The Centre for Social Justice calls for a 13.3% increase to Universal Credit, rising by 8.5% in January, based on new analysis by Policy in Practice

Policy in Practice analysed data from over 114,000 low-income households to determine the best course of action amidst the energy crisis. Our analysis for the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has been shared with the next Prime Minister and shows that increasing Universal Credit in October will ease the effects of the upcoming energy price rises.

Increasing Universal Credit by 13.3% in October means that support will be proportional to household size, making it better targeted than flat rate support.

The government must also do more to help middle-income households and small businesses. The impact of the unprecedented rise in energy costs is being felt across the board.

• Read report On Target: Protecting vulnerable households from the inflation crisis by The Centre for Social Justice, September 2022

This week and next we're publishing a series of four blog posts detailing our analysis. See parts one and two below.

• Read blog post: New analysis: Increasing Universal Credit by 13.3% will help low income households pay for increased energy costs
• Read blog post: New analysis: Three costed policies to help low-income households with the cost of living crisis

Further analysis and response to the cost of living crisis coming up

We will be publishing our full analysis on the new energy price cap figures over the next few days.

1. An analysis of how different households are impacted by rising energy costs

• Energy bills differ greatly depending on the energy efficiency of the home
• Large households in energy inefficient homes could pay ￡15,000 in energy costs next year
• Energy bills for large families could be up to nine times greater than for single households in January

2. A full breakdown of the results from our analysis on 114,000 low-income households

• Families with children will be ￡1,700 worse off on average by April without further support
• The number of households that will not be able to meet their expected monthly costs will double from January
• Almost 1 in 5 single households will not be able to afford all of their essential costs without additional support.

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