The short answer
- Outside London the cap is £22,020 a year for couples and families and £14,753 for single people.
- In Greater London it is £25,323 and £16,967.
- The limits have not changed for 2026/27, even though benefit rates went up.
- You are exempt if your household earns at least £881 a month after tax, or someone gets a disability or carer’s benefit.
How much the cap is
A “family” here means a couple, with or without children, or a single parent whose child lives with them. Universal Credit uses the monthly figure. Housing Benefit uses the weekly one.
| Household | A year | A month | A week |
|---|---|---|---|
| Couple or family, outside London | £22,020 | £1,835.00 | £423.46 |
| Single, outside London | £14,753 | £1,229.42 | £283.71 |
| Couple or family, Greater London | £25,323 | £2,110.25 | £486.98 |
| Single, Greater London | £16,967 | £1,413.92 | £326.29 |
The cap was last raised in April 2023 and has been frozen since. As each April’s uprating increases the benefits themselves, more households reach the limit each year.
Which benefits count
- Universal Credit
- Except the childcare element
- Child Benefit
- In full
- Legacy benefits
- Housing Benefit, Child Tax Credit, income-related ESA and JSA, Income Support
- New Style benefits
- New Style JSA and ESA
- Others
- Maternity Allowance, Widowed Parent's Allowance, Severe Disablement Allowance
- Childcare
- The Universal Credit childcare element
- Pensions
- State Pension and Pension Credit
- Statutory pay
- SMP, SSP and other employer payments
- One-off help
- Cold weather and similar payments
Child Benefit counts towards the cap even though it is paid separately by HMRC. For a family with three children it is £272.35 a month, which comes straight off the room left for Universal Credit.
Who is exempt
The cap does not apply if anyone in your household:
- earns at least £881 a month after tax, on its own or added to their partner’s pay, on Universal Credit;
- qualifies for Working Tax Credit, on legacy benefits;
- gets Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, Guardian’s Allowance, War Pensions or Industrial Injuries Benefits;
- has the health element (LCWRA) or carer element in their Universal Credit, or gets ESA with the support component;
- is single and has reached State Pension age.
Disabled children count
The exemption applies when a child in the household gets Disability Living Allowance or PIP, not only when an adult does.
How the cap works on Universal Credit
Each month, the Department for Work and Pensions works out your Universal Credit as normal, adds Child Benefit and any other counted benefit, and compares the total with the cap. Anything over the cap is taken off your Universal Credit. The childcare element is protected and paid in full.
- Standard allowance£666.97
- Child elements£911.82
- Housing element£1,100.00
- Universal Credit before the cap£2,678.79
- Plus Child Benefit£272.35
- Over the £1,835 cap by−£1,116.14
The family loses £1,116.14 a month, £13,393.68 a year. With rent of £1,100 out of a capped award of £1,562.65, little is left for living costs once rent is paid.
Why the first hours of work matter so much
For a capped household, the first pound of earnings does not reduce benefits at all, because the taper only shrinks the amount above the cap. Earnings then lift the cap completely at £881 a month.
| Take-home pay | Universal Credit | Cap reduction | Pay plus Universal Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| £0 | £1,562.65 | £1,116.14 | £1,562.65 |
| £500 | £1,562.65 | £1,075.99 | £2,062.65 |
| £881 | £2,429.09 | £0 | £3,310.09 |
At £500 a month the family keeps every penny of their pay. At £881, roughly 16 hours a week at the £12.71 National Living Wage, the cap goes and their Universal Credit rises by £866.44 a month. Few changes in the benefits system are worth as much.
A couple can combine their earnings to reach £881.
The grace period
If you or your partner stop work, or your earnings fall below £881, you may get a nine-month grace period before the cap applies. On Universal Credit you qualify if your earnings were at least the threshold in each of the 12 months before. On Housing Benefit you need to have worked for 50 of the previous 52 weeks.
- Month 0Job ends or earnings drop
Tell the Department for Work and Pensions straight away.
- Months 1 to 9Grace period
Your award is paid in full, without the cap.
- Month 10Cap applies
Unless you are working again or another exemption applies.
The cap on Housing Benefit
Households still on legacy benefits, such as Child Tax Credit with Housing Benefit, have the cap applied weekly by their council. It is taken from Housing Benefit, which must be left with at least 50p a week.
- Benefits counted£480.00
- Weekly cap£423.46
- Reduction to Housing Benefit−£56.54
That is £2,940 a year. Most legacy claims have now been moved to Universal Credit, where the cap is applied monthly instead.
