The DWP has confirmed it will proceed with reducing Universal Credit health element for new claimants from April 2026, despite concerns from cross-party MPs
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has stood firm on its decision to implement changes to the Universal Credit health element from April, brushing aside concerns voiced by a cross-party group of MPs. The Work and Pensions committee put forward six recommendations in its third report on the Get Britain Working: Pathways to Work green paper.
Among these were calls for further increases to the Universal Credit standard allowance throughout this Parliament’s term and a delay in reducing the Universal Credit health element until “an independent and comprehensive assessment of the impact the change could have on disabled people” is carried out.
However, in a written retort to the report, the DWP said: “The new, lower UC (Universal Credit) health element will take effect on 6 April 2026. We will keep standard allowance rates under review.”
The department went on to say: “The Universal Credit Act, which received Royal Assent on 3 September 2025, legislated for the first ever sustained, above-inflation increase to the standard allowance, benefitting millions of people. This change, along with a reduction in the UC health element for new claimants, addresses perverse incentives in the UC system and better encourages those who can work to enter or return to employment. An updated Impact Assessment for the Bill was published in July 2025.”
The DWP had previously announced that nearly four million households would see an annual income boost estimated to be worth £725 under the new Bill, reports the Daily Record.
The Universal Credit Act is set to introduce reforms that aim to adjust the main payment and health supplement in Universal Credit. The legislation will result in a permanent above-inflation increase of the Universal Credit standard allowance, reaching £725 by 2029/30 for single people aged 25 or over.
Work and Pensions Committee Chair Debbie Abrahams commented on the UK Government’s responses to the recommendations, stating: “We recognise the compromises the Government made during the passage of the Universal Credit-PIP Bill, now the Universal Credit Act.”
She said: “However, the Committee report raised outstanding concerns that from April 2026, people with a new disability or health condition will receive half the financial support on UC Health, £54 per week, compared with someone with the same impairment or condition in March 2026, who will receive £105 per week.”
Abrahams added: “This is not only discriminatory, but without mitigations, will potentially push more people with disabilities and health conditions into poverty, exacerbating their condition and pushing them further away from the labour market.”
The MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth also said: “Addressing this properly could be a fiscal bonus to the Government too. A recent analysis estimated that up to £12.5 billion could be saved in DWP spending from reduced Universal Credit health claims and boosted tax receipts before the end of the decade if the DWP focused on better, more personalised, employment and health support.”
You can find the full list of recommendations from the Work and Pensions Committee, along with the UK Government’s response, on the GOV.UK website.
Details about the Universal Credit Act
The DWP said rebalancing of Universal Credit health and standard elements to address the fundamental imbalance in the system which creates perverse incentives that drive people into dependency through:
- Increasing the Universal Credit standard allowance above inflation for the next four years – worth an estimated £725 by 2029/30 for a single adult aged 25 or over.
- Reducing the health top-up for new claims to £50 per week from April 2026.
- Ensuring all existing recipients of the Universal Credit health element – and any new claimant meeting the Severe Conditions Criteria and/or that has their claims considered under the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL) – will receive the higher Universal Credit health payment after April 2026.
- Exemptions from reassessment for those with the most severe, lifelong conditions.
The DWP said the reforms will address the ‘fundamental imbalance in the system which creates perverse incentives that drive people into dependency’.
