Official Statistics

Universal Credit Health statistics: April 2019 to June 2026

Published 15 September 2026

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

This is a quarterly release of Official Statistics on the number of people on Universal Credit (UC) with a health condition or disability restricting their ability to work, the number of Work Capability Assessment (WCA) decisions made for UC, and the outcomes of these WCAs.

The next release will be on 15 December 2026.

This release covers:

• the number of people on UC health from April 2019 to June 2026 – by stage of process and personal characteristics such as age and gender

• more granular information by region and local authority

• proportions of UC claimants on UC health

• monthly WCA decisions and outcomes from April 2019 to May 2026

• claimants transitioning from Employment Support Allowance (ESA)

• medical conditions for non-ESA transition claimants undertaking a WCA

• limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) protected claimants including Severe Condition Criteria (SCC) and Special Rules End of Life (SREL), and lower entitlement cases from April 2026

UC has replaced income-related ESA for new claimants. The legacy ESA scheme closed to new claimants in January 2021. New Style ESA is a contributory benefit open to eligible claimants.

In some circumstances, UC can be claimed alongside New Style ESA. When both benefits are claimed together, WCAs are led through the UC claim and outcomes then applied to both benefits.

The Move to Universal Credit statistics process impacts UC health statistics as legacy claimants are sent migration notices inviting them to claim UC. The impacts are evident in the historic caseload and monthly decisions statistics shown below as Move to UC is now largely complete.

Within this report, an ESA transition is defined as a claimant who had an open ESA spell or an ESA spell that had closed within 90 days of the UC WCA decision date or, for the caseload, the recorded UC health start date. This will include Move to UC cases and natural migration through change in circumstances and dual claims.

1. Main stories

The statistics show, across Great Britain at June 2026:

Caseload (number of people on Universal Credit health)

• 3.6 million people were on UC health, up 680 thousand (23%) in the year. 66% of the increase is from ESA transitions

• of these, 350 thousand (10%) had acceptable medical evidence of a restricted ability to work pre-WCA; 440 thousand (12%) were assessed as limited capability for work (LCW), and 2.8 million (78%) were assessed as limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA)

• of the LCWRA caseload (at June 2026), 5% were SCC and 0.5% SREL. Almost all other claimants had protected status with an entitlement to the higher rate of LCWRA. A small number of claimants (800) are subject to the new lower LCWRA rate, however no claimant would have received this lower amount before their third Assessment Period in August 2026

• 36% were claimants who had an open ESA spell or an ESA spell that had closed within 90 days of UC health start

• of all claimants on UC health, 43% were aged 50 plus and 7% aged under 25

• of those aged under 25, 68% were assessed as LCWRA, which is 10 percentage points lower than the proportion of the total UC health caseload

Proportions of Universal Credit claimants

• in June 2026, 43% of people on UC were on UC Health – up 6 percentage points from June 2025

• within England, the region with the highest proportion of UC health cases relative to overall UC claimants is the North-East (48%), followed by North-West (46%) and South-West (45%) – and the lowest is London (35%)

• of those aged under 25, 33% of UC claimants were on UC health in June 2026

UC WCA Decisions (in the period April 2019 to May 2026)

• 4.7 million UC WCA decisions have been made in the period from April 2019 to May 2026. Of these, 13% of decisions found claimants had no limited capability for work and hence no longer on UC health, 16% limited capability for work (LCW), and 71% limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA)

• within England, the region with the highest proportion of LCWRA decisions was the North-West (73%), followed by Yorkshire and the Humber (73%) and the lowest the North-East (67%)

• In the latest quarter, 10% of decisions were from claimants who had an open ESA spell or an ESA spell that had closed within 90 days of UC WCA decision date

• Of all non-ESA transition WCA decisions in the period January 2022 to May 2026, at least 71% of WCA decisions are recorded as having mental and behavioural disorders, albeit this may not be their primary medical condition

2. What you need to know

The number of people on UC health refers to those on UC with a health condition or disability restricting their ability to work.

The sources of the statistics are:

• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) UC full service administration datasets

• Healthcare provider assessment data

The number of people on UC health includes those who have had a LCW or LCWRA decision since they made a claim for UC, as well as those who had an equivalent LCW or LCWRA decision on ESA who have subsequently migrated to UC.

