Universal Credit

Universal Credit is a benefit for working age people who are on a low income or out of work. It replaces these benefits and tax credits:

Housing benefit
Income-based jobseekers’ allowance
Income-based employment and support allowance
Income support
Child tax credits
Working tax credits

If you’re getting any of these benefits, you do not need to do anything unless either:

your circumstances change
you get a letter called a ‘Migration Notice’ telling you that you must claim Universal Credit

If you get a Migration Notice, you must move to Universal Credit by the deadline date in your letter to keep getting financial support.

You’ll stop getting these benefits when you or your partner claim Universal Credit. If you or your partner gets Pension Credit, this will also stop if one of you claims Universal Credit.

You’ll continue getting any other benefits you already receive, such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or Carer’s Allowance.

If you get certain other benefits at the same time as Universal Credit, the amount of Universal Credit you receive will be reduced.

If you are not in one of the groups who are able to claim housing benefit you will need to claim for assistance with your rent through Universal Credit.

Eligibility

You may be able to get Universal Credit if you’re on a low income or need help with your living costs. You could be:

out of work
working (including self-employed or part time)
unable to work, for example because of a health condition

To claim you must:

live in the UK
be aged 18 or over (there are some exceptions if you’re 16 to 17)
be under State Pension age
have £16,000 or less in money, savings and investments

You can use a benefits calculator to check what benefits you could get.

How to apply

Universal Credit is claimed and managed online.

Apply for Universal Credit

Sign in

How we can help

Universal Credit is administered by the Department for Work and Pensions. However, we have the following support:

The council tax support page has additional support for help with paying council tax
The discretionary housing payments page offers help for people who are receiving housing benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit but are struggling to pay their rent or need help with moving costs or rent in advance

Support managing your account online

If you are not confident using the internet, Learn My Way provides a number of free courses, tutorials on using a computer, browsing the web, using email and finding work online.

Contact Universal Credit

You can contact Universal Credit:

through your online account
by calling the Universal Credit helpline