Autumn Budget 2025 Eligibility Changes for Help to Save Scheme
Published / Last Updated on 29/11/2025
The Help to Save scheme is a government sponsored savings scheme for people on low incomes to encourage a habit to save regularly and therefore build up a small emergency fund for when unplanned events occur that impact financially.
How it works:
You can save up to £50pm over a four-year period. At the 2nd anniversary, the government will add a 50% bonus of the highest balance you had saved in that period (even if you have withdrawn some savings. The same happens again in years 3 and 4, with yet another 50% bonus added based upon the highest balanced achieved for the years 3 and 4 savings (the highest balance bonus does not include funds that were saved in years 1 and 2 as they have already had their 50%).
Eligibility: You must be working, low income, and be receiving Universal Credit with a take-home pay of at least £1 and less than £793.17 in their last monthly assessment period.
See: Help to Save Review
Budget Changes
From April 2028, eligibility will be amended to allow all universal credit claimants (without a cap on income) that receive the Universal Credit ‘Child element’ and/or the ‘Caring element’.
