Universal Credit
What went up this April, and what did not
Three different increases, and a list of amounts that did not move at all.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How we calculate
Benefits rose on different scales in April 2026. Most working-age and disability benefits, including PIP, Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, New Style JSA and ESA and the Universal Credit elements for children, disability and caring, went up by 3.8%, the Consumer Prices Index for September 2025, as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions set out on 26 November 2025. The new and basic State Pensions rose by 4.8% under the triple lock, the new State Pension to £241.30 a week. The Universal Credit standard allowance rose further, by 6.2 % for a single person aged 25 or over, from £400.14 to £424.90 a month. Child Benefit, set by HMRC, rose from £26.05 to £27.05 for the eldest child. Several amounts did not move at all: the benefit cap, the Local Housing Allowance rates, the savings limits and the bereavement payments.
How much your benefit rose in April 2026
2026/27 rate
£241.30
| 2025/26 rate | £230.25 |
| Increase | £11.05 (4.8 %) |
The main rates, before and after
| Benefit | 2025/26 | 2026/27 | Rise |
|---|---|---|---|
| UC standard allowance, single 25+ (month) | £400.14 | £424.90 | 6.2 % |
| UC child element (month) | £292.81 | £303.94 | 3.8 % |
| UC carer element (month) | £201.68 | £209.34 | 3.8 % |
| UC LCWRA, existing claims (month) | £423.27 | £429.80 | 1.5 % |
| UC work allowance, higher (month) | £684 | £710 | 3.8 % |
| New State Pension (week) | £230.25 | £241.30 | 4.8 % |
| Basic State Pension (week) | £176.45 | £184.90 | 4.8 % |
| Pension Credit, single (week) | £227.10 | £238.00 | 4.8 % |
| PIP daily living, enhanced (week) | £110.40 | £114.60 | 3.8 % |
| PIP mobility, enhanced (week) | £77.05 | £80.00 | 3.8 % |
| Carer’s Allowance (week) | £83.30 | £86.45 | 3.8 % |
| Carer’s Allowance earnings limit (week) | £196.00 | £204.00 | 4.1 % |
| Child Benefit, eldest child (week) | £26.05 | £27.05 | 3.8 % |
| Child Benefit, other children (week) | £17.25 | £17.90 | 3.8 % |
| Scottish Child Payment (week) | £27.15 | £28.20 | 3.9 % |
The pattern is visible in the last column. Disability and carers’ benefits move together at 3.8%. Pensions take the larger triple lock figure. The Universal Credit standard allowance stands apart, with a rise well above inflation, and the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit follows wages rather than prices: it is set at 16 hours a week at the National Living Wage, as the Scottish Government’s report notes, which is why it rose by slightly more than 3.8%.
What the increase means for four households
A single jobseeker aged 30 with no rent to pay on Universal Credit gets £24.76 a month more, about £297 over the year.
A pensioner on the full new State Pension receives £11.05 a week more, about £575 a year. If the pension was her only income and she also had Pension Credit, the guarantee rose by £10.90, so her Pension Credit changed by the difference between the two increases.
A disabled adult on both enhanced rates of PIP gains £7.15 a week, about £372 a year, and the carer looking after them £164 a year in Carer’s Allowance.
A family of four on Universal Credit with two children born after 2017 and no housing costs gains £61.13 a month from the standard allowance and child elements together, before any change in earnings. A third child born after April 2017 is now paid for too, which for many families is the larger change of the year.
What stayed exactly where it was
Some figures are not covered by the yearly up-rating at all, or were deliberately frozen. The benefit cap kept its 2025/26 levels. The Local Housing Allowance rates for 2026/27 are the rates that came into force in April 2024, held for a second year, as the Valuation Office Agency notice states. The Universal Credit capital limits of £6,000 and £16,000, the £4.35 tariff income, the Pension Credit savings disregard of £10,000, and the Bereavement Support Payment amounts did not change. Nor did the £0.25 age addition at 80, or the Winter Fuel Payment amounts.
A frozen figure matters as much as a rising one. A household whose rent was already above the LHA rate now has a bigger gap to fill from the rest of its benefits, and a family just under the benefit cap in March can find its Universal Credit increase capped in April.
Scotland’s own up-rating
Social Security Scotland applies its own increase by law. The Scottish Government’s 2026-27 report raised all devolved payments by the September 2025 CPI, 3.8%, including payments with no UK equivalent: Scottish Child Payment to £28.20 a week, Best Start Grant and the Child Winter Heating Payment. Adult Disability Payment and Carer Support Payment move in step with PIP and Carer’s Allowance, so the rates stay identical across the border.
When the increase reached your account
The new rates apply from April, but the date they reach a bank account depends on the payment cycle. Universal Credit is worked out over monthly assessment periods, so the first statement showing the April 2026 rates depends on where your assessment period falls. GOV.UK gives the same explanation for the end of the two-child limit on 6 April 2026: the extra child amounts appeared on statements from May or June. Four-weekly benefits such as PIP and the State Pension show the increase in the first payment that covers weeks after the change, and the uprating letter sent in the spring sets out the new amounts.
The new figures are used throughout this site. Universal Credit rates, PIP rates and Child Benefit rates give each benefit in full.