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»QuickCalc
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Universal Credit 2026-27
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Claim
details
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NEW or
EXISTING claim?
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UC
award START date?
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MANAGED MIGRATION claim?
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NOTE: Managed Migration claims are those
where the DWP invites the claimant to move from "Legacy Benefits"
onto UC.
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Legacy Benefits are:
- Income-Related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Income Support (IS)
- Income-Based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Child Tax Credit
- Working Tax Credit
- HB (if paid together with one of the other legacy benefits)
If the total of Legacy Benefits paid is less that the amount of UC that
would be paid, a "Transitional Element" is added to the UC
entitlement to make up the difference.
Using the selector below please choose whether you want to enter a
"Legacy Benefits" figure or use your own calculation of the
Transitional Element.
The resulting Transitional Element (if any) will be shown in the results
section at the bottom of the calc.
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Which
figure do you want to enter?
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Legacy benefits figure
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Own Transitional Element figure
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Region for Benefit Cap
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Basic
household details
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Single or Couple?
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Claimant's
age Enter ages using DOB if unsure about Pension Age
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Claimant's
D.O.B. dd/mm/yyyy
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Partner's age
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Partner's
D.O.B. dd/mm/yyyy
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Too old to claim Universal Credit! To qualify for Universal
Credit the claimant (or their partner) must be under Pension Age.
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Housing type
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NOTE: The Owner Occupier option above is
only for people who own (or are buying) the whole property and have eligible service charges. Support for
Mortgage Interest is no longer included in this calc. For Shared Ownership properties -
where only part of the property is owned and rest is rented from a landlord -
select Social Tenant or Private Tenant above. The rent and any eligible
service charges can be entered together in the Housing Costs section later.
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Any other occupants? incl non-dependents
e.g. working age children, relatives, friends,
carers, subtenants (e.g. lodgers/boarders).
Don't include joint tenants.
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__________
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Children
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Dependant children i.e. children you get
child benefit for up until 31st August following 19th birthday.
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Was the OLDEST child born after 5th April 2017?
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Child 1 age:
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Child 2
age:
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Child 3
age:
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Child 4
age:
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Child 5
age:
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Child 6
age:
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Child 7
age:
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Child 8
age:
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Child 9
age:
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Child
10 age:
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Child
11 age:
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Child
12 age:
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Child
13 age:
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Child
14 age:
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Child
15 age:
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Child
16 age:
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Disability
or Caring
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Disability
or illness?
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Children with disability? i.e. reg blind or
getting DLA or PIP or CDP (Scotland)
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Claimant
or Partner receive one of the following?
• Attendance Allowance
• Disability Living Allowance
• Personal Independence Payments
• Adult Disability Payment (Scotland)
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Claimant or Partner severely sight impaired or blind?
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Has the claimant switched to UC from a "Legacy
Benefit" that included a Severe Disability Premium or a Disabled Child
Premium?
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When did the move to UC happen?
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Claimant
or Partner a full-time carer? Do they receive Carers
Allowance or provide 35+ hours care to severely disabled person?
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Currently no new claims accepted for UC if more than 2 children!
Should claim Tax Credits and Housing Benefit instead.
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Capital
& Savings
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Show Help?
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This includes
cash, bank savings, ISAs etc, shares, tax rebates or redundancy payments,
second house (unless up for sale).
It does not include
money that is unavailable e.g. pension schemes, or surrender value of
insurance, personal injury payments held in trust, personal possessions,
capital belonging to a child.
Any debts are ignored
- so an overdraft or debt does not reduce total savings or capital.
Please enter any stocks or shares separately - they are treated differently to other savings/capital to
allow for the costs of selling them (10%).
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Claimant and partner's savings and capital only
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Value
of any stocks/shares
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Value
of other savings or capital
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NOT ENTITLED TO BENEFIT! CAPITAL ABOVE £16,000
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Income
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Show Help?
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Income Labels:
Please be super-careful about the labels you choose for income types. This
calc uses the labels to work out UC entitlement. Some labels are specific to
Claimant (CLMNT) or Partner (PRTNR) so take care with that.
You should only use the generic label “Other Unearned Income” if you are
sure that there is no specific label that would be more accurate.
