Universal Credit warning as benefit payment dates to change

04/04/2023

Payment dates for state pension, Universal Credit and other benefits are to change over the Easter bank holidays. Claimants may also want to note their payments are due to increase from this week.

Payments due on Good Friday, April 7, or Easter Monday, April 10, for the DWP benefits listed below will be paid on Thursday, April 6:

Attendance Allowance
Carer’s Allowance
Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
Employment Support Allowance (ESA)
Income Support
Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
Pension Credit
Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
State pension
Universal Credit.

Payments for these HMRC benefits due to be made on Good Friday, April 7, or Easter Monday, April 10, will also be paid on Thursday, April 6:

Working Tax Credits
Child Tax Credits
Child Benefit
Guardian’s Allowance.

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Benefit payments are increasing by 10.1 percent in the new tax year, that starts on April 6. The rates for the standard allowance are going up to:

Single under 25: £292.11
Single 25 or over: £368.74
Joint claimants both under 25: £458.51
Joint claimants, one or both 25 or over: £578.82.

State pensioners are also due to get a 10.1 percent boost to their payments in the new financial year.

The full basic state pension is increasing to £156.20 a week while the full new state pension is going up to £203.85 a week.

People who have gaps in their National Insurance record can volunteer to pay contributions to increase their state pension.

A person can usually do this as far back as six years ago but individuals can currently pay back another 10 years, as far back as 2006.

People can only pay back for this extended period until the end of July, after which a person will only be able to pay contributions up to six years ago.

A person can check their state pension entitlement using the state pension forecast tool on the Government website.

The tool will also tell them if they can claim Pension Credit and how much they would receive.

This benefit tops up the income of those on low incomes and is also increasing 10.1 percent this week. The top up will go up to £201.05 a week for single people and up to £306.85 a week for couples.

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