DWP Universal Credit increases – exact amounts for 2026

It’s part of the major changes to Universal Credit coming in for 2026.

Due to the increase in line with CPI, and the additional uprating factor, in 2026/27 Universal Credit standard allowances will increase as follows:

• From £316.98 to £338.58 per month for single people aged under 25
• From £400.14 to £424.90 per month for single people aged 25 and over
• From £497.55 to £528.34 per month for joint claimants both aged under 25
• From £628.10 to £666.97 per month for joint claimants both aged 25 and over

It’s worth noting that due to the changes, this increase is only for the standard allowance — the basic universal credit payment rate — and the health element of the payment may be affected by cuts.

From next April, any claimants of the health element from this date will have that rate frozen and halved until 2029-30.

What are the changes to Universal Credit in 2026?

The Universal Credit Act 2025 has ushered in controversial changes which aim to ‘rebalance’ Universal Credit rates from April 2026 by increasing the basic standard allowance that all claimants receive, while cutting the additional payments for most claimants newly found to have disabilities and health conditions that affect their capability for work.

This means:

• Increasing the Universal Credit standard allowance above inflation over the four financial years from 2026/27. By 2029/30, the UC standard allowance will be 4.8% higher than it would have been under the normal practice of increasing the standard allowance in line with Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation over the period.
• Reducing the additional amount awarded to help people who are sick or disabled – known as the LCWRA element – by approximately half for most claimants newly entitled to it, from £432.27 a month to £217.26 a month, which will then be frozen in each year to 2029/30.
• Creating a ‘protected’ cohort of existing LCWRA element recipients and new claimants who are terminally ill or have severe, lifelong conditions and are never expected to work. This ‘protected’ group will see the combined rate of their UC standard allowance and health element increase at least in line with inflation in each year from 2026/27 to 2029/30.

TW
“Peace of mind will…be given to 200,000 individuals in the Severe Conditions Criteria group… as they will not be called for reassessed for Universal Credit (UC) under new legislation.”

Right, this is the hill I will die on. These criteria rule out nearly all with MH. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/1YejmAi4Ol

— Dr Jay Watts (@Shrink_at_Large) June 18, 2025

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) hopes that ‘rebalancing’ the rates in this way will “remove the incentive for people to declare themselves unable to work in order to improve their incomes” and “would benefit society through increased employment”. It further notes that “work is the best route out of poverty”.

A coalition of charities and campaigners has argued that the changes “will increase hardship among disabled people and their families” , who often “already face disproportionately high levels of hardship”.

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Compared with the ‘protected’ cohort, most new LCWRA recipients from 6 April 2026 will have significantly lower awards from combined standard allowances and LCWRA elements.

For single claimants aged 25 or over, awards will be around £2,700 a year lower in 2029/30 than for the protected cohort.

Over the five years of the forecast to 2029/30, the changes are not expected to save money. However, in the later years of the forecast and in the longer term, reductions to the LCWRA element are expected to result in savings.