Martin Lewis says anyone on Universal Credit can get £300 bonus | Personal Finance | Finance

Money expert Martin Lewis has urged people on Universal Credit to open a savings account which is ‘totally unbeatable’.

The Money saving Expert founder says you can get a Help To Save account if you’re on Universal Credit and from next April, you only need to earn £1 a month in order to get up to £25 a month in bonuses.

Currently, the Help To Save accounts require applicants to earn at least £793 a month but changes to the scheme will see this lowered to just £1 from April, meaning more people on benefits will be able to access the deal and get hundreds of pounds a year.

At the full rate, you’d get £300 per year from the government if you maxed out the amount you can deposit into the account each month.

But the best thing about the accounts is that you don’t even have to leave the money in there to get handed the bonus from the government.

The account works by taking the highest amount that’s ever been on the balance, and dishing out a 50% bonus on that.

So if you deposited the full £600 and then had to spend some of it, you’d still get given £300 on top.

Martin Lewis explained on his ITV The Martin Lewis Money Show Live: “Totally unbeatable is Help To Save via gov.uk.

“If you’re on Universal Credit, or Tax Credits, and you earn over £793 a month currently but from next April you can earn just £1 and get this.

“It’s amazing. You put in up to £50 a month, and then you get a 50% bonus.

“Here’s how it works – imagine you put in £50 a month, for a year.

“You’ve now got £600 in. Unfortunately, you have an emergency, you have to take it out, you can’t put any more in for the rest of the two years – what was the highest amount that you had in? £600.

“Half of £600, 50 percent of it, £300. You still get the £300 bonus even though you’ve got nothing in it. Unbeatable savings.”

Martin then heard from a woman who just received £500 from the government for her bonus after two years of saving into the account.