Watch our webinar on cuts to the Universal Credit health element
18 mins read
Thursday 20 November 2025
Last week our Family Finance Team ran a webinar looking at forthcoming cuts to the health element (also known as the limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) element) of Universal Credit.
The health element cut is scheduled to happen on 6 April 2026. It will see the health element drop from £423 to £217 a month for some new claimants.
Will this cut impact my family?
Some groups will be protected from the cut, and this includes anyone who is treated as a pre-2026 claimant.
If both:
- You already get Universal Credit
- Your award includes a limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) element
Then you do not need to do anything. You are already a pre-2026 claimant and the cut won’t affect you.
However, in order to be protected as a pre-2026 claimant, some individuals will need to take action within strict deadlines.
If you are:
- Not yet on Universal Credit and want to make a new claim for this benefit as a pre-2026 claimant
You need to do this on or before the 5th January. However, not everyone will have this option. For example, your chances of being able to get Universal Credit for a young disabled person in education will depend on their age and type of course. Many students simply cannot get Universal Credit.
If you are:
- Already on Universal Credit and have health problems, but have never asked the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to assess your capability for work (perhaps because you are a carer)
You will need to take action even sooner. The deadline for someone already on Universal Credit to submit fit-notes and be protected as a pre-2026 claimant will be as early as 6th December for some claimants.
Find out more with our webinar
Find out more by watching a recording of our webinar.
Technical issues meant the original webinar did not record properly. We have re-recorded the content of their presentation which is now available to watch on Contact’s YouTube channel.
Unfortunately, there is no recording of the questions participants raised during the session. We have instead summarised the questions and posted these with answers below.
You can also download the PowerPoint presentation used during the webinar.
Your questions answered
The webinar was popular, with almost 50 parent carers in attendance. Our advisers were asked more questions than they were able to answer during the session.
They’ve answered these questions below, with some similar questions merged into a single common inquiry.
Is the health element a separate payment or is it added to your other Universal credit payments?
The health element is not a separate benefit. Instead, it is an extra Universal Credit amount that is added into your overall Universal credit award.
To be assessed as having LCWRA, does a claimant need to meet tests linked to both their physical health and mental health or just in one area?
If someone meets any one of the LCWRA descriptors set out at appendix 3 in this Disability Rights UK webpage – regardless of whether it is a physical or mental/cognitive descriptor – it will be accepted that they have LCWRA.
I’m disabled and have a disabled teen who I care for. I currently receive the carer element in my Universal Credit award. I was told that I can’t receive the health element for myself as well. And I was also told that I can’t apply for the health element as I am an unpaid carer. Is this correct?
As a disabled carer, you won’t be paid the health element (LCWRA element) on top of the carer element. Instead, you are paid the higher of these two amounts – which will be the health element.
However, the DWP are wrong to say you can’t be assessed for the health element. They must still assess you if you submit fit notes, regardless of the fact that you are a carer. If they decide that you have LCWRA, you will start to get the health element instead of the carer element. Since the health element is more than the carer element, you will be left better off.
So long as you submit fit notes by 6th December, you will be treated as an existing claimant. You will be eligible for the higher rather than lower rate of the health element.
If you are a member of a couple, it may be possible to retain the carer element as part of your couple’s claim. For this to happen, your partner would have to apply to be treated as your child’s carer rather than you. This would allow your couple’s claim to include a health element for you and a carer element for your partner. However, if you are a lone parent, then this option does not exist, and the health element will replace the carer element.
Will the test of “limited capability” be replaced by “no capacity” i.e. someone who is able to work with support a few hours a week will get no Universal Credit health element entitlement?
This is not something that has been proposed. It is still possible for many disabled workers to establish LCWRA, despite the fact that they are actually undertaking some work. However, the rules are complex, so seek individual advice.
What about backlogs in work capability assessments. How do these affect the deadlines you mentioned?
So long as you meet the deadlines explained in the webinar, you will be protected.
The fact that it then takes the DWP several months to complete their assessment and make a decision does not change this fact. It is the date that you claimed/provided medical evidence/asked for a reassessment that dictates whether you are protected as a pre-2026 claimant. It is not the date that the DWP finally get around to making a decision.
My son has already established LCWRA via a ‘credits only’ claim for new–style ESA. It appears he has two options – either apply for Universal Credit soon to ensure he gets the higher element as an existing claimant or claim Universal Credit later and hope that the severe conditions criteria protects him.
That is the general position, although it’s made more complicated if your son is still in education. This is because even if you wanted to claim early, his chances of getting Universal Credit will also depend on whether he is caught by the rules that prevent most students from getting Universal Credit. The fact that he has established LCWRA does not in itself mean he is exempt from the student rules. This will depend on whether he has had a break in his education since he first established LCWRA.
