New regulations issued to provide for the £20 a week universal credit ‘uplift’ to continue to be paid for a further 6 months

New statutory instrument also provides for extension of measures relating to the minimum income floor that had been due to expire on 30 April 2021

New regulations have been issued that provide for the £20 a week universal credit 'uplift' to continue to be paid for a further 6 months, and for the extension of measures relating to the minimum income floor.

In force from 6 April 2021, the Universal Credit (Extension of Coronavirus Measures) Regulations 2021 (SI.No.313/2021) provide that the modifications that were made to the amount of the standard allowance in universal credit for the 2020/2021 tax year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which essentially increased the underlying rates by £86.67 per assessment period, are continued to October 2021.

NB - the explanatory note to the new regulations advises that the temporary amounts will not apply -

• for the purposes of calculating transitional protection in relation to a claimant who has moved to universal credit under Part 4 (managed migration) of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014; and
• for the purposes of calculating transitional protection as a result of being a former recipient of the severe disability premium who has naturally migrated to universal credit.

In addition, the new regulations provide that regulation 2 of the Social Security (Coronavirus) (Further Measures) Regulations 2020 that provides a discretion for the Secretary of State to apply a number of measures in relation to the minimum income floor (which applies to self-employed claimants in universal credit) that had been due to expire on 30 April 2021 will now expire on 31 July 2021.

SI.No.313/2021 is available from legislation.gov.uk