Households can get as much as £2,550 from four benefits available in August.
Several key benefits went up in April (Image: Getty)
People in receipt of one of four DWP benefits could grab a slice of up to £2,550 each this August thanks to various freebies and discounts. Thanks to an assortment of different freebies, discounts and handouts available to claim, households could find themselves as much as £2,550.26 better off.
Not all of these will be claimable by all people, but one household could theoretically claim all of them at once, if those living in the household met the eligibility criteria for each of the DWP and HMRC benefits listed herein. And of course as long as the household was still within the Benefits Cap, which is set at just under £26,000 a year total for those in London, or roughly £23,000 for those living outside the capital.
Universal Credit – up to £628.10 per month
Universal Credit is complicated, because it’s becoming a catch-all replacement for various other benefits. So someone who is claiming for help with childcare costs, for disabled children or as a carer can get more money on top of the standard rates.
All elements of Universal Credit saw their payments increased by 1.7% from April, thanks to automatic uprating of the benefit tied to Consumer Price Index inflation figures.
Looking just at the standard rates element, which is help for general living costs for those on low or no income, it means Universal Credit for a single person aged under 25 is now £316.90. For single people aged over 25, it is set at £400.14. For a couple under 25, it’s £497.55 and for an over-25 couple, it’s £628.10 per month.
A 50% cut to the health element of Universal Credit announced by Rachel Reeves will not take effect this tax year so will not be in place before April 2026.
State pension – up to £997 per month
Thanks to the – some would say, increasingly controversial – Triple Lock, state pensions have risen by far more than the CPI inflation rate by which Universal Credit is increased. The Triple Lock states that pensions must rise by one of three metrics: wage growth, inflation or a flat 2.5%, whichever is highest. Wage growth is highest this year, at 4.1%, so pensions increased in line with that.
The full new state pension is now £230.25, or £997.75 per month on average (the annual figure, £11,973, divided by 12 months).
The old basic state pension, for those who retired before 2016, maxes out at £176.45 for someone with a full National Insurance record.
Those on the old state pension can boost their pension payout by claiming Pension Credit, which is £227.10 per week, very close to the full new state pension amount anyway.
