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Guidance

Universal Credit statistics: background information and methodology

Information about Universal Credit statistics methodology including the purpose, source, definitions and limitations of the statistics covered.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Work and Pensions
Published:
20 April 2016
Last updated:
18 August 2026
Show all updates

  1. Updated the guidance on immigration status and nationality statistics.

  2. Updated the 'Immigration status and Nationality for Universal Credit claimants' information in section 2 of the background information and methodology.

  3. The UCOS background information and methodology webpage has been updated. This is in particular to update information on ethnicity data handling and methodology, update employment information given the addition of self employed info to that data. Finally, there is the change in publication frequency of the statistics from monthly to quarterly.

  4. Added information about the move to Universal Credit, as well as updating age group categorisation

  5. A link has been added to find further information about changes to DWP statistical geographies in National and Official statistics. Information has been added about immigration status checks for Universal Credit claimants.

  6. Updated the Geographic Coverage section due to change to Census Output Area (COA) Geographies 2021.

  7. Updates to the 'Immigration status and Nationality for Universal Credit claimants' section on Universal Credit statistics: background information and methodology to make the new statistics on nationality and immigration status clearer.

  8. Added a new section: 'Immigration status and Nationality for Universal Credit claimants' to 'Universal Credit statistics: background information and methodology'. And updated the 'Universal Credit Timeline'. The latest release of Universal Credit statistics has been published today, 15 July 2025.

  9. Added information about the Universal Credit official statistics release which is routinely published on the second Tuesday of each month, unless there is need for a scheduling adjustment.

  10. Information regarding November 2024 statistics added along with increasing age duration bands.

  11. Revised the 'Universal Credit statistics: background information and methodology' by updating the information about Ethnicity for Universal Credit claimants. The latest release of Universal Credit statistics has been published today, 14 May 2024.

  12. The paragraph about 'Changes to the information used to determine employment status' in section 3 has been updated. The latest release of Universal Credit statistics has been published today, 13 February 2023.

  13. Updated 'Universal Credit statistics: background information and methodology' by adding a new paragraph headed 'Regulation' in section 6, 'Status and administrative procedures for these statistics'.

  14. Published a revised version of the 'Universal Credit statistics: background information and methodology'. Changes made throughout to reflect that the experimental label has been removed from the Universal Credit statistics and they are now classed as ‘official statistics’. The section on 'System changes affecting the statistics' has also been updated. The latest release of Universal Credit statistics has been published today, 15 August 2023.

  15. Added new information to section 3 (Methodology) about changes to the information used to determine employment status. The latest release of Universal Credit statistics has been published today (14 February 2023).

  16. Added additional information about People on Universal Credit, and additional information about the Customer Information System (CIS) and postcode validation to section 3 (Methodology). The latest release of Universal Credit statistics has been published today (15 November 2022).

  17. Added information about being gainfully self-employed to Universal Credit statistics: background information and methodology.

  18. Changes made to information about 'Ethnicity for Universal Credit claimants' in section 2 (Background information), 'Revisions of people on Universal Credit statistics' in section 4 (Revisions), and 'Geographic coverage' in section 6 (Status and administrative procedures for these statistics). The latest release of Universal Credit statistics has been published today (17 May 2022).

  19. Updated the ethnicity percentage and month in section 2. Updated the Universal Credit timelines for April 2017 and April, July, October and November 2021 in section 2. Updated the revisions table in section 4. The latest release of Universal Credit statistics has been published today (15 February 2022).

  20. Updated the information in section 4 about revisions of people on Universal Credit statistics. The latest release of Universal Credit statistics has been published today (16 November 2021).

  21. Revised background note now includes updated information about ethnicity for Universal Credit claimants in section 2 (Background information). Section 3 (Methodology) has revised information about Employment and Family types, and new information about Children in Universal Credit Households. In section 4 (Revisions) a table has been added about Revisions of people on Universal Credit statistics. In the glossary (section 8) the definition of employment has been updated. The latest release of Universal Statistics has been published today (17 August 2020).