My son has established LCWRA already via a ‘credits only’ claim for new style ESA. He hasn’t claimed Universal Credit yet, but I want to help him do this. Since he has established LCWRA already via his credits–only ESA claim, does this mean that he won’t have to serve a three-month waiting period? Does he have up until 5 March to claim as a pre-2026 claimant rather than by 5 January.
This is unclear. The general position is that to be protected as a pre-2026 claimant, someone applying for Universal Credit for the first time needs to claim on or before 5 January.
While there is a potential argument that someone who has already established LCWRA should have up until 5th April to claim, it is not clear whether the DWP will accept this. Given this fact, our advice is that anyone who is lodging a new claim for Universal Credit – including young people who have already established LCWRA via a credits-only claim – and who wants to be protected as a pre-2026 claimant, make their claim by 5th January at the latest.
Hi, my daughter is 17 and will hopefully go on to specialist college. When should I claim LCWRA for her?
If you’re asking when you should claim Universal Credit for her, this will depend on whether she is currently receiving education. If she’s currently in full-time non-advanced education and hasn’t already established LCWRA via a credits-only claim for ESA, she’s unlikely to qualify for Universal Credit until she either reaches the September after her 19th birthday or has a break in education if this happens sooner.
This means she probably won’t get Universal Credit until a date after the law changes. She won’t be treated as an existing pre-2026 claimant. She will instead be a new claimant, and her chances of qualifying for the higher existing rate of the health element will depend on her meeting the severe conditions criteria.
You should however still consider making a ‘credits-only’ claim for new style ESA just now. While this won’t help her to qualify for the higher rather than the lower rate of the health element, it might make it easier for her to get Universal Credit in the future if she remains in education longer term.
My lad will be 19 in August. I’m now worried that I need to quickly apply for him Universal Credit before the law changes. I’ve read the changes are early next year. I’d have to apply end of December to get him awarded before it’s cut.
If your son is in full-time non-advanced education and not yet reached the 31 August after his 19th birthday, he is likely to be refused Universal Credit. This means that you may not have the option of getting him on Universal Credit by 5 January 2026 – the deadline to be treated as an existing claimant.
In that case, he will end up having to claim Universal Credit at a later date. He will be treated as a ‘new claimant’. His chances of eventually receiving the higher protected rate of the health element will therefore depend on him meeting the severe conditions criteria.
The situation will be different if he is not caught by the student rules e.g. he has left education or is on a part-time course. In that scenario, it would be a good idea to get help to lodge a claim for Universal Credit for him by 5 January.
If he is still receiving full-time education, but you think he is exempt from the normal student rules – e.g. because he has established LCWRA as part of a credits-only claim for ESA and then had a break in his studies before commencing his current period of receiving education – it is more complicated. Him getting Universal Credit will mean that any Universal Credit child payments you get as part of your own UC claim, as well as any child benefit and child maintenance for him, will stop. You will need individual advice about whether this would leave you better or worse off.
If it leaves you better off – i.e. he would gain more in Universal Credit than you would lose in child payments – then you should try and claim by 5 January.
However, if you would be worse off – i.e you will lose more than he gets paid – you need to weigh up whether you are willing to experience that loss now, earlier than you otherwise might, in order to ensure that he gets a higher Universal Credit element as an existing claimant. The alternative would be to keep your child payments for him at the moment and put off claiming Universal Credit until later, in the hope that he meets the severe conditions criteria and so gets the higher health element even though he will be a new claimant. It’s a highly complex area so seek individual advice.
My son has Personal Independence Payment (PIP). I’m concerned about applying for Universal Credit for him due to the impact of the process. Will it affect PIP if we do or don’t apply for this?
Whether or not you make a claim for Universal Credit will make no difference to your son’s PIP award.
My son has LCWRA through a ‘credits–only’ claim for ESA. He is still currently on my Universal Credit claim as he’s in school till July 2026. I think he should meet the severe conditions condition criteria. Will he be classed as a new claimant because he has LCWRA already? Or should I apply sooner, if so when would be best to apply?
Unless your son claims Universal Credit by 5 January, he won’t be treated as an existing claimant. However, this won’t be a problem so long as he meets the severe conditions criteria when he eventually does claim. This is because new claimants who meet the severe conditions criteria are also protected. They will get the higher rate of the health element, in the same way as existing claimants.
Where someone is worried that their child won’t meet the severe conditions criteria, trying to claim Universal Credit before 5 January may be a good idea. However, whether this would even be an option for your son will depend on whether your child is caught by the rules that prevent many students from getting Universal Credit.
We’ve made a ‘credits only’ claim for ESA for our daughter. She isn’t receiving Universal Credit in her own right – she’ll apply before going to uni when she’s 19. In September we contacted the health assessor who carried out her work capability assessment. We were told that our daughter was assessed on the basis of documents only, and that they had sent their report to DWP several weeks earlier. We’ve still not heard from from ESA about the decision. Calling them didn’t help. Is this normal? Is there a way to know the outcome before April 2026?
