Who can get universal credit, state pension credit and housing benefit?
This page covers the whole of the UK
Contents:
What is universal credit (UC)?
Universal credit (UC) is a cash social security benefit for people under state pension age who are out of work or on a low income. It is administered by the DWP in Great Britain and by the Department for Communities (DfC) in Northern Ireland. UC helps with basic living costs and rent. However, if you live in temporary accommodation or certain types of supported accommodation, UC will cover only your basic living costs, and you must also claim housing benefit for help with rent.
To qualify for universal credit, you must meet the age rules and the conditions below. If you are part of a couple, you are joint claimants, so both of you must meet these conditions:
- make a valid claim
- sign and follow a claimant commitment, including any work-related requirements
- be an eligible person
- have no more than £16,000 in savings, or joint savings if you are a couple
- have a low-enough income.
If you are a couple and meet the age rules, but only one of you is an eligible person, the eligible person can claim UC as a single person. If one of you is eligible but is over state pension age you must claim state pension credit and housing benefit instead.
UC rules about age
If you are single, you can get UC if you are at least 18 and under state pension age.
If you are a couple, you can get UC if:
- both you and your partner are at least 18, and
- at least one of you is under state pension age.
If you are 16 or 17, you may also qualify for UC if you meet other conditions, such as being responsible for a child, having limited capability for work or lacking parental support. However, if you were in local authority care before age 16, UC may not cover your rent.
What is state pension credit (SPC)?
State pension credit (SPC) is a cash social security benefit for people over state pension age who are on a low income. If you are part of a couple, this means both you and your partner must be over state pension age. SPC helps with basic living costs other than rent. It is administered by the DWP in Great Britain and by the DfC in Northern Ireland.
SPC has two components: guarantee credit, which tops up your pension income to a minimum level, and savings credit which provides a reward for having a modest private pension or savings. You can only qualify for savings credit if you, or you and your partner, reached state pension age before 6 April 2016. If you qualify for SPC, you may receive one or both components.
SPC guarantee credit can help with service charges if you are a leaseholder or owner-occupier. If you need help with rent, you must also claim housing benefit. If you receive SPC guarantee credit, you will get housing benefit at the maximum rate.
State pension credit will eventually replace housing benefit for rent support through a new component called ‘housing credit’. The transition will begin gradually in selected areas in 2026 or 2027, using a new claims process that allows SPC and HB to be claimed together through a single contact point. It will later apply to all new claims, before existing housing benefit awards are converted into SPC housing credit.
To qualify for SPC, you must meet the conditions below. If you are part of a couple, only one person claims and must meet these conditions:
- be over state pension age, or both be over state pension age if you are a couple
- make a valid claim
- be an eligible person
- meet one of the following income conditions:
- your income is low enough to qualify for guarantee credit, or
- for savings credit, your total pension income is within the minimum and maximum limits.
If you are a couple but only one of you is an eligible person, the eligible person can claim state pension credit as a single person.
What is housing benefit?
Housing benefit (HB) is a cash social security benefit that helps people on low incomes with rent if either:
- you, or either member of a couple, are under state pension age and live in temporary or supported accommodation, or
- you are over state pension age, or both members of a couple are over state pension age.
Supported accommodation must be specified accommodation provided by a non-profit landlord.
In England, Scotland and Wales, HB is administered by local councils. In Northern Ireland, it is administered by the Housing Executive. To qualify for HB, you must meet the conditions below. If you are part of a couple, only one person claims and must meet these conditions:
- make a valid claim
- be legally responsible for paying rent (or if you are a couple, one of you is responsible)
- be an eligible person
- have no more than £16,000 in savings, or joint savings if you are a couple, and
- have a low-enough income.
If you are over state pension age and your partner is ineligible because they do not have access to public funds, you can claim HB as a single person.
Who is an eligible person?
You are eligible for UC, SPC and HB if:
- you are not subject to immigration control, and
- you are habitually resident in the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.
Who is subject to immigration control?
