The Department for Work and Pensions has not published the breakdown before
The significant increase in Universal Credit (UC) claimants in recent years has been primarily driven by people transitioning from older benefits rather than new claims, according to statistics. The Department for Work and Pensions has, for the first time, released a breakdown of the percentage of claimants who have been moved to UC from so-called “legacy” benefits, such as income support and jobseeker’s allowance.
As of December 2025, the total number of UC claimants in Britain was 8.34 million, an increase of nearly a million from 7.36 million the previous year. Data released on Tuesday reveals that over three-quarters of this rise (775,790) was not due to new claims, but rather people shifting onto UC from other benefits.
The Government has announced that the roll-out of UC across Britain should be finalised this year, with any remaining claimants on legacy benefits expected to transition to UC by March. The process of moving people from older types of benefits to universal credit – known as the “managed migration” of claimants – commenced on a small scale in May 2022, before being accelerated in April 2023.
In the 11 months from May 2022 to April 2023, the total number of UC claimants in Britain increased by 360,000, from 5.54 million to 5.90 million.
However, since April 2023, the total has surged by 2.45 million, with 70% of these being individuals who have been transferred from older benefits.
Out of the 8.34 million individuals receiving universal credit in Britain as of December 2025, 1.70 million were transitioned onto UC in recent years as part of the Government’s managed migration of previous claimants.
The remaining 6.64 million individuals would have initially registered as a new claimant, or voluntarily switched from an older form of benefit, since UC became fully accessible in 2018.
Universal credit is a financial aid designed to assist with living expenses and is available for employed individuals on low incomes, as well as those who are unemployed or unable to work.
A DWP spokesperson said: “People moving from old legacy benefits onto universal credit – almost four in every five – account for the vast majority of the increase over the past year. This is a transition we inherited from the previous government, alongside a system that writes people off.
“We are fixing this. We’ve already legislated to remove incentives that discourage work and have redeployed 1,000 work coaches to support thousands of sick and disabled people who were previously left without contact for years.”
These fresh statistics emerge less than a week after Manchester United co-owner and billionaire entrepreneur Sir Jim Ratcliffe stated in an interview: “You can’t have an economy with nine million people on benefits.”
The most recent data, which includes separate figures for Northern Ireland, indicates that at least 8.6 million people across the UK were likely claiming universal credit towards the close of 2025.
Separate figures published on Tuesday by the Department for Work & Pensions give an updated breakdown of universal credit claimants by immigration status. As of January 2026, 84.5% of claimants are British and Irish nationals or people who live or work in the UK without any immigration restrictions.
This is up from 83.0% a year earlier in January 2025. Some 9.0% of claimants have EU Settlement Scheme settled status, with a right to reside in the UK, down from 10.3%.
A further 2.6% had indefinite leave to remain in the UK, up slightly from 2.5%; 1.6% were refugees, up from 1.3%; and 0.6% had come by safe and legal humanitarian routes, including under the Ukraine and Afghan resettlement schemes, down from 0.9%.
Around 0.9% of those on UC in January 2026 had limited leave to remain in the UK, covering those with temporary immigration status, compared with 1.0% a year earlier.
The remaining 0.8% included those who were either no longer receiving UC payments or had no immigration status recorded on digital systems.
