DWP – Autumn Budget 2024 to drive up opportunity and drive down poverty

Millions of people, including families, pensioners, carers and those struggling to find work are set to benefit from Autumn Budget reforms to boost work and tackle poverty.

• Welfare safety net will be strengthened with a new Fair Repayment Rate, an increase to benefits and an extension of vital crisis support.
• Carers will also see a boost to the amount they can earn whilst retaining their entitlement to Carer’s Allowance.
• A £240 million package for the Get Britain Working White Paper will shift department’s focus from welfare to work.

The first steps in the Work and Pensions Secretary’s plan to drive up opportunity and drive down poverty across the UK were unveiled in the Government Budget Wednesday 30 October 2024.

As the department shifts its focus from welfare to work, a £240 million package is to open up opportunities to millions of people left behind and denied the opportunity to get into work and get on at work.

These major changes are to address spiralling economic inactivity and a record 2.8 million people locked out of work due to long term sickness and are part of an ambition to reach an 80% employment rate. 

Get Britain Working

The Get Britain Working White Paper will develop:

• A new jobs and careers service to help get more people into work, and get on in their work, by linking jobseekers with employers, with an increased focus on skills and careers;
• Joined-up work, health and skills plans to tackle economic inactivity and boost employment, led by Mayors and local areas;
• A new Youth Guarantee so that every young person is given the opportunity to earn or learn.

Carers

Those with caring responsibilities will able to earn more without losing government support, with the Carer’s Allowance earnings threshold boosted by £45 a week to £196, benefitting more than 60,000 carers by 2029/30. This is the biggest ever cash increase in the earnings threshold for Carer’s Allowance. This is alongside an independent review into Carer’s Allowance Overpayments led by Liz Sayce OBE.

Fair Repayment Rate

As well as boosting pensions and benefits through annual uprating, a new Fair Repayment Rate will be introduced, reducing Universal Credit deductions. This will mean 1.2 million of the poorest households will benefit by an average of £420 a year.

Household Support Fund

£1 billion, including Barnett impact, will be invested to extend the Household Support Fund in England by a full year, on top of the six months already announced, and to maintain Discretionary Housing Payments in England and Wales. This will help struggling families and pensioners facing the greatest financial hardship.   

For too long, millions of people have been denied opportunities to work and build a better life, and too many children are growing up in poverty, harming their life chances and our country’s future.

This Budget shows the first steps in our plan to drive up opportunity and drive down poverty in every corner of the country.

There is still much more to do, but this Budget has shown change has begun.

Detect and prevent fraud and error

Measures announced will also improve how the DWP detects and prevents fraud and error, so support is targeted where it is needed most and taxpayers know every pound is spent wisely. These changes are expected to save £7.6 billion by 2029/2030.

State Pension and State Benefits

The Secretary of State has also concluded her annual review of the State Pension and benefit rates, which will see:

• A 4.1 percent increase to the basic and new State Pensions due to the Triple Lock commitment – meaning those on the full rate of the new State Pension will now see an increase of over £470 per year.
• A 1.7 percent increase to Universal Credit and other working-age benefits – worth an average £12.50 per month for a family on Universal Credit.

Want to know more?

The Get Britain Working White Paper will be published in Autumn and will set out the government’s plans to reform employment support and tackle the root causes of record-high inactivity.

Welfare reforms announced at Autumn Budget include:

• A new Fair Repayment Rate to reduce Universal Credit deductions from 25% to 15%.
• A £240 million Get Britain Working package
• An extension of the Household Support Fund
• Maintaining Discretionary Housing Payments funding.
• Raising the Carer’s Allowance earnings threshold by £45 a week
• Uprating disability benefits and working age benefits including Universal Credit by 1.7% in line with the year to September 2024 Consumer Prices Index figure.
• Uprating basic and new State Pensions and the standard minimum guarantee in Pension Credit by 4.1% in line with the average weekly earnings figure for the year to May to July 2024.
• Improving fraud, error and debt detection and prevention.

Estimates payroll related statutory payments

The following are the anticipated statutory payment rates reflecting the 1.7% uplift. The official values are awaited and may be different due to the official values operating different rounding basis:

PAYadvice,UK updated 14/11/2024