Severe Conditions Criteria: Who Keeps the Full UC Rate

The Universal Credit health element, paid to people with limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA), was a single rate of £423.27 a month in 2025/26. Under the Universal Credit Act 2025, it is paid at two rates from 6 April 2026:

• Higher rate: £429.80 a month in 2026/27, for a pre-2026 claimant, a severe conditions criteria claimant or a claimant who is terminally ill.
• Lower rate: £217.26 a month, for a claimant with LCWRA other than those three groups.

Section 3 of the Act is headed "Freeze of LCWRA and LCW elements for tax years 2026-27 to 2029-30", and says the annual up-rating rules in section 150 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 do not apply to the LCWRA element in the tax years ending 5 April 2026, 5 April 2027, 5 April 2028 and 5 April 2029. See our Universal Credit changes in 2026 guide for the wider changes this year.

These are the ways to get the higher rate, as GOV.UK and the Act describe them:

• ✓Yes: You were already getting LCWRA before 6 April 2026.
• ✓Yes: You told DWP about your health condition or disability before 6 April 2026, regardless of the date of the LCWRA decision.
• ✓Yes: You had the support group component of income-related Employment and Support Allowance before 6 April 2026 and continue to get it until you claim Universal Credit.
• ✓Yes: You are nearing your end of life, which applies no matter when you claim.
• ✓Yes: You have a severe, lifelong health condition or disability, which applies no matter when you claim.
• ✓Yes: You are a new claimant who meets the Severe Conditions Criteria in regulation 40A (below).

GOV.UK says you get the lower amount only if all of these apply:

• You declare a health condition or disability on or after 6 April 2026.
• You do not have a severe, lifelong health condition.
• You are not nearing the end of your life.
• Your partner, if you have one, is not entitled to the higher LCWRA amount.

If you live with your partner and you both have LCWRA, you only get one LCWRA amount, and if one of you is entitled to the higher amount you get the higher amount.

Regulation 40A of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 was inserted by the Universal Credit Act 2025 with effect for assessment periods starting on or after 6 April 2026. It sets these conditions, which this guide numbers one to four:

• 1. You have limited capability for work and work-related activity on the basis of an assessment under Part 5 of the Regulations (regulation 40(2)), which is the test that at least one Schedule 7 descriptor applies.
• 2. At least one of the Schedule 7 descriptors constantly applies to you and will do so for the rest of your life.
• 3. Your incapability to perform the activity arises from a specific bodily disease or disablement, or from a specific mental illness or disablement, depending on the descriptor, that you will have for the rest of your life.
• 4. That condition has been diagnosed by an appropriately qualified health care professional in the course of the provision of NHS services.

The regulation defines NHS services as health care services provided for the purposes of the health service continued under the National Health Service Acts for England, Wales and Scotland, and health and social care within the meaning of the Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009.

GOV.UK says a health professional will review your medical evidence as part of a Work Capability Assessment, and that if it finds you have a severe, lifelong health condition or disability you will get a letter after the assessment that tells you this. If you are assessed as having a severe, lifelong health condition or disability, you will not usually need another assessment.

What the regulations say:

• A descriptor constantly applies to you if it applies at all times or, as the case may be, on all occasions on which you undertake or attempt to undertake the activity described by that descriptor.
• For the LCWRA assessment itself, a descriptor applies if it applies for the majority of the time or, as the case may be, on the majority of the occasions on which you undertake or attempt to undertake the activity.
• GOV.UK describes a severe, lifelong health condition or disability as one that means you cannot work, will last your whole life, will not get better and is officially diagnosed by a health professional.

What to check and do:

• Regulation 40A needs at least one Schedule 7 descriptor to constantly apply to you, so check which Schedule 7 descriptors apply to you.
• Regulation 40 separately treats you as having LCWRA if a Schedule 9 circumstance applies, including a specific illness, disease or disablement where there would be a substantial risk to health if you were found not to have LCWRA.
• The regulation requires a diagnosis by an appropriately qualified health care professional in the course of the provision of NHS services, so keep the evidence of who diagnosed your condition and when.
• Say how often each descriptor applies, because the test is whether it applies at all times or on all occasions.
• If you disagree with a decision about your Universal Credit, GOV.UK says you can ask for mandatory reconsideration, usually within one month of the date on your decision letter.
• You can appeal to the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal if you think the decision in the mandatory reconsideration notice is wrong, and you usually need to appeal within one month of the date of that notice.

The underlying assessment is the Work Capability Assessment, see our Universal Credit Work Capability Assessment guide and LCWRA guide.