You are not subject to immigration control if:
- you are a British citizen, or
- you are and Irish citizen, or
- you are a Commonwealth citizen with the right of abode.
Commonwealth citizens may have the right of abode based on historic ties, but only if they have held it continuously since 31 December 1982 and arrived in the UK before 1 August 1988. This right can come through a parent or marriage.
You are ‘subject to immigration control’ if:
- you need leave to enter the UK but do not have it, or
- your leave includes a condition that you have no access to public funds, or
- you are a sponsored migrant, unless you have lived in the UK for at least five years or your sponsor has died. If you have more than one sponsor, this applies only if all sponsors have died.
Both EU settled status and EU pre-settled status are forms of leave with access to public funds.
Who is habitually resident?
You are habitually resident if either of the following applies:
- the facts of your case show that you are habitually resident, or
- you are exempt from the requirement, usually because you had to leave your country of origin immediately due to risks to your health or safety, such as being a refugee, fleeing the war in Ukraine or being trafficked.
Usually, you are factually habitually resident after one to three months of settled residence. If the decision-maker decides you are not habitually resident, your notice may say you are not entitled because you are ‘not in Great Britain’ (UC or SPC) or a ‘person from abroad’ (HB). These phrases mean the same thing.
You are not habitually resident if:
- you have EU pre-settled status, or you applied to the EU Settlement Scheme on time and your application has not yet been decided, and
- you do not have a right to reside as a worker, a self-employed person, an EEA family member or as a student, self-sufficient person or long-term resident.
If the decision-maker decides you do not have a right to reside, your notice may say you are not entitled because you are ‘not habitually resident’, ‘not in Great Britain’ or a ‘person from abroad’.
Households with mixed eligibility
This section explains what happens when you are eligible and claim benefit for a partner or child you are responsible for who is not eligible. The rules differ slightly depending on whether you claim UC, SPC or HB.
Claiming benefit for a family member who cannot receive public funds
If you claim benefit for a partner or child whose leave does not allow access to public funds, and your award increases because they are included, this breaches their leave conditions and may put their right to remain in the UK at risk.
UC and SPC rules prevent extra benefit for a partner, but not for a child. If your UC or SPC claim includes a partner with no access to public funds, your award is calculated using the single person’s allowance rather than the couple rate, so no additional amount is paid for your partner.
For mixed-age couples where the eligible person has reached pension age, UC cannot be claimed; SPC must be claimed as a single person instead. In these circumstances, HB is also awarded on a single-person basis, so no extra benefit is paid for the partner. In other cases, HB rules do not automatically rule out extra payments for a partner or child, but entitlement depends on the wider circumstances.
If your UC, SPC or HB may include extra money for a partner or child who has no access to public funds, get advice from an approved immigration adviser before claiming.
Claiming benefit for a family member who is not habitually resident
You can receive a child element or allowance in UC, SPC or HB for any child who normally lives with you.
If you claim UC or SPC for a partner who has access to public funds but has recently arrived in the UK, you will receive the single person’s allowance until they are habitually resident, unless they are exempt from that condition. For example, if you are a refugee and your partner has recently arrived to join you on family reunion leave, you will usually continue to receive the single person’s rate for three months unless they arrived from Ukraine or are exempt for another reason.
If you claim HB for a partner who has access to public funds but is not habitually resident, your HB is calculated using the couple-rate personal allowance, although you will not receive extra benefit if you receive UC or SPC guarantee credit.
How much help will you get with your rent?
The most you can get towards your rent from UC or HB is:
- your eligible rent, minus
- any assumed contribution from other adults who live with you (‘non-dependants’), whether or not they actually pay towards the rent. UC uses a fixed amount; HB varies the amount according to the non-dependant’s income.
Your eligible rent is not always the same as the full rent you pay your landlord. If you rent from a local council, the Housing Executive or a housing association, it is your gross rent, minus:
- charges for personal services not connected with the building’s maintenance, such as heating, lighting, cleaning, water, meals, leisure items, laundry, personal care or support, and
- except in pension age claims, a further reduction of 14% or 25% if your home is under-occupied.
