Help to Save passes £300m in bonuses ahead of 2028 expansion

What HMRC announced

HM Revenue and Customs published the figures on 21 September 2026 to mark UK Savings Week. The headline number is that more than £300 million has been paid out in bonuses since the scheme launched in September 2018. That total covers the whole life of Help to Save, from its first accounts to the most recent bonus payments made at the end of the fourth year for savers who opened accounts in the earliest cohorts.

By the end of April 2026, 656,700 accounts had been opened. The take-up figure sits alongside a striking behavioural detail: 94% of account holders save the maximum £50 a month. That means the overwhelming majority of savers are not using the account for occasional or irregular deposits. They are treating the £50 monthly ceiling as the target, which in turn maximises the bonus they can earn over the four year life of an account.

The scheme was originally due to close in September 2023, was extended to April 2025 and then April 2027, and has now been made permanent. The change from a series of short extensions to permanent status removes the deadline that had hung over the scheme since its launch. For savers, the practical effect is that the four year account cycle is no longer operating against a background of possible closure. For HMRC, the announcement confirms that Help to Save is now a standing part of the savings landscape rather than a time limited pilot.

The timing of the release, during UK Savings Week, places the figures in a wider context of government messaging about saving on low incomes. The £300 million total and the 656,700 account figure are the two numbers HMRC has chosen to lead with. The 94% maximum saving rate is the third. Together they describe a scheme that has paid out a substantial sum, attracted a defined group of savers, and seen those savers use the account close to its full capacity.

How the 50% bonus is calculated

Help to Save is a government savings scheme for people on low incomes. Savers can put in between £1 and £50 a month and the government adds 50p for every £1 saved. Accounts run for up to four years; the maximum saved is £2,400 and the maximum bonus £1,200, paid into the saver's bank account. The 50% rate is fixed and applies to the amount saved, not to interest earned. There is no interest rate in the conventional sense; the bonus is the return.

Bonuses are paid at the end of the second and fourth years. The first is 50% of the highest balance reached in the first two years; the second is 50% of the amount by which the highest balance in years three and four exceeds the highest balance in years one and two. This highest balance rule is the mechanism that determines the payout. It is not the closing balance on the day the bonus is calculated that matters. It is the peak balance reached during the relevant two year period.

Money can be withdrawn at any time, but withdrawals can reduce the bonus. The reason follows directly from the highest balance rule. If a saver builds a balance to a peak and then withdraws part of it, the peak is already recorded for bonus purposes. But if the withdrawal happens before the peak is reached, or if it prevents a higher peak from being reached later, the bonus is calculated on the lower figure. Withdrawals do not trigger a penalty or a loss of the account. They simply change the highest balance against which the 50% is applied.

A worked example shows how the maximum £1,200 is reached. A saver puts in £50 a month for four years, a total of £2,400. In the first two years the highest balance is £1,200, so the first bonus is 50% of £1,200, which is £600. In years three and four the balance continues to rise to £2,400. The amount by which the highest balance in years three and four exceeds the highest balance in years one and two is £2,400 minus £1,200, which is £1,200. The second bonus is 50% of £1,200, which is £600. The two bonuses together come to £1,200, paid into the saver's bank account.

Who qualifies now

Eligibility today covers people receiving Universal Credit who are in work, and people entitled to Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit. The Universal Credit route is specifically tied to being in work. A Universal Credit claimant who is not in work does not qualify under the current rules. The tax credit routes are separate and do not carry the same in work condition in the way the Universal Credit route does, because entitlement to Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit is itself the qualifying factor.

In April 2025 the criteria were widened to all working Universal Credit claimants, making an additional 550,000 people eligible. Before that change, the Universal Credit route was narrower. The April 2025 widening brought in working claimants who had previously fallen outside the criteria, and HMRC put the number of newly eligible people at 550,000. That figure is separate from the 1.5 million households HMRC says will become eligible from 2028.

The current position therefore has three routes in. A person in work and receiving Universal Credit qualifies. A person entitled to Working Tax Credit qualifies. A person entitled to Child Tax Credit qualifies. The account itself is opened in the saver's name and the bonus is paid into the saver's bank account. Applications take a few minutes on GOV.UK or in the HMRC app.

The 656,700 accounts opened by the end of April 2026 sit against this eligibility backdrop. The April 2025 widening added 550,000 eligible people, and the 2028 change is expected to add 1.5 million households. The account total will therefore be one to watch as the eligibility base expands. The 94% maximum saving rate among existing account holders is the current behavioural picture, measured across the accounts opened so far.

What changes in 2028

From 2028 the earnings requirement is removed for people with caring responsibilities and the scheme opens to all Universal Credit claimants, which HMRC says will make an additional 1.5 million households eligible. The two elements of the change are distinct. The first removes the earnings requirement for people with caring responsibilities. The second opens the scheme to all Universal Credit claimants, not only those in work. Together they represent the largest expansion of eligibility since the scheme began.

The removal of the earnings requirement for people with caring responsibilities addresses a group who may have low or no earnings from work but who have caring duties. Under the current rules, the Universal Credit route requires the claimant to be in work. From 2028, for people with caring responsibilities, that requirement falls away. The scheme then becomes available to them on the basis of their Universal Credit claim and their caring responsibilities, without the earnings test.

The opening of the scheme to all Universal Credit claimants is the broader change. It means that a Universal Credit claimant who is not in work will qualify from 2028. HMRC says this will make an additional 1.5 million households eligible. That figure is the government's estimate of the households that will newly meet the criteria once the in work condition is removed for the Universal Credit route.

The 2028 changes follow the April 2025 widening, which added 550,000 eligible people by extending the scheme to all working Universal Credit claimants. The sequence is therefore a widening in 2025, a further and larger expansion in 2028, and permanent status for the scheme itself. The £300 million paid out so far and the 656,700 accounts opened by the end of April 2026 are the figures against which the effect of the 2028 expansion will be measured.

Source: Help to Save on GOV.UK.

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Frequently asked questions

How much has been paid out in Help to Save bonuses?

More than £300 million has been paid out in bonuses since the scheme launched in September 2018, according to HM Revenue and Customs figures published on 21 September 2026.

How many Help to Save accounts have been opened?

By the end of April 2026, 656,700 accounts had been opened. 94% of account holders save the maximum £50 a month.

How is the 50% bonus calculated?

Bonuses are paid at the end of the second and fourth years. The first is 50% of the highest balance reached in the first two years. The second is 50% of the amount by which the highest balance in years three and four exceeds the highest balance in years one and two.

What is the maximum bonus?

The maximum saved is £2,400 and the maximum bonus is £1,200, paid into the saver's bank account. Savers can put in between £1 and £50 a month and the government adds 50p for every £1 saved.

Can money be withdrawn?

Money can be withdrawn at any time, but withdrawals can reduce the bonus because the bonus is based on the highest balance reached in each two year period.