Budget, the taper rate – the amount that a person’s Universal Credit is reduced by as they earn more – has dropped from 63% to 55%. Simultaneously, work allowances, the amount eligible claimants can earn before their Universal Credit is reduced, have increased by £500 per year.

Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said: “It’s right that we support hard-working families, and this change will help some of the country’s lowest income families keep more of their money.

“Together with the increase in the minimum wage and our investments in skills and training, it shows this is a government committed to making work pay.”

The government faced extensive criticism for scrapping the £20 a week uplift to Universal Credit in October, after introducing it during the first Covid-19 lockdown.