London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Rishi Sunak: £20 universal credit top-up always temporary

Rishi Sunak: £20 universal credit top-up always temporary

The chancellor has reiterated the £20 uplift to universal credit will be scrapped as it "was always intended to be a temporary measure".

Campaigners say the payments, worth around £1,000 a year, have stopped some from falling into poverty.

Labour's leader Sir Keir Starmer said taking the payments away was "simply wrong in principle".

The decision has also been criticised by prominent Conservatives.

Universal credit is claimed by more than 5.5 million households in the UK.

It was introduced to replace six benefits and merge them into one benefit payment for working-age people.

The £20 top up was extended by six months in March and Labour has called for it to continue beyond the autumn.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Mr Sunak said the uplift was part of "things we put in place to deal with the crisis" of the pandemic, adding "those things will come to an end, much like the furlough scheme".

He said the uplift had only been "one part of our overall package of support" for people, adding that the government's plan of getting people back into work "is working".

"Those on the lowest incomes have seen the most support from the government, but going forward, my view and the government's point of view is the best way to help people is to help them into work and make sure those jobs are well paid", he said.

But former Conservative work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan-Smith, said the "government needs to think again".

"This uplift simply restores what was in initially intended for universal credit", he said.

He told BBC News the benefit "isn't just an unemployment benefit...it's a back to work benefit," adding "it's a bit short sighted to say we're just going to withdraw it."

Sir Iain is one of six former Conservative work and pensions secretaries who wrote to Rishi Sunak this week to urge the government to continue with the extra £20 a week payments.

On Wednesday, the Work and Pensions Secretary, Therese Coffey, told MPs that the payment boost, introduced during the pandemic, would face an "adjustment".

Ms Coffey said the change had been a "collective decision" by ministers.

Therese Coffey told MPs of the planned changes during a committee session on Wednesday

Speaking to the Work and Pensions Committee, she said: "Ahead of October we will start communicating with the current claimants... to make them aware that will be being phased out and they will start to see an adjustment in their payments".

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer claimed the proposal would hit six million families.

He said the cut "amounts to around £1,000 a year for them, and is the difference between paying the bills and not being able to pay them."

He admitted that keeping the extra payments "would have tax implications," saying "tax raises may well be part of the answer to this."

He said Labour was working on their policies for "social security reform - a fully costed offer to the British people."

Paul Johnson from the Institute for Fiscal Studies said up to a quarter of the working age population are entitled to some universal credit.

"It will be a big shock for people who've got used to what has been a really significant increase in their benefit levels.

"Particularly for those who are childless, this is a very large fraction of their total income, if you're out of work and childless, you're probably only getting around £80 a week," he told BBC Politics Live.

Triple lock changes


The chancellor has hinted that the government could end the triple-lock on state pensions, as he faces pressure to rule out a predicted 8% rise next year.

Mr Sunak admitted there were "concerns" over the government's pension triple lock - which increases state pensions in line with the rising cost of living seen in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure of inflation, increasing average wages, or 2.5%, whichever of those three is highest.

Official forecasts suggest that the link with earnings growth could mean the bumper rise in the amount paid from April 2022, and could cost the government £3bn than previously expected.

He said a decision on pensions would be "based on fairness for pensioners and for taxpayers".

The government spends around £100bn on the state pension every year, just over 10% of all government spending.

Sir Keir Starmer he said there was an "anomaly this year" causing an 8% rise, but this shouldn't be used by the government to "break their commitment to the triple lock".


If official forecasts are correct, the UK state pension could rise by 8% in April next year.

The triple lock policy means the amount paid to pensioners rises in line with the highest of inflation, 2.5%, or average earnings.

It is the last of these three which is predicted see a big jump owing, in part, to furlough's effect on calculations.

Hence, Chancellor Rishi Sunak is being pressed on whether the manifesto promise to pensioners will stay.

His answer? The decision will be "based on fairness for pensioners, but also for taxpayers".

But fairness is difficult to quantify.

The UK state pension is one of the least generous in Europe. Many women have had less opportunity than men to build up other pension income. Life expectancy is so low in some areas that people living there may see little of retirement.

That is why some are calling for an overhaul of the entire system of pensioner benefits, not a short-term reaction to an unusual set of circumstances.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×