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Universal Credit Act 2025 - Latest Updates

Community_Scope

The Universal Credit Act 2025 aims to rebalance Universal Credit (UC) by encouraging employment for those who can work and targeting support for individuals with severe health conditions. It takes effect from 6 April 2026.

Standard Allowance Increases
From April 2026, the UC standard allowance rates will rise above inflation annually until 2029/30:

£338.58 for single individuals under 25
£424.90 for single individuals 25+
£528.34 for couples under 25
£666.97 for couples 25+

Reduction of LCWRA for New Claimants
From 6 April 2026, new claimants with a health condition or disability classified as Limited Capability for Work and Work-related Activity (LCWRA) will receive £217.26 per month, frozen until 2029/30.

Protection for Existing Claimants
Claimants with a health condition or disability identified on or before 5 April 2026 will receive the higher LCWRA rate of £429.80, even if their entitlement decision is made after 6 April 2026. Their combined UC standard allowance and LCWRA will rise with inflation annually until 2029/30.

Claimants Moving from Legacy Benefits
Those transitioning from legacy benefits to UC on or after 6 April 2026 will receive the higher LCWRA rate of £429.80. Transitional Protection ensures that the Transition Element is not reduced by the higher LCWRA rate.

Protection for the Most Severely Ill
Claimants with severe, lifelong conditions meeting the Severe Conditions Criteria, or those with less than 12 months to live under Special Rules for End of Life, will receive the higher LCWRA rate. These claimants will not face reassessment, and their combined UC standard allowance and LCWRA will rise with inflation annually until 2029/30.

Severe Conditions Criteria
A DWP healthcare professional must assess claimants to confirm their condition will always meet LCWRA criteria, last for life, have no recovery prospect, and have a formal diagnosis.

Special Rules for End of Life
Claims under Special Rules for End of Life are fast-tracked without medical assessment, awarding the highest LCWRA rate based on healthcare professional confirmation.

For more details, please visit GOV.UK

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Comments

NeuroEve

I can find anything about the severe disability criteria. The only information on the Gov website said it was withdrawn in May 2025.

Rosie_Scope

Hi @NeuroEve, the information used to write this post came from a DWP press release shared with Scope. As far as I can see, the bit about the severe conditions criteria has come straight from the Universal Credit Act legislation itself, but just written with slightly easier wording.

They may not have put any further information up onto the gov website yet, as the act is only due to start taking effect in April. Hopefully there will be something more to read about it soon.

NeuroEve

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1101147#Comment_1101147

hi thanks, so is the severe conditions criteria still the same if someone was being assessed in say May 2026. It’s very confusing. I have 2 adult children who are autistic as well as other conditions. So if they were both to be reassessed on UC I’m not sure they would stay in LCWRA group going by the criteria stated in the above link.

Rosie_Scope

Sorry, I'm not too sure @NeuroEve, I haven't seen much guidance on this yet I'm afraid. I'm hoping we'll see some more clarification closer to the time and we'll try to keep everyone updated as soon as we find out more about how it'll all work.

lesleyDan

So it says that UC combined standard allowance and LCWRA will rise annually with inflation but people who were migrated from a legacy benefit to uc receiving TP won't actually benefit from any increases as they did with their legacy benefit because any increase will be deducted pound for pound from the TP part of their UC which will leave people who have no other way of adding to their income and are totally reliant on cost of living benefit increases to cover cost of living increases in rent, utilities, food etc, plus the increase in council tax charges because councils have been given free reign to interpret the TP amount as ' extra income' will be significantly worse off until their TP has has eroded to zero, effectively 'freezing' the amount of benefit received at the rate you were getting at the point of migration. So for the next few years how are people in this position meant to cover higher rent payments, bills, basically everything and the big increase in their council tax charges 🤷

Marie12

hi Rosie

As well as having CP (reason I’m here) I work in benefits. Great finally having some good news isn’t it! that as long as you start the assessment by 5 April it will be the higher, rather than needing to have it paid already by April. And that contributions based/New Style ESA also protected

(Schedule 5A of the regulations)

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/113/made

Ironside1990

If you're already on the system and claiming LCWRA, does this mean you're safe and will get the higher rate?

It's shocking what the government are doing. Creating a two tier benefit will put new claimants in severe hardship and cause resentment for those who are already on the system.

Kimi87

There has been a two tier system since April 2017. Anyone awarded LCW before that date gets extra money. Anyone awarded LCW afterwards doesn't.

Labour carrying on Tory attitudes 👎🏻

Naden

My concern is that universal credit will be stopped for some reason, and will force disabled people to have to reapply from scratch. In this way, will they lose their current LCWRA , and therefore only get the halved new rate? Plus, they will lose their TP from legacy benefits? This could result in a loss of £600 a month for many disabled people, who are unable to work and make up the difference.

michael57

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1101263#Comment_1101263

Well it simply means until the people who were on uc only and not so much as people like yourself before migration to uc your tp goes down as much as there's goes up until its gone seems fair

michael57

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1101383#Comment_1101383

My point is when you were better off by a few hundred pounds a month as opposed to someone in similar situation but on uc only you were happy until you use up your tp you will still be better off the same will happen in the future with the new lcwra rules

michael57

for the record i am not on and have never been on esa i believe when people were transferred from legacy benefits with transitional protection it would erode as uc caught up as stated on the gov website it is there in black and white for all to see a quick search also says that a high percentage did not understand or read it

Kimi87

The current UC rate for an existing claimant, single, LCWRA and over 25 is £823.41.

Those migrating from ESA with SDP are typically getting approximately £1060.

