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Register nowYou may be thinking about claiming Universal Credit for the first time. Or perhaps you’re already getting it and wondering how a change in your life might affect what you can claim. Whatever your situation, it’s good to understand how Universal Credit works so that you can use it to help your family where you can. If you’re out of work, or working but earning under a certain amount, Universal Credit can help boost your income and cover things like childcare and housing costs.
The basics of Universal Credit
Other help through Universal credit
Adjusting how you’re paid if you’re struggling financially
This page contains general guidance on Universal Credit. For more tailored advice, please call our free helpline and we’ll be happy to talk you through your options.
You can claim for Universal Credit if you:
Unlike older benefits, it combines lots of payments into one and goes straight into your bank account each month. If you don’t have a bank account, here’s some advice for opening one from MoneyHelper.
To make a claim and manage your Universal Credit, you have to set up an online account. You’ll also use this to communicate with your work coach, even though you’ll have face-to-face meetings with them too.
If it’s hard for you to get online, you can call the free Universal Credit helpline on 0800 328 5644. They may be able to do the online form for you or arrange for you to get help at your local jobcentre. Citizens Advice can also help you claim Universal Credit.
You may have to wait for around 5 weeks before you get your first Universal Credit payment. If you think you’ll struggle to pay your bills during this wait, you can apply for an advance to get paid sooner. This is a loan that you’ll have to pay back.
You can get up to 85% of your childcare costs covered through Universal Credit. You usually need to pay for childcare first and then claim it back. But you can claim funds upfront if it will help you to either start a new job or increase your hours.
If you qualify, your monthly payment will also include money to help with rent. You use this to pay the rent yourself (unlike Housing Benefit, which goes straight to your landlord).
Are you on any of these types of support?
If you are, you’ll be moved over to Universal Credit in the next few years. It’s replacing these older benefits.
The amount of money you get through Universal Credit might be more or less than what you were already receiving. The reason you move over – whether the government moves you or you make a new claim because of new circumstances – can affect how much you get.
If the government moves you onto Universal Credit, the income you get from benefits and tax credits will usually be protected (called transitional protection). This means your Universal Credit amount won’t be less than what you were already getting. The rules around transitional protection are complicated and will depend on your circumstances, so call our helpline if you need advice.
If you’ve been asked to stop claiming an older benefit before you need to and to claim Universal Credit instead, please call our helpline for advice first. We can help to check whether you’d be better or worse off with Universal Credit.
If something changes in your life that means you can no longer get one of your benefits or have to make a new claim, you may have to claim Universal Credit. The amount you get will be based on your new circumstances.
Examples of changes that will mean you need to claim Universal Credit:
If any of your circumstances change, get advice to make sure you’re not missing out on support.
This will depend on your personal circumstances. You’ll get a standard allowance, plus a number of payments for things like housing and childcare.
In 2024/25, the standard allowance is:
On top of this, you may qualify for extra money (called elements) if you:
The child element – extra money for children – generally only applies to your first 2 children. This is known as the 2-child limit.
If you have more than 2 children, you’ll only get support for them if they were born before 6 April 2017. But there are some exceptions. You may get support for 3 or more children if you:
You can see more about on how to apply for different exceptions on gov.uk – and also find out how Universal Credit payments are worked out. You can also use our benefits calculator to estimate your Universal Credit payment. And for more tailored advice, call our helpline.
If you can’t wait 5 weeks for your first payment to come through, you can ask for an advance by:
You’ll have 2 years to pay the money back. Repayments will automatically be taken out of your Universal Credit payments each month. This means your monthly payments will be lower until the advance is repaid. If the repayments are causing you problems, tell your work coach. You can also ask to pay it back more quickly if you want to.
If you’ve been on Universal Credit for at least 6 months, you may be able to apply for a Budgeting Advance. You can do this through your Universal Credit account or your local jobcentre, if you’re eligible. If you need the advance to help you start a new job or stay in work, then you don’t need to have been claiming for 6 months.
Single parents can borrow up to £812 to use for emergency household costs, like a new fridge or cooker. You’ll have to pay this back over a year from your Universal Credit payments each month.
Find out more about Budgeting Advances on gov.uk.
To get Universal Credit, you have to agree to something called a claimant commitment. This is a record of what you agree to do, such as how you’ll look for work or increase your earnings. If you don’t do the things you agree to in your claimant commitment, your payments might be reduced or even stopped.
When you make a new claim, you’ll be asked to come to the jobcentre to agree your commitment. This will be regularly reviewed and will change if your circumstances change.
As part of your claimant commitment, you’ll have to agree how many hours a week you’ll spend working or looking for work.
If you’re not working and your youngest child is 3 or older, you have to spend these amounts of time working or looking for work:
If your youngest child is under 3, you don’t have to look for work. But you might have to go to jobcentre appointments or do training to get ready for work.
If you’re working, you have to be earning the same or more than someone earning minimum wage working the hours that apply to you. For example, if you’re expected to work 16 hours but you can make the same amount as 16 hours on minimum wage in 10 hours a week because your salary is higher, that’s fine.
There are different rules if you:
The rules around this are complicated. You can find out more on our page on work-related expectations, through Turn2us and by calling our helpline.