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The following benefits are replaced by UC so there is no point entering them:
• JSA(IB) • ESA(IR) •
Housing Benefit • Tax Credits
They are labelled with this symbol [::] at the end as a reminder. If you enter them by mistake they
will be ignored and will not affect the UC calculation.
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Unearned income:
This is any income that is not wages or self-employed income (for example
benefits or income from lodgers). Simply enter the amount and how frequently
it is paid.
M - Monthly income
W - Weekly
income
F - Fortnightly
income
4W - 4-weekly
income
Q - Quarterly
income
A - Annual
income
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Earnings: This includes wages and self-employed income. Enter the
“take-home” figure after Tax and NI have been deducted. Normal rules for
self-employed expenses apply.
If you just want to get a very rough estimate of UC then simply enter the
amount received and how frequently it is paid. For better accuracy though,
you should look at how many paypackets will actually arrive in the month you
want to calculate.
Monthly wages
normally come just once a month so no problem there.
Weekly wages, for
example, can come four or five times within a month - depending on how the
calendar and the pay cycle works out that month.
Fortnighly wages can come 2 or 3 times in some
months
Four-weekly wages
might come 1 or 2 times - again, depending on where the pay days fall in the
calendar.
Once you know how many paypackets will arrive, add them up and enter them
as a single monthly payment.
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Special rules for self-employed income. These help notes are not the
place for long technical discussions so you might need to do some Googling.
Briefly, the first 12 months of self-employment are counted as a “start-up
period” and you should enter the actual net income from self-employment. After
the start-up period the DWP can apply a “minimum income rule” and use that
figure instead. This is based on either 16 or 35 hours at National Minimum
Wage rates unless their actual income is higher.
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Abbreviations:
We have tried to avoid abbreviations in the labels unless they are well known
– e.g. DLA for Disability Living Allowance.
The only ones you might have difficulty with are:
SDA – Severe
Disablement Allowance (pretty old-school)
SSP/SMP/SPP –
Statutory Sick Pay / Statutory Maternity Pay / Statutory Paternity Pay. This
label also includes Statutory Adoption Pay.
Generally speaking, even if you are not familiar with some of the
abbreviations, the person who gets the income will be.
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Enter claimant and partner's incomes below. Please label with
care.
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Freq labels: Expand the help section above
for more info about income modes and the 'Freq' labels
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See the help notes above for info about entering earnings.
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Show benefits
lookup?
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pw
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Income
label
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£££
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Freq
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Ill-health
or Disability
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Show Help?
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These elements are only paid to someone who
is too ill to work for a long time or has a
disability. Universal Credit does not automatically award extra
money to working-age people who get “qualifying benefits” e.g. DLA. Instead
it uses a Work Capability Assessment. This assessment should happen in the first 13 weeks after
the claim for UC or the start of the illness/disability.
The assessment puts people into one of three categories.
• Fit for work or
• Limited capability for work (LCW) - they have
a physical or mental condition that makes it unreasonable to require them to
work or
• Limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) - they have a physical or mental condition that makes it
unreasonable to require them to work or look for ways to get work.
The assessment is done by medics, and it is not always easy to predict the
results. If you don't know the assessment results yet you can only use the
questions below to do "What if" calculations.
There is a 3 month Waiting Period before the elements are included in the UC calculation. This
can be waived if the person is terminally ill – or was recently getting one
of the elements on a different claim for UC or ESA. The 3 month waiting
period can also be waived if the person is waiting for, receiving or
recovering from chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment for cancer.
Severe Disability Premium (SDP) transition - From January 2021, people who moved onto UC from a *legacy benefit that included an award of SDP may get transitional payments
in UC. This is to offset the loss of the SDP and other premiums under UC
rules. Transitional payments continue so long as they carry on meeting the
qualifying conditions for SDP and there are no breaks in their claim. The
Transitional SDP Element 'erodes' over time as amount of UC they receive
naturally increases with uprating etc.
*Legacy Benefits are: Income-based JSA, Income-related ESA, Income Support,
Tax Credits, and Housing Benefit (if paid together with one of the other
Legacy Benefits).
