Overview
- The Department for Work and Pensions confirmed Universal Credit standard allowances will rise by just over 6% from April, for example from £400.14 to £424.90 a month for single adults aged 25 and over.
- From April, the LCWRA health element will be roughly halved for most new claimants to about £217 a month and then frozen to 2029/30, with a protected cohort of existing recipients and those with severe or terminal conditions exempted and uprated.
- Working‑age and disability benefits will increase by 3.8% and the State Pension by 4.8% from early April, with new weekly and monthly rates set out by DWP.
- The two‑child limit will be removed at the start of the 2026/27 financial year and the final legacy benefits, including Income Support and income‑based JSA, will close on 1 April as migration to Universal Credit completes.
- The Centre for Policy Studies estimates a worker on £50,000 will be about £505 worse off in real terms by 2030/31 due to frozen tax thresholds, while pensioners gain at least £306 and standard‑rate Universal Credit recipients about £290 in real terms.