In-Work Progression Offer to roll out from September 2023

Low earners claiming Universal Credit will need to meet their work coach on a quarterly basis under the In-Work Progression Offer, which starts a phased rollout from September 2023¹. The measure was set out in the Autumn Statement of November 2022¹.

The offer mainly affects households whose income is typically between the equivalent of 15 and 35 hours a week at the National Living Wage, which the source puts at £365 a week for someone aged 23 or over¹. It sits alongside a separate change: from January 2023 the Administrative Earnings Threshold rose from the equivalent of 12 hours to 15 hours at the National Living Wage, bringing more claimants who are in work on low earnings into a more intensive regime of work coach support¹.

The Autumn Statement also set out wider changes to benefits and costs. Most benefits were to be uprated by September 2022's CPI figure of 10.1%, including the state pension, the Pension Credit minimum guarantee, Universal Credit, Child Benefit and most tax credits elements¹. The benefit cap was to rise by the same 10.1%, having not been changed since 2016¹.

Source: entitledto.co.uk¹

Cost of living payments were announced for three groups: 8 million households on means-tested benefits were to receive £900, paid in more than one instalment; 8 million pensioner households £300; and 6 million people on non-means-tested disability benefits £150¹. The Household Support Fund was to provide local authorities with £1 billion collectively to help households with the cost of essentials¹. The Energy Price Guarantee, which subsidised a typical household's energy bill to £2,500 a year, was to become £3,000 between April 2023 and March 2024, with equivalent support continuing in Northern Ireland¹. Households using heating oil, liquefied petroleum gas, coal or biomass were to receive a £200 payment that winter instead of £100, and all households in Northern Ireland were to receive the £200 because of the number of homes using alternative fuel¹.

On tax, most Income Tax and National Insurance thresholds were frozen until 2028, meaning employees would not pay income tax or national insurance on earnings up to £12,570, and the 20% basic rate plus 12% Class 1 employee national insurance rate would apply to earnings up to £50,270 until 2028¹. The threshold at which higher earners start to pay the 45% rate was reduced from £150,000 to £125,140¹.

Why it matters for households

The In-Work Progression Offer changes what is expected of people already working and claiming Universal Credit. From September 2023, on a phased basis, those in the income band described above face quarterly contact with a work coach rather than the lighter regime that applied to lower earners¹. The January 2023 rise in the Administrative Earnings Threshold had already moved claimants earning the equivalent of 12 to 15 hours a week at the National Living Wage into more intensive work coach support¹. Meeting work-related requirements is tied to a claimant's claimant commitment, and failing to meet them can lead to sanctions.

The uprating and cap figures set out above determine the maximum amount of benefit income certain households can receive, and the level at which awards are set, from April 2023¹. The cost of living payments were one-off amounts paid to defined groups, with the source noting no further detail at the time on when instalments would be made¹. The energy support figures describe a limit on the price paid per unit of gas and electricity, not a cap on the monthly bill, which still depends on usage¹.

What happens next

The rollout of the In-Work Progression Offer was described as phased from September 2023, with no further timetable given¹. The source also records that the migration of most of the 1 million people claiming income-related Employment and Support Allowance was delayed until April 2028, and that a new housing element of Pension Credit would not be introduced until 2028, with eligible pensioners continuing to receive Housing Benefit until then¹.