The deferment of the minimum income floor doesn’t go nearly far enough

The government has announced that it will not reintroduce the Minimum Income Floor (MIF) for Universal Credit until April 2021.

MIF is the amount of earnings above which you are ineligible for Universal Credit (UC). It was suspended earlier in the year so that people whose earnings were impacted by COVID, especially the self-employed, would not lose out on government support.

General Secretary of Prospect Mike Clancy said:

“The deferment of the minimum income floor until April is welcome but it doesn’t go nearly far enough.

“The self-employed are simply not adequately protected by the way Universal Credit operates.

“There needs to be a proper review of Universal Credit and the support that is available for self-employed people so that they are protected through the bad times in an equitable manner.”