It’s important that whatever you agree to can fit around the time you need to look after your children. Remember to tell your work coach about:
Particularly if your children are under 13 or at school, you might need to ask for adjustments to the time you’re expected to work or look for work. More about tailoring your commitment to your childcare responsibilities
If you’re not sure about what you’re committing to, you don’t have to sign the commitment straight away. You should have 7 days to think it over. If you still haven’t signed after a week, it’ll be cancelled unless you’ve asked for more time. You can also ask for it to be changed after you’ve signed it.
Make sure what you’re agreeing to is doable. Your Universal Credits may be cut or even stopped (called being sanctioned) if you don’t do what you’ve said you will. If you have a good reason for not sticking to what you’ve agreed, you shouldn’t be sanctioned.
If you’re working or have been offered paid work, you can get up to 85% of your childcare costs refunded through the childcare element of Universal Credit. Your children must be under 16.
The most you can get to cover childcare costs is:
You usually need to pay for childcare first and then claim it back. But you can claim funds upfront if it will help you to either start a new job or increase your hours.
You should use your online Universal Credit account to log how much money you paid for childcare each month.
If you’re not at work because you’re ill, pregnant or have a new baby, you may still be able to get help with childcare if you’re getting:
If you’re on Universal Credit, you might be able to get extra help with the cost of having children.
If you have children at a state school in reception, year 1 or year 2, they can get free school meals no matter how much you’re earning.
If you’re on Universal Credit and you either applied before 1 April 2018 or you earn less than £7,400 a year (not including benefits), your child can get free school meals. This will be the case until 31 March 2025 in England, even if you start earning more or stop getting Universal Credit. Your child will be eligible until they finish whatever stage of education they’re in (primary or secondary). You can apply for this through your council.
In Wales, the government is rolling out free school meals to all primary school children by 2024. Check with your council and see how to apply.
You might be eligible for help to buy food, baby milk, or vitamins if:
and
If you’re eligible, you’ll be sent a Healthy Start card with money loaded onto it that you can use in some shops. More money will be added every 4 weeks.
To check if you qualify and to make a claim go to the Healthy Start website.
Universal Credit doesn’t help with paying for school uniforms, but some councils do. Check the details of your council’s school uniform scheme and see how to apply for the grant.
If you’re expecting your first child, whether you’re pregnant or adopting, you can get a £500 Sure Start Maternity Grant through Universal Credit.
You can claim for this from 11 weeks before the date your first baby is due until 6 months after they’re born. If you’re adopting, you have to make a claim within 6 months of the adoption. Your child has to be less than a year old when you claim.
You can make a claim online or get a form from your midwife, doctor or health visitor. You’ll have to get a health professional to sign it to confirm that you’ve had advice about your own and your baby’s health.
Part of Universal Credit is a payment called the housing element. If you qualify, this is included in your monthly Universal Credit payment to help with your rent. This comes directly to you, and it’s your responsibility to pay your rent when it’s due.
This payment will depend on whether you’re renting privately or through the council or a housing association, where you live, and how many children you have. See our page on help with rent for more. If you call our helpline, we can help you work out what you could be claiming, including how much your housing element should be.
If you have a mortgage and have been on Universal Credit for at least 3 months, you may be able to get a loan from the government to help pay your mortgage interest. See our page on mortgage help for more.
This video explains how Support for Mortgage Interest works, who can get it and how to apply.
If you earned £935 or less in your last Universal Credit assessment period, as a parent you can usually get help with:
The NHS has more details on help with health costs.
If you have a child younger than 5 or a disabled child, or a health condition or disability that makes it hard for you to work and you claim Universal Credit, you should automatically get a Cold Weather Payment. You could get £25 if the temperature drops to 0°C or below for 7 days or more.
If you’re struggling to pay bills or the rent, or are worried that you’re going to struggle if you claim Universal Credit, you can ask for help to make it easier to manage your money. This is called alternative payment arrangements:
Here are some of the most common situations people find themselves in.
If you’re behind with your rent (called rent arrears), you can ask for your rent to be paid straight to your landlord. This is called a managed payment. It can make it easier to manage your money and know what you can afford to pay for things like bills and food.
You can ask for this through your online journal, in person at the jobcentre, or by calling the Universal Credit helpline on 0800 328 5644.
You might be asked to prove you’re behind with your rent by showing a letter from your landlord, or a rent statement or rent book. If your request isn’t accepted, you might need to give more information. You can also ask for the decision to be reviewed.
You might also be able to get something called a Discretionary Housing Payment from your council. Shelter and the National Debtline have advice about dealing with rent arrears.
You can ask for your Universal Credit to be paid twice a month. Getting smaller payments more often might help you manage your money. To get paid more often, you’ll need to show that you can’t manage a single monthly payment.
You might be able to get alternative payment arrangements if you:
You could also ask for the housing element of Universal Credit to be paid straight to your landlord. This is called a managed payment. It can make it easier to manage your money and know what you can afford to pay for things like bills and food.
You can ask your work coach for budgeting support. They’ll point you to specialist money advice organisations for help over the phone, online or even face-to-face.
Our page on dealing with debt has lots of advice and links to organisations that can help.
If you’re on Universal Credit but find yourself really struggling, you don’t need to deal with it on your own. Organisations like the National Debtline and StepChange can help you with things like budgeting, stretching out your income, prioritising debts and negotiating with creditors.
You might also want to read our cost of living FAQs and our pages on managing financially and dealing with debt.
Date last updated: 30 July 2024