Who the cap hits hardest
The cap mainly reaches households with several children, high rents, or both. With the two-child limit removed in April 2026, larger families now get a child element for every child, which pushes more of them into the cap rather than out of it.
| Household | Before the cap | Cap takes off | Universal Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single parent, 2 children, rent £950 | £1,982.78 | £342.56 | £1,640.22 |
| Couple, 3 children, rent £1,100 | £2,678.79 | £1,116.14 | £1,562.65 |
| Couple, 5 children, rent £1,300 | £3,486.67 | £2,079.15 | £1,407.52 |
A single person with no children and rent of £800 is just under their cap, with Universal Credit of £1,224.90 a month. The same person with rent of £900 would lose about £93 a month.
Discretionary Housing Payments
Councils can pay a Discretionary Housing Payment to help with rent when the cap leaves a shortfall. It is not a benefit you are entitled to: each council has a fixed budget and decides who to help. Payments are usually for a few months, to give you time to find work, move to cheaper housing or claim an exemption.
Apply to your council’s housing benefit team, even if you get Universal Credit. Explain your plan, for example looking for 16 hours of work, and include your budget.
What to do if you are capped
- Check every exemption. A claim for PIP, DLA for a child, or Carer’s Allowance can lift the cap completely and backdate it.
- Ask for a Work Capability Assessment if a health condition limits your work. The LCWRA health element makes you exempt.
- Aim for £881 a month of household take-home pay. The taper calculator shows what extra hours are worth.
- Apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment to cover the gap while you make changes.
- Get advice. Citizens Advice and local welfare rights services check claims for free.
London and the rest of England
The higher London cap only applies inside Greater London. The couple with three children and £1,100 of rent would lose £1,116.14 a month outside London but £840.89 in London, where the cap is £275.25 a month higher.
Rents in London are much higher, though, so capped London households usually face bigger gaps. Moving out of London lowers your rent but also lowers your cap.
When a new baby arrives
When a capped family has another child, Universal Credit adds a child element of £303.94 a month and Child Benefit adds £77.57 a month. But if the household was already over the cap, none of that reaches them. In fact, because Child Benefit counts towards the cap, the family’s Universal Credit falls.
- Universal Credit before the cap£2,982.73
- Cap reduction−£1,497.65
- Universal CreditWas £1,562.65 with three children£1,485.08
Statutory Maternity Pay is not a benefit for the cap, but Maternity Allowance is. Earnings while on paid maternity leave can count towards the £881 earnings exemption, so check with your work coach.
Moving home and the cap
Because the housing element is usually the largest part of a capped award, rent decides how much the cap takes. A cheaper home cuts the amount over the cap pound for pound until you drop below it. The council can sometimes help with a deposit or rent in advance through a Discretionary Housing Payment or local welfare scheme.
A move into temporary accommodation arranged by the council can be treated differently, as some of these costs are paid through Housing Benefit rather than Universal Credit. Ask the council how it will be assessed.
Challenging a cap decision
If you think the cap has been applied wrongly, for example because someone gets a disability benefit or your earnings were over £881, ask for a mandatory reconsideration within one month of the decision. You can do this through your Universal Credit journal. If the decision stays the same, you can appeal to an independent tribunal.
Common mistakes include not recording an exempt benefit received by a child, missing the grace period, and using the wrong cap for an address on the edge of London.
What an exemption is worth
A single parent with two children and £950 of social rent loses £342.56 a month to the cap when not working. If one of the children is awarded Disability Living Allowance, the cap no longer applies and Universal Credit rises to £1,982.78 a month, before adding the disabled child element and the DLA itself.
How the cap has changed
- 2013Cap introduced
£26,000 a year for families, the same everywhere in Great Britain.
- 2016Cap lowered
Cut to £20,000 outside London and £23,000 in London, with a lower cap for single people.
- April 2023Cap raised by 10.1%
To today's £22,020 and £25,323 for families.
- April 2026Still frozen
The 2026/27 limits are the same as in 2023.
The cap is reviewed at least once every five years. Because it is frozen while benefits rise, the gap between a household’s full entitlement and what it can actually receive grows a little each April.
Budgeting on a capped award
A capped award can leave very little after rent. Ask for the housing element to be paid straight to your landlord if that helps you keep up with rent. Check whether you can get Council Tax Reduction, help with water charges through a social tariff, and the Warm Home Discount, none of which count towards the cap.
Free school meals and the Healthy Start scheme also sit outside the cap. Local welfare assistance schemes run by councils can help with one-off costs such as cookers, beds or travel to a job interview.