Changes of circumstance that affect universal credit

If your work, money or family life changes while you’re on universal credit, you’ll need to tell the department for work and pensions (DWP).

A change of circumstances can affect how much universal credit you get and what work-related activities you need to do.

illustration of man sitting on coins with upwards arrow

When to report a change of circumstances

Report any changes as soon as they happen. If you wait to tell DWP about changes that could reduce your payments, you might end up having to pay money back.

How to report a change of circumstances

If you’re not sure a change of circumstances will affect your universal credit, it’s best to report it anyway. You can do this online or over the phone.

The changes you need to report

Job changes

Tell DWP if you leave a job or get a new one. If your change of circumstances affects your ability to work or look for a job, you might need to ask to change your claimant commitment. A claimant commitment sets out what regular tasks you need to do to get universal credit.

If you’re employed, you don’t need to let DWP know about changes in your earnings as they get this information from HMRC. Earning more could reduce your universal credit, but it might also reduce what work-related activity you need to do.

Similarly, if you lose a job, your universal credit could increase, but you might need to spend more time looking for work. Your universal credit may be stopped or reduced if you leave a job without a reason DWP consider valid. This is called a sanction.

If you're self-employed, you'll need to report your income and outgoings each month.

Tell DWP if you start voluntary work as this could affect any work-related activities you need to do.

Financial changes

You’ll need to provide evidence of any financial changes. For example, if you report that your rent has gone up, send DWP confirmation from your landlord or letting agent. If you don’t, your claim could be stopped.

If you build up more than £6,000 in savings, your universal credit payments will start to go down. If your savings top £16,000, your universal credit payments will stop.

You should report if you or your partner:

change bank accounts
claim any new benefits (even if they're not being paid yet)
stop getting a benefit
come into some money, such as inheritance or compensation
get new income that isn't from work

Housing changes

You should tell DWP if:

your rent changes
you move home
someone moves out of your home
someone moves into your home e.g. a lodger
you or someone in your household goes to prison
you’ll be spending time outside the UK – you’ll carry on getting universal credit for up to a month providing you continue to complete your work-related activities

Moved home?

If you’ve moved home and your rent has gone up or down, your universal credit payments might change too.

Once you move, your next payment will be based on your new rent, even if you were living at your old address for part of that month.

You should also tell the jobcentre you’ve moved as they’ll need your new address. You might also be asked to start going to a different jobcentre.

Relationship changes

Changes in your relationship status may affect your universal credit payments.

Moved in with your partner?

You'll get paid a different amount of universal credit as a couple.

If you were both getting universal credit before moving in together, you’ll both need to report that you’ve moved in with a partner. You don’t need to start a new claim, but you’ll need to link your accounts. You can do this online. If you have any difficulties, speak to your work coach.

If your partner wasn’t getting universal credit, they’ll need to set up an account and link it to yours. This will turn your claim into a joint claim.

If your partner was getting a benefit that is being replaced by universal credit, those payments may stop. The benefits being replaced are:

housing benefit
income-related employment and support allowance
income-based jobseeker's allowance
child tax credit
working tax credit
income support

If you split up with your partner

You also need to report if you split up with a partner. If this happens, your claim will continue and your next payment will be for a single person.

Tell DWP who's responsible for any children

The person responsible for a child is whoever that child usually lives with.

If the child splits their time equally between you and your partner and you can't agree who is chiefly responsible, DWP will decide. They'll look at who tends to make day-to-day decisions regarding the child.

If you're still living with your ex-partner

You may continue living with an ex if neither of you can afford to move out. If you’re in this situation, let DWP know and you should be able to switch to separate claims.

Explain how you're no longer living as a couple e.g. you’re cooking separately, have separate finances, don't spend time together etc. You may be asked to explain why you’re still living together.

Changes to do with children

A child is anyone under 16, or someone under 20 who's in full-time, non-advanced education like school or college.

If you're working, you should report what you pay for childcare each month, as you can claim back some of these costs. Use your online account or tell your work coach.

Make sure DWP know how many children you’re responsible for and tell them if:

a child is disabled
a child leaves full-time education
a child leaves home
a child goes to prison
you adopt or start fostering (this could increase your payments)
a child is looked after by the local authority, including if the local authority arranges for them to live with family or friends

You can get extra money for one or two children, but you won’t usually get any extra for a third unless they were born before 6 April 2017.

Even if your third child was born on or after 6 April 2017 though, you should still tell DWP because there are some circumstances where you might still get extra money.

If a child leaves education, you’ll stop getting money for them.

If a child leaves home you’ll also stop getting money for them, but it’s worth checking if they can make their own claim.

Education changes

Tell DWP if you, your partner or any of your children start or stop full-time education or training. If you’re responsible for someone under 19, you should tell the DWP if they start or stop a part-time advanced education course, such as teacher training.

If you start full-time education, you'll stop getting universal credit unless one or more of these exceptions applies to you:

you're old enough to get pension credit and you live with a partner who's below pension credit age
you get attendance allowance, disability living allowance or personal independence payment and DWP have said you have 'limited capability for work'
you look after a child under 16, or under 20 if they're also in full-time education or training
you're waiting to return to a course after an illness or time spent caring for someone
you're currently fostering
you were under 21 when your course started, you’re not in higher education, and you don't have parental support (this means your parents have died or you can’t live with them)

If you live with your partner

You can also keep getting universal credit during full-time education if you live with your partner and they:

aren't in full-time education
are in full-time education and entitled to universal credit
are in full-time education, and one of you is responsible for a child

Immigration status changes

If your immigration status changes, let DWP know. To keep claiming universal credit, you need to be allowed to claim public funds.

You can claim public funds if you have:

British or Irish citizenship
settled status from the EU Settlement Scheme
indefinite leave - unless you came to the UK on an adult dependent relative visa
refugee status or humanitarian protection
right of abode

In some cases, you might also need to have the right to reside. For example, if you have pre-settled status from the EU Settlement Scheme, or you’re waiting for a decision, you can claim universal credit but you also need to have the right to reside.

Check if your immigration status lets you claim public funds.

Pension age changes

Your universal credit payments will stop once you reach state pension age.

You should claim pension credit instead if:

you don’t have a partner
you’ve got a partner and both of you have reached state pension age

If you’ve got a partner and only one of you has reached state pension age, you’ll stay on universal credit.

Changes in caring responsibilities

You could get extra money if you care for someone for at least 35 hours a week. If you stop caring for someone, you’ll stop getting the extra money. If the person you’re caring for dies, you’ll need to tell DWP.

Health changes

If your health changes, this may impact your ability to look for work. You need to tell DWP if you:

get ill
are injured in a way that makes it harder to look for work
go into or leave hospital - or your partner does
go into or leave a care home - or your partner does
have an illness caused by pregnancy
start chemotherapy or radiotherapy for cancer
have a terminal illness

Fit notes

If you're ill for more than seven days, you need to get a fit note from your healthcare professional and add it to your online account.

There are a couple of things to check when you get a fit note:

If you get a printed fit note, check that the healthcare professional has signed it.
If you get a digital fit note, check that it includes the healthcare professional’s name.

If the healthcare professional hasn't either signed your fit note or included their name, it could be rejected by DWP and you’ll have to get a new one.

If you're ill for more than 14 days

This counts as a long-term illness and you might need to answer a questionnaire about your health and go to a medical assessment. This can take a while, so you can ask your work coach to suspend your work-related activities in the meantime.

Ask to change your claimant commitment if health problems mean you can't do all your work-related activities.