Universal Credit Amounts 2026/27: How Much Will I Get?

Universal Credit is paid monthly. GOV.UK says how much you get depends on:

• Your standard allowance
• Any extra amounts that apply to you
• Any money taken off your payment
• If you are working, how much you earn

The amount of Universal Credit you get is calculated each month. This is called your monthly assessment period.

GOV.UK says your Universal Credit amount will be affected if you:

• Do not get paid during a monthly assessment period
• Get paid more than once in a monthly assessment period
• Earn a different amount in each monthly assessment period

GOV.UK says your payments might be reduced if any of these apply:

• You are paying back an advance on a Universal Credit payment
• You would get above the amount limited by the benefit cap
• You have been overpaid benefits in the past
• You owe money for Council Tax, court fines, electricity, gas, water or Child Maintenance
• You pay your gas or electricity bill directly from your Universal Credit payment
• You have a paid job
• You have other income, for example money from pensions or certain other benefits
• You have more than £6,000 in money, savings and investments

Try our free Universal Credit calculator to estimate your own figure, or browse all benefits guides.

You get one standard allowance for your household. The amount depends on whether you are single or in a couple, and your age.

You may get more money on top of your standard allowance if you are eligible. GOV.UK says you will need to report changes when you become eligible for an extra amount, because they are not added automatically.

You get £303.94 a month for each child that lives with you. If your first child was born before 6 April 2017, you get an extra £47.94 a month for that child. You get money for each child until the 31 August after their 16th birthday, or their 19th birthday if they are in eligible education or training.

The two-child limit was abolished on 6 April 2026, you can now claim a child element for every child you are responsible for, including third and subsequent children.

GOV.UK says the higher disabled child amount is for a child who gets the highest rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance for children, gets the higher rate of the daily living part of Personal Independence Payment, or is blind or severely sight impaired. The lower amount is for a child who gets any other rate of either Disability Living Allowance for children or Personal Independence Payment.

You can claim back up to 85% of your childcare costs if you are working. If you live with your partner both of you need to be working, unless one of you is unable to work due to a disability or health condition. The childcare needs to be from a registered provider.

You need to pay your childcare costs up front and claim the money back as part of your payment.

You might get an extra monthly amount if you cannot work because of a health condition, disability or long-term illness. A health professional will review your medical evidence as part of a Work Capability Assessment, and you will not need one if you are nearing the end of your life.

GOV.UK says you are treated as having a severe, lifelong health condition or disability if all of these apply. Your health condition or disability:

• ✓Yes: Means you cannot work
• ✓Yes: Will last your whole life
• ✓Yes: Will not get better
• ✓Yes: Is officially diagnosed by a health professional

You could get an extra amount known as a carer element if you care for someone who gets one of these benefits, and you provide care for them for at least 35 hours a week:

• ✓Yes: Adult Disability Payment, standard or enhanced award
• ✓Yes: Armed Forces Independence Payment
• ✓Yes: Attendance Allowance
• ✓Yes: Child Disability Payment, middle or highest care award
• ✓Yes: Constant Attendance Allowance, at the full day rate, intermediate rate or exceptional rate with Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, or at the full day rate with a War Disablement Pension
• ✓Yes: Disability Living Allowance, middle or highest care rate
• ✓Yes: Personal Independence Payment, either rate of the daily living part

The carer element is £209.34 a month. If you live with your partner and you both care for the same person, you only get one extra monthly amount. See our Carer's Allowance guide for the separate benefit.

• ✗No: If you are getting an extra amount because you have LCWRA, you cannot also get the carer element

• The carer element is not automatically applied if you start getting Carer's Allowance, so you need to tell DWP
• If the person you care for gets the severe disability premium, it will stop when you claim the carer element

Caring for a severely disabled person for at least 35 hours a week can take you out of the work search and work availability requirements.

