Working-age benefits uprated by 1.7%, below CPI of 3.5%

Working-age benefits were uprated by 1.7% in April 2025, an inflation-based increase pegged to the Consumer Prices Index rate in September 2024. By April 2025, CPI had reached 3.5%, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's Minimum Income Standard report for 2025, published on 9 September 2025¹.

The same report sets out what households need for a minimum socially acceptable standard of living, based on what members of the public think¹. A single working-age adult needs a gross annual income of £30,500 to reach MIS in 2025, up from £28,000 in 2024. A couple with two children needs £74,000 a year between them. Working-age couples need £43,000 (£21,500 each) to have enough disposable income to reach MIS, compared with £40,600 (£20,300 each) in 2024. A lone parent with two children would need gross annual earnings of £61,000, up from £57,000 in 2024¹.

For pensioners, the figures differ by whether Pension Credit is received. Single pensioners would need a gross income of £17,400 a year to reach MIS if receiving Pension Credit, but £19,000 if their income came from the full State Pension and they were not receiving the Winter Fuel Payment. Couple pensioners on Pension Credit need £29,000 a year, while those with the State Pension only need £29,200¹.

The report also gives weekly MIS budgets for four household types in April 2025¹:

The National Living Wage for those aged 21 and over increased by 6.7% in April 2025, rising from £11.44 to £12.21 an hour¹. Against that backdrop, a couple with two children where one parent works full-time on the NLW and the other does not work reaches 66% of MIS in 2025, down from 67% in 2024. A single working-age adult working full-time on the NLW reaches 76% of MIS, down from 77% in 2024¹.

The report notes that the cost of a minimum rose fastest for single working-age adults, by 4.6% since 2024, above overall CPI inflation of 3.5% in the 12 months to April 2025. It attributes this mainly to transport: a monthly bus pass rose from £118 in 2024 to £130 in 2025, an increase of 10.2%, while transport services inflation was 10.0% and water rates rose 26.2% over the period¹.

Why it matters for households

The 1.7% uprating applies to working-age benefits from April 2025, while CPI stood at 3.5% by that month¹. For households whose income comes mainly from benefits, the cash increase is smaller than the rise in prices measured across the economy over the same period.

The report compares benefit and wage income with what the public considers a minimum acceptable standard of living. On its figures, a single working-age adult on the NLW full-time reaches 76% of MIS, and a couple with two children with one full-time NLW earner reaches 66%¹. The Minimum Income Standard is the income people need for a minimum socially acceptable standard of living, based on what members of the public think¹.

The report also covers how benefit rates rise each April and how inflation sets increases to benefits, State Pension and tax thresholds. For people moving between benefits and work, the gap between the NLW and MIS is relevant to working while claiming and to the Minimum Income Floor for self-employed claimants.

What happens next

The report states that in June 2025, following extensive criticism of the way means-testing of the Winter Fuel Payment was implemented, the Government announced that from winter 2025/26, eligibility would be extended to all pensioners with an income below £35,000 per year¹. No further uprating announcement beyond April 2025 is reported in the source.