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Claimant's earnings too high for Limited
Capability elements
However, some people can continue to get these elements even with earnings
at this level:
• Receiving DLA or PIP or AA or AFIP (calc automatically picks these up)
• Previously assessed as LCW or LCWRA - perhaps pending reassessment.
• Terminally ill.
• Waiting for, receiving, or recovering from chemotherapy or
radiotherapy.
Note: This is not
a complete list. Other earnings exemptions exist. Please consult your
information sources (e.g. CPAG guide).
If this person meets any of these conditions,
select 'Claimant exempt from earnings test' below.
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Claimant exempt from earnings test for LCW?
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Claimant's 3 month Waiting Period complete or waived?
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Claimant assessed as having LCW?
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Claimant assessed as having LCWRA?
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Claimant awarded LCWRA Element prior to April 6th 2026 (and
still getting it now)?
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Claimant is terminally ill or meets the "Severe conditions
criteria"?
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In the previous "Legacy Benefit" claim did the
claimant get Severe Disability Premium for their own disability /illness?
(see Help)
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On the previous benefit claim, were they getting a Disability
Premium?
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On the previous benefit claim, were they getting an Enhanced
Disability Premium?
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Do they now have a carer who receives Carers Allowance or the
Carer Element of Universal Credit for looking after them?
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Claimant gets Mid/High rate DLA Care?
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Claimant's earnings too high for Limited Capability elements
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Partner's earnings too high for Limited
Capability elements
However, some people can continue to get these elements even with earnings
at this level:
• Receiving DLA or PIP or AA or AFIP (calc automatically picks these up)
• Previously assessed as LCW or LCWRA - perhaps pending reassessment.
• Terminally ill.
• Waiting for, receiving, or recovering from chemotherapy or
radiotherapy.
Note: This is not
a complete list. Other earnings exemptions exist. Please consult your
information sources (e.g. CPAG guide).
If this person meets any of these conditions,
select 'Partner exempt from earnings test' below.
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Partner exempt from earnings test for LCW?
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Partner's 3 month Waiting Period complete or waived?
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Partner assessed as having LCW?
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Partner assessed as having LCWRA?
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Partner awarded LCWRA Element prior to April 6th 2026 (and still
getting it now)?
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Partner is terminally ill or meets the "Severe conditions
criteria"?
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In the previous "Legacy Benefit" claim did the partner
get Severe Disability Premium for their own disability /illness? (see Help)
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On the previous benefit claim, were they getting a Disability
Premium?
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On the previous benefit claim, were they getting an Enhanced
Disability Premium?
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Do they now have a carer who receives Carers Allowance or the
Carer Element of Universal Credit for looking after them?
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Partner gets Mid/High rate DLA Care?
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Partner's earnings too high for Limited Capability elements
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Disability
- children
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Children getting:
• DLA High rate Care Component or
• CDP Highest rate Care Component (Scotland) or
• PIP Enhanced rate Daily Living
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Children certified blind / severely sight impaired
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Children getting DLA or CDP or PIP at any other rate or type
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Some people who migrated to UC can get an additional element for
a child with a disability. This is based on the "Legacy Benefit"
they were getting before the move to UC.
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How many of the children counted above previously got:
• Disabled Child Premium of IS or JSA(IB) or
• Disabled Child Element of Child Tax Credit
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Are
there any dependant children who, due to their disability, need their own
bedroom?
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Transitional
SDP Element - Erosion
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Show Help?
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It looks like this claim qualifies for a Transitional SDP
Element.
• This element does not carry on indefinitely - it is eroded (reduced) by
any increases over time in the underlying UC award. This continues until the
element has been eroded to nothing.
• In cases where the claim details stay the same, the element is eroded by
the amount of annual increases in UC in April. The calc can automatically
calculate this 'uprating erosion' for you. NOTE:
This option is not available if the person migrated in the current benefit
year.
• If the underlying UC award goes up for any other reason e.g. increase in
housing costs, additional children born etc, then you will need to work out
and enter a manual figure. In many cases the figure to use would be:
Amount
of new award
minus
Amount of old award
= Erosion amount
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Apply automatic uprating erosion?
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Additional
/ other erosion figure
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In previous years, was the 2-child limit increased to allow more
children on this claim?
Select higher number in box on right if so.