If you are eligible for Universal Credit you can get help towards your rent and some service charges. GOV.UK says Universal Credit is replacing Housing Benefit and income-related Employment and Support Allowance. If you are a homeowner, you might be able to get a loan to help with interest payments on your mortgage.

• How much you get for housing depends on your household size, your age and where you live
• If you are under 35 and do not live with a partner or children, you can usually only claim for a single room in a shared house. This is the Local Housing Allowance shared accommodation rate
• You can get more than the shared accommodation rate if, for example, you are a care leaver under 25, get the daily living component of PIP, get Attendance Allowance or Armed Forces Independence Payment, or are a victim of domestic abuse or modern slavery
• If you are 35 or older and live alone, you can claim for a one-bedroom property
• If you rent from a local authority or housing association and have more rooms than your household needs, the amount is reduced by 14% for 1 spare bedroom and 25% for 2 or more. This is the removal of the spare room subsidy
• If you rent your home and live with someone aged 21 or over who is not your partner, the money you get for housing is reduced by £96.55

GOV.UK says you cannot get Universal Credit to help with housing costs, and should apply for Housing Benefit instead, if:

• ✗No: You live in supported or sheltered housing, such as a hostel, which provides you with care, support or supervision
• ✗No: You live in temporary accommodation arranged by your council because you are homeless
• ✗No: You live in a refuge for survivors of domestic abuse

You can earn a certain amount before your Universal Credit starts to be reduced if you or your partner are responsible for a child or young person, or living with a disability or health condition that affects your ability to work. This amount is called a work allowance.

The regulations say there is no work allowance where a single claimant does not have, or neither of joint claimants has, responsibility for a child or qualifying young person or limited capability for work. In that case 55% of your earned income is deducted.

Most employers will report your wages for you. You will normally only need to report monthly earnings if you are self-employed.

For every £1 you earn from working, your Universal Credit payment goes down by 55p. Your income will be your wages plus your new Universal Credit payment. If your wages go up, your payment will reduce, and if you stop working or your wages go down, your payment will increase.

Both examples are illustrations that ignore any other income, capital and deductions.

GOV.UK says that as you or your partner's wages increase, your payments will reduce until you are earning enough to no longer get Universal Credit, and your payments will then be stopped. If it has been 6 months or less since your last Universal Credit payment, you will automatically start getting payments again if your wages decrease. If it has been more than 6 months, you will need to reapply.

The benefit cap is a limit on the total amount of benefit you can get. It applies to most people aged 16 or over who have not reached State Pension age. The amount depends on whether you live inside or outside Greater London, whether you are single or in a couple, and whether your children live with you if you are single.

If you are in a couple but you do not live together, you get the amounts for a single person.

You are not affected by the benefit cap if:

• ✓Yes: You or your partner get Universal Credit because of a disability or health condition that stops you from working, which is limited capability for work and work-related activity
• ✓Yes: You or your partner get Universal Credit because you care for someone with a disability
• ✓Yes: You or your partner get Universal Credit and you and your partner earn £881 or more a month combined, after tax and National Insurance contributions
• ✓Yes: You, your partner or any children under 18 living with you get Adult Disability Payment, Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, Armed Forces Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Carer Support Payment, Child Disability Payment, Disability Living Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance (if you get the support component), Guardian's Allowance, Industrial Injuries Benefits (and equivalent payments as part of a War Disablement Pension or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme), Pension Age Disability Payment, Personal Independence Payment, Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance, war pensions, or a War Widow's or War Widower's Pension
• ✓Yes: You are over State Pension age. If you are part of a couple and one of you is under State Pension age, the cap may apply

The cap might not affect your payments for up to 9 months, which is called the grace period. You get it if you are claiming Universal Credit because you stopped working or your earnings went down, you are now earning less than £881 a month, and in each of the 12 months before that you earned the same as or more than the earnings threshold. That threshold was £846 up to 31 March 2026 and is £881 from 1 April 2026. Report your last 12 months' earnings when you apply so the grace period can be worked out.