So yes the former will get the small % increase into their bank account, and the latter will remain on the amount they are getting now.

I myself was awarded PIP in 2024 - with the legacy system I would have qualified for SDP, but having been on UC for a year I got nothing. I've had to accept this is how the system works now.

I appreciate why there are grievances with how Transitional Protection works, but those people are still getting over and above the standard UC rates.

The Council Tax Reduction issue with councils taking UC TP into account as excess income is being challenged in the courts currently.

Community_Scope

Note from online community team:

Hello everyone,

We want this discussion to continue, but we’re concerned that things are becoming quite tense and could easily escalate.

Please remember that all discussions on Scope’s online community should remain civil, supportive, and safe.

We will continue to closely monitor this discussion, but if it escalates further, we may choose to pause, close, or even hide the discussion.

For more information, please read our online community house rules.

Rachel_Scope

Here is some information on Transitional Protection erosion https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/transitional-protection-universal-credit

Here is some general information https://www.turn2us.org.uk/get-support/information-for-your-situation/universal-credit-uc-transitional-protection/how-much-universal-credit-uc-transitional-protection-will-i-get

I am not a trained benefits adviser so can't comment on individual circumstances. I ask that we are respectful to each other who have different experiences.

angel335

Hi everyone.
I’ve not been participating in online discussions much for quite some time. My health has not allowed for that.

Just to say that I understand why this sort of discussion can get very difficult and emotional for people because it is to do with our everyday lives and the supporting income we need to support our lives as sick and disabled people.
Firstly, I agree that what is happening regarding the changes in benefits re:ESA and UC, is divisive. No one should be getting less income than another person, when they are in the same position as someone who applied a year or two before them. It is unfair to those who become too sick and disabled now and in the future that they will only get half of the ESA amount that someone on legacy benefits will get.
Nor is it okay that someone on legacy benefits, migrated onto UC, will slowly have their income reduced, year on year.
I am in this position.
The SARS-Cov 2 virus has worsened my conditions considerably and as a result, I have needed care on and off since 2020. I have had continuous care for 2 years now.
The income I receive via transitional protection is not “extra income.” It is income that I need in order to have the support necessary for my daily life. I have also had to go private in order to get treatment for some of my conditions and pay out of my income for that. There is nothing available on our very beleaguered NHS.
Without this, I will be unable to get the care I need. The payments I receive did not get anywhere close to what I had to pay out for many months when I first became too ill to take care of myself. It was fortuitous that I had some savings because I needed them. I would’ve gone under had this not been the case.

The Tories underfunded public services and the NHS for 14 years and that is why some of this is happening now. Labour are continuing some of what they started.
(the Tories have said they want to save £20-£40 billion on welfare benefits in future). :(

We cannot afford to be at war with one another because successive governments have proved that they are at war with us.
The changes they are making are punitive. if you are unable to work, they will make it harder for you to support yourself.
The point of these changes is to save money. Period.
UC was not designed with sick and disabled people in mind. And soon they will make changes to PIP. I have no confidence whatsoever that Labour aren’t going to push ahead with quite a few changes regarding PIP and the WCA, making it more difficult to access.
We will all be impacted by this.
(Reform and Tories will be even worse).

We can all be affected by the rhetoric used, particularly by governments, regarding benefits and the sick and disabled. The main stream media are also sometimes hostile. This is intentional. Instead of having fair taxation, for example, they blame us, refugees, immigrants, all the most vulnerable groups, for all the ills of society.
Don’t be taken in by this.

We all deserve support, whatever our circumstances may be.

I’m exhausted now.
Take care everyone.

Peace out.

WhatThe

Welcome willow 😊

THIS IS NO ORDINARY FORUM - THIS IS THE SCOPE FORUM!

The best approach is to attack the message, not the person.

angel335

Chris75_

”… it will make you unwell”.

Actually, going through the application system itself can make you a lot more unwell than you were before you started to do so. if the process wasn’t too bad for you and you are in a fairly good position, that’s good and I’m happy for you.

It took me over 15 years to get anywhere close to getting the income/ the benefits that I qualify for. And now, slowly but surely, they will be taking that away over a period of time. (And it could be much sooner -if you have a change of circumstances, you could lose all of your transitional protection immediately).

What this means is, the amount of income that I will lose will be almost equivalent to the PIP that I get. In other words, IT’S LIKE LOSING THAT BENEFIT.
Of course, I don’t worry about this on a daily basis.
But, knowledge is power and people should know what is happening and what the consequences are, rather than “Well, we never got that in the first place, so you losing that isn’t a big deal.”
It’s the difference between being able to afford some care, or not being able to afford any at all.
Social Care will not be able to pick up the slack because that’s in crisis as well.

Some of us cannot afford to just put our heads in the sand and ignore it.

Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Have a good day, everyone. 🙏🏻

angel335

Yes, that is the purpose of a forum - to say nothing! 😁

I will leave you with a quote:

“The most revolutionary thing one can do is always proclaim loudly what is happening”.
Rosa Luxemburg

angel335

Good day to all,
May I add, if someone feels distressed or uncomfortable about the lived experience of a sick and disabled person posted here, I would request that they leave the discussion or mute it, rather than try to shut it down or attempt to shame people for sharing information, including personal information. It would be better to show some patience and cut some slack to people who are new to this forum. This should be a safe space for sick and disabled people to communicate and share information.
I do not want or need your sympathy -that is not the reason I posted. Millions of people will eventually be affected by the reduction in their income. That is the important message.

Thank you to the Scope team for your support.

I will not be silenced.

Take care everyone.
Solidarity.