The Department for Work and Pensions has laid the Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance (Rates of Allowances) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/113). The instrument was made on 6 February 2026, laid before Parliament on 9 February 2026, and comes into force from 6 April 2026 on the staged basis set out in the commencement provisions. It extends to England, Wales and Scotland and is signed by Stephen Timms, Minister of State for Work and Pensions.
The regulations give effect to the Universal Credit Act 2025 (c. 22). Under the Act, the Universal Credit standard allowance and the income‑related Employment and Support Allowance personal allowance must increase by at least the September 2025 CPI rate and then by a further 2.3 per cent. Regulation 3 revises the table of standard allowance amounts in the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 to reflect those upratings; the consolidated regulations will carry the updated figures.
From 6 April 2026, the limited capability for work and work‑related activity element in Universal Credit moves to a dual structure. New LCWRA determinations fall onto a lower rate set by the Act, while protected groups retain a higher amount. For protected cases, the LCWRA element increases from £423.27 to £429.80 per month, and the Act requires that the sum of the protected LCWRA amount plus the standard allowance is at least last year’s total uprated by CPI for 2026/27.
Protection as a pre‑2026 claimant applies where a person was awaiting their first assessment under Part 5 of the Universal Credit Regulations before 6 April 2026 and is subsequently found to have LCWRA. The protection attaches whether the decision is made initially, on revision, on supersession or on appeal, ensuring that assessment timetables crossing the changeover date do not reduce entitlement.
A claimant with limited capability for work who, before 6 April 2026, was awaiting reassessment and is then determined on or after that date to have LCWRA is also treated as pre‑2026. Similarly, where LCWRA had been determined before 6 April 2026 but payment of the element had not yet begun because of the relevant waiting period, inclusion of the element on or after 6 April 2026 is protected.
A further protected route applies to those entitled to Employment and Support Allowance with the support component before 6 April 2026 who remain continuously entitled from that date until they are awarded Universal Credit that includes the LCWRA element. The regulations are explicit that the protection depends on uninterrupted entitlement over that period.
The commencement rules mirror benefit cycles. For Universal Credit, changes apply to assessment periods beginning on or after 6 April 2026. In practice, many households will see the revised amounts reflected in statements and payments issued from May 2026 onwards, depending on assessment period dates. For income‑related ESA, the new figures take effect from the first day of the first benefit week that starts for each beneficiary on or after 6 April 2026.
The ESA Regulations 2008 are restructured so that income‑related rates appear in a new Part A1 of Schedule 4. The weekly personal allowance for a single claimant aged 25 or over is £97.75; the same figure applies where the claimant is in the work‑related activity group. For a single claimant aged under 25, the weekly amount is £77.52. For couples where both members are aged 18 or over, the weekly amount is £153.61; where both members are under 18, the amount is £117.00. The Schedule also provides rates for couples that include a partner aged under 18 in specified circumstances.
Premiums and components within income‑related ESA rise. The severe disability premium increases from £82.90 to £86.05 per week for a single rate and from £165.80 to £172.10 for the couple rate. The enhanced disability premium increases from £21.20 to £22.00 for the single rate and from £30.25 to £31.40 for the couple rate. The support component for income‑related ESA is set at £48.50 per week.
Existing Part 1 of Schedule 4 to the ESA Regulations is retitled to make clear it now applies to contributory ESA only. Regulation 67 and associated cross‑references are updated accordingly, with consequential amendments across provisions dealing with hardship payments, polygamous marriages and family composition to align them with the new Part A1 structure.
Transitional provisions are included for legacy cases covered by paragraphs 2 to 7 of Schedule 2 to the Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit (Miscellaneous Amendments and Transitional and Savings Provisions) Regulations 2017. These are the claimants who retained the removed limited capability for work element under savings rules. For such cases, the new ESA Schedule 4 wording is to be read with specified modifications so age‑ and couple‑related amounts continue to operate as intended.
The instrument was not referred to the Social Security Advisory Committee. Under section 173(5)(b) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992, referral is not required where regulations are made by virtue of, or consequential upon, the Universal Credit Act 2025 and are laid within six months of that Act coming into force. The Explanatory Note records that no full impact assessment has been produced.
For frontline advisers, immediate casework priorities are to confirm protected LCWRA status where assessments or reassessments straddle 6 April 2026, check where LCWRA had been decided but not yet included due to the waiting period, and identify ESA support component recipients who migrate to Universal Credit without a break. These categories retain the higher LCWRA amount under the regulations.
Practitioners should also align administrative timetables with the commencement rules. Universal Credit awards with assessment periods starting on or after 6 April 2026 should reflect the uprated standard allowance and any protected LCWRA element. Income‑related ESA awards should shift to the new weekly amounts from the claimant’s first benefit week beginning on or after that date. Social security in Northern Ireland is separate and will require its own legislative changes.