Overview
- Under current rules, offenders detained under hospital orders can claim about £800–£823 a month in universal credit while prisoners cannot.
- Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has begun a consultation with victims' groups and mental-health experts on removing that entitlement for convicted offenders in hospital settings.
- Officials stress the proposals would not apply to people sectioned without a conviction, and offenders would still receive NHS care and mental-health support.
- Families linked to the Nottingham attacks and other cases welcomed the move, as Keir Starmer cast it as closing an unfair loophole for taxpayers and victims.
- The DWP has not published estimates of how many people would be affected or potential savings, and the list of offences to be covered remains under review.