If you rent from a private landlord, your eligible rent is the lower of your actual rent or the relevant local housing allowance figure.
Other reasons why help with your rent may be reduced
If you claim UC and earn less than £881 a month in 2026/27, your total welfare benefits, including any rent support, are capped. The cap is:
- if you are single and do not have children:
- £1,413.92 a month if you live in Greater London, or
- £1,229.42 a month if you live elsewhere, or
- if you are a couple or lone parent:
- £2,110.25 a month if you live in Greater London, or
- £1,835.00 a month if you live elsewhere.
‘Welfare benefits’ means your universal credit, child benefit, maternity allowance, jobseeker’s allowance and employment and support allowance (ESA). It does not include housing benefit.
The cap does not apply if your UC includes the 'Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity' (LCWRA) element or carer’s element, or if your ESA includes the support component. It also does not apply:
- if you or a child in your family receives: personal independence payment, disability living allowance, attendance allowance, carer’s allowance, industrial disablement benefit or equivalent benefits paid by Social Security Scotland, or
- for up to nine months, if you worked for at least one year immediately before the cap started to apply.
Your benefit can also be reduced for other reasons, such as if you left work or were dismissed without good reason, received an advance, have deductions paid to your landlord or energy or water supplier to clear arrears, need to repay an overpayment, or must pay a penalty for benefit fraud. If any of these apply, or if your benefit has been capped, you should get advice.
What you can do if the decision is wrong
The benefits authority will tell you its decision. For UC, this is usually a message in your online account. For SPC and HB, it is usually a letter or written notice, which may be sent as a pdf file by email.
How to ask for a reconsideration
A reconsideration means the benefits authority looks at its decision again. It may change your benefit from the date of the original decision (a revision), or from a later date (a supersession), for example if your circumstances have changed.
For UC, SPC and HB, you can ask for a reconsideration within one calendar month of the date the decision notice was sent. This is sometimes called an ‘any grounds review’ because you do not have to explain why you think the decision is wrong, although giving reasons may improve your chances of success.
You can ask for a reconsideration after the deadline (an ‘anytime review’) if the decision is wrong because the benefits authority made an official error and you did not contribute to it. An official error could include failing to consider information you gave, applying the wrong law, or applying the right law incorrectly. For example, this could apply if you told the decision-maker you have EU settled status and they ignored it, or considered it but still wrongly decided you were not entitled. If the new decision does not give you everything you asked for, you can ask for an ‘any grounds review’.
If you were refused benefit but your circumstances have changed since the original decision, for example because you have been granted leave, you should also make a new claim. This helps protect your maximum entitlement if your original reconsideration request is unsuccessful.
How to ask for an appeal
If you are unhappy with the reconsideration outcome, you can appeal to an independent tribunal. Hearings are usually listed within three to eight months, so if you are confident the decision is wrong, you may want to request another reconsideration and provide further evidence.
For UC or SPC, you appeal directly to the tribunal, not to the benefits authority. You can appeal by letter or online to the HM Courts and Tribunals Service in Great Britain, or to the Appeals Service in Northern Ireland.
For HB, you appeal to the local authority or Housing Executive. They must send it to the tribunal if they disagree with any part of it. In either case, your UC, SPC or HB appeal is valid only if:
- you say you want to ‘appeal to a tribunal’ within one month of the date the decision notice was sent, and
- your appeal includes:
- your name and address, and your representative’s name and address if you have one
- the address where appeal documents should be sent
- the decision you are appealing and why you think it is wrong, and
- for UC or SPC, you have first asked for a reconsideration, whether ‘any grounds’ or ‘anytime’, and the benefits authority either refused to change the decision in your favour or changed it but did not give you everything you asked for.
For HB disputes, you can appeal without first asking for a reconsideration. If your appeal clearly explains why the decision is wrong, the local authority may reconsider it. If the decision is changed in your favour, even if you do not get everything you asked for, your appeal ends. You can still ask for another reconsideration or appeal within one month of being told about the new decision.