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Transitional SDP Element reduced by:
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Childcare
costs
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Any
children under age 16* in
paid childcare?
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Average
childcare costs
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Childcare
calculation date
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*For
these purposes a child counts as "under age 16" until 1st September
after their 16th birthday
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Other
occupants
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Show Help?
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Do include:
working-age children, other relatives, friends,
subtenants (lodgers/boarders), and anyone else who normally lives in the
claimant's household.
Don't include:
- a partner or any dependant children or foster children.
- joint tenants.
- temporary visitors who normally live elsewhere.
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There are some additional questions below that only apply in
special cases. If you use any of these special case questions then don't
include the people they apply to in the main "Other Occupants"
section or they will be counted twice.
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Show special case
questions?
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To calculate bedrooms for LHA or 'Bedroom Tax' in special cases
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Not counting a partner, are any occupants in hospital or prison
for up to 6 months?
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Are any of claimant/partner's children in the armed forces and
away from home "deployed on operations"?
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Is the claimant or partner an approved foster carer (kinship
carer in Scotland) - even if no foster children currently?
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Does the claimant or partner need a non-resident carer who stays
overnight?
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How many other occupants are there? Please
read the Help notes above if you are not sure who to include.
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Occupant
1
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Are any of the following points true?
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» They are a boarder or lodger
» They are aged under 21
» They are responsible for a child under 5
» They get any of the following benefits
• Attendance Allowance
• DLA Care Mid/High
• PIP Daily Living
• ADP Daily Living (Scotland)
• Armed Forces Indep. Pay
• Carer's Allowance
• Pension Credit
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Occupant
2
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Are any of the following points true?
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» They are a boarder or lodger
» They are aged under 21
» They are responsible for a child under 5
» They get any of the following benefits
• Attendance Allowance
• DLA Care Mid/High
• PIP Daily Living
• ADP Daily Living (Scotland)
• Armed Forces Indep. Pay
• Carer's Allowance
• Pension Credit
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Occupant
3
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Are any of the following points true?
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» They are a boarder or lodger
» They are aged under 21
» They are responsible for a child under 5
» They get any of the following benefits
• Attendance Allowance
• DLA Care Mid/High
• PIP Daily Living
• ADP Daily Living (Scotland)
• Armed Forces Indep. Pay
• Carer's Allowance
• Pension Credit
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Occupant
4
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Are any of the following points true?
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» They are a boarder or lodger
» They are aged under 21
» They are responsible for a child under 5
» They get any of the following benefits
• Attendance Allowance
• DLA Care Mid/High
• PIP Daily Living
• ADP Daily Living (Scotland)
• Armed Forces Indep. Pay
• Carer's Allowance
• Pension Credit
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Occupant
5
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Are any of the following points true?
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» They are a boarder or lodger
» They are aged under 21
» They are responsible for a child under 5
» They get any of the following benefits
• Attendance Allowance
• DLA Care Mid/High
• PIP Daily Living
• ADP Daily Living (Scotland)
• Armed Forces Indep. Pay
• Carer's Allowance
• Pension Credit
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Occupant
6
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Are any of the following points true?
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» They are a boarder or lodger
» They are aged under 21
» They are responsible for a child under 5
» They get any of the following benefits
• Attendance Allowance
• DLA Care Mid/High
• PIP Daily Living
• ADP Daily Living (Scotland)
• Armed Forces Indep. Pay
• Carer's Allowance
• Pension Credit
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Other
occupant couples
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If any
of the "Other Occupants" listed above are living together as a
couple, please say how many couples there are.
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Housing
Costs
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Show Help?
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For Social Tenants the Eligible Rent for UC
is normally the actual rent unless the property is bigger than the household
needs - based on the number of bedrooms it has.
If there is one extra bedroom the rent figure is reduced by 14%.
If there are 2 or more extra bedrooms the rent figure is reduced by 25%.
This is commonly known as the “Bedroom Tax”. The DWP calls it the “Removal
of the Spare Bedroom Subsidy”.
This calculator automatically works out the required bedroom count and
adjusts the rent figure - so please just enter the full rent.
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The Eligible Rent for UC is determined
using the Local Housing Allowance (LHA).
Each council publishes rates for LHA for different sizes of accommodation
based on the number of bedrooms needed.
