M
Member
Speaking in the House of Lords on 25 February 2025
Debate
Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2025Contribution
There were a number of questions about the timing of uprating. It has been done this way for a long time for a reason. The first challenge is that inflation clearly moves, but when inflation is stable it might be worth using actual inflation rates for the previous September. That will mean that, over the medium term, benefits will hold their value over the course of the year and broadly match inflation trends. It might be worth noting that for the past two financial years, using the September inflation figure actually resulted in increases higher than the rate of inflation the following year. Working-age individuals, for example, benefited from an increase that was 1.4% higher than the rate of inflation in April 2023 and 4.4% higher than the rate of inflation in April 2024. It does move, but it often moves in different directions.
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