The latest updates from our Income Maximisation team.
Living Wage Increase
The current UK Government minimum wage for people aged 21 and over is £12.21 an hour. These rates are statutory, but the Living Wage Foundation currently classes the real living wage (a level of earnings that covers the current cost of living) to be £12.60 an hour.
These rates will increase in April 2026, with early estimates and research indicating the rate for the minimum wage for over 21yr olds will increase to £12.71 an hour.
Read more about the changes on the UK Government website.
Community Income Maximisation workshops
Our team continued to deliver workshops on the cost of living and income maximisation out in the community, including with The Challenges Group in the My Edinburgh spaces. This session was for women returning to work through the Making Work Work programme.
Our Income Max Lead Alan delivers practical workshops around money management. They give participants a clearer understanding of how benefits are impacted by returning to work, plus useful tips on energy efficiency, and advice on budgeting, grants and discounts.
Highlights from 2025/26 so far…
Some highlights from our Income Maximisation service in the first 6 months of the 2025/26 financial year:
- Over 120 new clients supported by our Income Max team.
- We have supported our clients to access over 100 missing benefit entitlements.
- We completed over 320 Income Max assessments and Better off in Work calculations.
- Financial gains of £378,000 for the people we support.