No it’s not normal. Usually once the work capability assessment has been completed and the results are fed back to the ESA team, they send you a letter confirming their decision. You may need to make a complaint about this. It would be a good idea to approach a local adviser such as a CAB for help.
Please note that even if your daughter establishes LCWRA as part of a credits-only claim, it is unlikely to help her claim Universal Credit before the rules change. I assume that she is under 19 and in full-time non advanced education at the moment. If so, the student rules are likely to prevent her getting Universal Credit until her course finishes in the summer. This means that she will be treated as a new claimant and reliant on meeting the severe conditions criteria to get the higher rather than lower element.
My son is 18 and gets PIP, but not Universal Credit. He is no longer in college. We are trying to understand how we would apply for Universal Credit when he is struggling to work, due to his disability.
Since he is no longer in education, he can claim Universal Credit like anyone else. Either him, or you if you are his appointee, can make a claim online at https://www.universal-credit.service.gov.uk/start.
You should get fit notes from his GP as part of this process. You should claim Universal Credit as soon as possible. Make sure you do this before 6th January if you want him to access the protected higher rate of the health element as an existing claimant.
We have made a ‘credits only’ claim for ESA in August for our 19 year old son. He is currently in a supported internship via his college. However, he has not been invited for a work capability assessment.
The fact that he is in an internship does not stop a work capability assessment from happening. However, he may not necessarily be invited to a face to face assessment. It may be done via a paper assessment instead. You should call ESA to get an update on what is happening with his case.
You should also get individual advice about whether your son has the option of trying to claim Universal Credit before 6 January. This will partly depend on his age (whether he has already passed the September after his 19th birthday) and whether the internship is being treated as full-time non-advanced education.
Even if he does have the option of claiming Universal Credit, you will also need advice about whether this would leave your household better off – taking into account what he will gain as an adult claimant and what you will lose in child payments. If he is able to get Universal Credit, this will bring to an end any child payments you get for him as part of your own family claim for Universal Credit, as well as any child benefit or child maintenance. I would recommend getting individual advice either from our helpline or from a local service such as Citizens Advice
My daughter is 19. We are looking to apply for Universal Credit this month, before the Health element decreases in 2026. She has a Severe Learning Disability with Cerebral Palsy, so she will need the LWCRA. Do we need to apply for ESA credits now as well ?
If your daughter claims Universal Credit now, her chances of getting this will all depend on the type of education she is in and whether she has passed the Sept after her 19th birthday.
If she is able to get Universal Credit (either because she has already left education or because she has passed the August after her 19th birthday and is still in non-advanced education) she won’t need to make a credits-only claim for new syle ESA. Instead, she just needs to submit fit notes as part of her Universal Credit claim. Universal Credit will carry out the work capability assessment themselves.
You will only need to consider making a ‘credits-only claim’ for new style ESA for her if she is refused Universal Credit under the student restrictions.
Am I wrong in thinking that LCWRA is getting scrapped & not replaced? Or are you saying LCWRA is getting replaced name wise but the extra payment is still there?
At the moment, the situation is that the health element will remain but is being renamed and reduced significantly for most new claimants from April. However, the government is also considering going a step further and scrapping the health element for under 22s altogether. However, it has not yet made any decision on whether it is going to do this or not.
Do you have to have a GP note to ask to be considered for capability for work?
Yes, you need to submit a fit note to the DWP for your capability for work to be assessed. This should then trigger a work capability assessment.
My son is 18 and has finished college and his child benefit has stopped. Does he need to be 19 to claim Universal Credit, even if he isn’t a student?
No he doesn’t need to be 19. An 18 year old who is not receiving education can claim Universal Credit. As long as he meets the normal rules he will qualify. In fact, 16 and 17 year olds can also sometimes claim Universal Credit, if they have fit notes and are not treated as receiving education.
I am a grandmother for a child aged 12. Can I claim Universal Credit for them now so that they can be protected as an existing claimant and eventually receive the higher rate of the health element?
No, unfortunately you cannot claim Universal Credit for a 12 year old. The earliest age it is ever possible to claim Universal Credit is from someone’s 16th birthday. If your granddaughter eventually claims Universal Credit in the future, she will inevitably be treated as a new claimant. This means she won’t receive the higher protected rate unless she meets the severe conditions criteria.
Will the Minimum Income Guarantee for those paying care contributions go up in line with Universal Credit uplift?
This question is beyond the remit of our webinar.
Is there a possibility that the government will stop protection to the higher health element in the future?
This seems unlikely. However, there is one issue that is causing concern. That is the fact that the government has consulted on scrapping the health element altogether for under 22s.
As yet, the government has not decided whether it will pursue this option or not. If it does, we don’t know whether existing claimants, or any other groups, will be protected. Contact is campaigning against the scrapping of the health element for 16-21 year olds .
Email your MP today and tell them to oppose this proposal.
