Welfare and benefits In response to the pandemic, the government made a number of changes to the benefits system, including the suspension of the Minimum Income Floor for recipients of Universal Credit. Following our influencing campaign, we secured the suspension of the Minimum Income Floor for a further 6 months and the measure was subsequently extended to July 2021. We also joined forces with a coalition of other charities to help secure a 6-month extension to the £20 a week uplift to Universal Credit and a £500 one-off payment for Working Tax Credit recipients. Housing During the first lockdown, the government also introduced an eviction enforcement ban for people in the private rented sector in both England and Wales. We influenced the UK and Welsh governments to help secure extensions to a ban on eviction. Energy We influenced the government and energy suppliers to provide additional support to customers during the pandemic, including financial support for customers who had energy debts, with Ofgem later making some protections permanent. We saved consumers billions on their energy bills through our advocacy on energy network price controls and through our supplier monitoring work we championed customers’ needs when suppliers failed. Consumer In the almost 3 years since we launched our super-complaint to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on the loyalty penalty, we’ve saved consumers £703 million by pushing regulators to act. The loyalty penalty is the amount firms overcharge customers simply for staying loyal to their existing provider beyond their initial contract term—costing consumers over £4 billion a year in 5 essential markets. We secured action from Ofcom, who introduced voluntary agreements with mobile and broadband providers that will help reduce the loyalty penalty. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced measures to tackle the practice in home and motor insurance markets. This move is set to save loyal customers an estimated £4.2 billion over 10 years. Post and telecoms Around 5,000 post offices rely on government funding to stay open, including around 2,500 serving communities that would otherwise have no shops left. With post offices playing a critical role in many communities, for example, by giving access to banking and government services, we called for the government to invest in the post and telecoms service. In the government’s November 2020 Spending Review, the Chancellor announced the Post Office subsidy would be sustained, worth £227 million in funding. 39 How we’re influencing change