  22. Updated the information about changes made to Universal Credit in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This note has been updated to support the latest release of Universal Credit statistics (also published today, 18 May 2020).

  23. Added information on new measures being introduced this month on Removal of Spare Room Subsidy and Local Housing Allowance indicator, made changes to meet accessibility requirements and some other general tidying of the content. The latest release of Universal Credit statistics has been published today, 23 February 2020.

  24. Revised to support the latest release of Universal Statistics, also published today (11 August 2020). The background note now includes new information about ethnicity for Universal Credit claimants.

  25. Revised background note, includes new information on the effect of coronavirus (COVID-19). The latest release of Universal Credit statistics has also been published today, Tuesday 19 May 2020.

  26. Updated background information and methodology - revised to support today's (21 April 2020) release of Universal Credit statistics.

  27. Extensive update to this background information and methodology note has been made to support the latest release of the Universal Credit statistics, also published today (18 February 2020).

  28. Added list of jobcentre groups, districts and offices by Universal Credit implementation date to October 2019.

  29. Updated to coincide with today's release of Universal Credit statistics, includes additional information about the people on Universal Credit measure.

  30. Updated background note, includes new information about payment timeliness and revised list of useful links.

  31. Updated background information and methodology document - revised to support the latest release of Universal Credit statistics on 19 February 2018. The revised version is dated February 2019.

  32. Updated background information and methodology document - revised to support the latest release of Universal Credit statistics on 13 November 2018. The revised version (now dated November 2018) includes new information about Payment Timeliness.

  33. Updated background information and methodology document - revised to support the latest release of Universal Credit statistics on 11 September 2018. The revised version (now dated September 2018) includes updated information about the source of the statistics, and new information on Split Payments and More Frequent Payments.

  34. Updated background information and methodology document - revised to support the latest release of Universal Credit statistics on 12 June 2018. The revised version (now dated July 2018) includes new information on conditionality regime data - see page 5 of the publication.

  35. Updated background information and methodology document - revised to support the latest release of Universal Credit statistics on 12 June 2018. The new version (dated June 2018) includes revised information about incomplete Jobcentre Plus office data for the period January 2018 to April 2018.

  36. Added revised background information and methodology document dated May 2018. The revised document includes: information on incomplete Jobcentre Plus office data between January and April 2018, information on a methodology change applied to the full people on Universal Credit backseries, and a new feedback email address.

  37. Updated background information and methodology document - revised the narrative and graphs on pages 10 and 12.

  38. Updated background information and methodology document - revised to support the December release of the Universal Credit statistics. The revised version is dated January 2018.

  39. Updated background information and methodology document - revised to support the October release of the Universal Credit statistics. The revised version is dated October 2017.

  40. Revised background information and methodology document, updated to include details about a revision to the household statistics. The new version is dated September 2017.

  41. Revised background information and methodology document, new version is dated June 2017.

  42. Revised background information and methodology document, new version is dated May 2017.

  43. Revised background information and methodology document, new version is dated March 2017.

  44. Revised background information and methodology document with added section on 'Data confidentiality'.

  45. Revised background information and methodology document due to incorporating Universal Credit full service data into the statistics - see page 6 of document for full explanation. The revised document is dated November 2016.

  46. Revised background information and methodology document - 'Revisions to the statistics' section.

  47. Updated background information and methodology document - revised to support the September release of the Universal Credit statistics. The revised version is still dated March 2016.

  48. Updated background information and methodology document - revised to support the August release of the Universal Credit statistics. The revised version is still dated March 2016.

  49. Updated the background information and methodology for Universal Credit statistics - includes revised information about the Universal Credit national roll-out of the full service.

  50. Updated the background information and methodology for Universal Credit statistics - includes revised information about the roll-out of Universal Credit. The revised version is still dated March 2016.

  51. First published.

Documents

Universal Credit statistics: background information and methodology

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Details

The Universal Credit statistics show how many people have claimed, started and are currently on Universal Credit. The statistics also show how many households are on Universal Credit.

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