This calculator tells you how many bedrooms to look up in the LHA rates.
For single claimants aged under 35 with no children and no disabilities you
should use the "Shared accommodation
rate". This gets flagged up by the calc.
The rent you pay should be "on a commercial basis" (e.g. legally
enforcable and covered by an agreement). Generally, the same rules as for
Housing Benefit apply to what is/n't commercial.
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Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) has
been removed from the calc because it is not
actually part of the UC award - it is paid separately to those who qualify
for UC and meet the other conditions.
It has been replaced in the calc by "Homeowner Service Charges"
(HSC). This is for people (normally leaseholders) who have to pay charges for
things like communal garden maintenance, communal cleaning, lighting or other
communal facilities as part of their lease agreement.
PLEASE NOTE: HSC is
only for people who fully "own" their home. It does not cover
people in Shared Ownership (where only a percentage of the home is owned and
the remainder is rented). People in Shared Ownership homes should select
"Social Tenant" or "Private Tenant" near the top of the
calc and enter their rent and any eligible service charges together in the
Housing Costs section below.
HSC is not paid if the claimant/partner has any earned income. This
includes wages, self-employed income, Statutory Sick Pay, Statutory Maternity
Pay etc.
There is a 9 month Waiting Period for HSC. This begins when the UC claim
begins if there is no earned income. (The first Waiting Period on UC can be
waived or shortened if transferring from Income Support or JSA or ESA).
If the claimant/partner has earnings the Waiting Period only begins when
those earnings stop. The Waiting Period resets to 9 months if earned income
begins/stops again. This applies even with very short periods of work.
If you enter any earned income into this calc the questions about HSC are
hidden.
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Enter
rent:
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Actual number of bedrooms
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Any Rent-Free weeks?
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Bedroom Tax does NOT apply in this case
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1 Spare room - Bedroom Tax 14% - Automatic
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2+ Spare rooms - Bedroom Tax 25% - Automatic
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Bedrooms
for LHA =
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Shared Accommodation Rate? See notes in Help - above.
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Enter
LHA rent figure for this size/type property. See notes
in Help above.
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9 month Waiting Period complete? See notes
in help - above.
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Eligible
Homeowner Service Charges (SMI Loan no longer calculated) See
notes in Help - above.
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Additional
loan for adaptations? See notes in Help - above.
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Housing Costs for owner-occupiers hidden due to earned income.
See notes in Help - above.
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RESULTS
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MONTHLY
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Weekly
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Universal Credit
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Award reduced by
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Capped UC Payable
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NOTE: May be
exempt from Benefit Cap if claimant/partner have earned enough in the past
year to meet the conditions of the 'Employment Grace Period'.
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Show Results
Detail?
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MONTHLY
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Weekly
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Max. Universal Credit
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Adult Elements
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M
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W
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LCW
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LCWRA
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Transitional SDP Element
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Transitional Element
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Carer Element
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Child Elements
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M
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W
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Child Elements
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Disabled Child Addition -
Lower
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Disabled Child Addition -
Higher
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Childcare Costs Element
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Housing Costs Element
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M
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W
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Housing Costs
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*Non-dependant deductions
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Housing Costs Element
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Earnings
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M
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W
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Earnings
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Work Allowance
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Earnings minus Work Allowance
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Earnings for UC calc (55%)
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Unearned Income
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M
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W
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Unearned income
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Tariff income (from capital)
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*Under UC, non-dep deductions are called "Housing costs
contributions"
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Actual
income figures
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NOTE: This section shows the total
income received by the claimant and partner, including Universal Credit if
awarded. All incomes are treated the same and counted in full.
In this section the amount shown for Housing costs is the amount they
actually have to pay out, not the amount the covered by UC.
Overall, you might find it provides a simple way of looking at income when
comparing 'what-if' scenarios and could help when exploring a person's
options.
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M
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W
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Earnings
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Unearned income
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Universal Credit
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Income before housing costs
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Housing costs
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Income left after housing
costs
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Show comments?
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Useful to show on printouts or PDFs
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Claim Reference
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Customer Name
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Ist Line Address
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Comment
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V2026.24m | QuickCalc Ltd
© Peter Cox 2026
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