Statistics are published three to four months in arrears to allow sufficient time for retrospective data to be captured in the published statistics. Further information on the sources of the statistics and on their derivation is available in Background and Methodology.

Statistics include dual claimants of both UC and New Style ESA as well as both new and repeat UC WCA decisions.

All figures in this release have been rounded according to DWP rounding policy and are subject to retrospection and revision.

The Universal Credit Act 2025 legislated for changes to rebalance Universal Credit rates from April 2026 by increasing the basic standard allowance that all customers receive, while reducing the additional health element payment for customers newly found to have LCWRA who are not protected. In support of this, our statistical Release Strategy includes planned developments to publish statistics on the higher and lower entitlement rates for the LCWRA caseload. Those with the most severe, lifelong conditions, those nearing end of life, and all existing Universal Credit health claimants as at April 2026 will continue to receive the higher rate. The data is subject to revision.

3. UC health caseload by stage of process

Most individuals claiming UC with a health condition or disability that restricts their ability to work, will have a WCA. The WCA determines whether a person has limited capability for work and, if they do, whether they also have limited capability for work-related activity.

Figure 1: Monthly Universal Credit health and Employment and Support Allowance caseload, Great Britain, April 2019 to June 2026

At June 2026, 78% of people (2.8 million) on UC health have limited capability for work and work-related activity.

Source: DWP Stat-Xplore, UC Health statistics, DWP Stat-Xplore, Benefit Combinations

At June 2026, 3.6 million people were on UC health – up 23% from June 2025, and by 2% from the month of March 2026.

Of those on the caseload at June 2026, 350 thousand (10%) had acceptable medical evidence of a restricted ability to work and were awaiting a decision, 440 thousand (12%) were assessed as limited capability for work (LCW), and 2.8 million (78%) were assessed as limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA). Of those aged under 25, 68% were assessed as LCWRA, which is 10 percentage points lower than the whole UC health caseload.

Of the LCWRA caseload at June 2026, 5% were SCC and 0.5% SREL. Almost all claimants had protected status with an entitlement to the higher rate of LCWRA. A small number of claimants (800) are subject to the new lower LCWRA rate, however no claimant would have received this lower amount before their third Assessment Period in August 2026.

At March 2026 (latest data for which ESA caseload statistics are available), 3.9 million people were on UC health or ESA - 5% more than a year ago (February 2025).

Latest published statistics on Benefit Combinations shows the number of people on either LCWRA or the ESA Support Group has increased by 63% in the period February 2020 to March 2026.

From September 2026, ESA and Benefit Combination statistics will only be updated on and annual basis, thus the ESA caseload in Figure 1 and the combined caseload metrics will only be updated in this Bulletin, annually.

Figure 2: Number of people on the Universal Credit health caseload by gender and age band, Great Britain, June 2026

There are more women on UC health than men, at every age band.

Source: DWP Stat-Xplore, UC Health statistics

At June 2026, 53% of those on UC health were female. Of all claimants, 43% were aged 50 plus and 7% aged under 25.

4. UC Health caseload by region, local area and proportion of overall Universal Credit claimants

Figure 3: Proportion of Universal Credit claimants on UC health by region, Great Britain, June 2025 and June 2026

Across Great Britain (GB), Scotland has the highest proportion of UC claimants on UC health in June 2026 at 52%. Within England, the North-East (48%) has the highest proportion of UC claimants on UC health and London (35%) the lowest.

Region	June 2025 Rate	June 2026 Rate
North East	42%	48%
North West	39%	46%
Yorkshire and The Humber	38%	44%
East Midlands	37%	43%
West Midlands	34%	40%
East of England	35%	41%
London	29%	35%
South East	34%	39%
South West	39%	45%
Wales	44%	50%
Scotland	46%	52%

Source: DWP Stat-Xplore, UC Health statistics

Across Great Britain, the number of people on UC health represents 43% of the overall number of people claiming UC in June 2026 – up 6 percentage points from June 2025.

Of all UC claimants aged under 25, 33% were on UC health in June 2026.

Proportion of Universal Credit claimants on UC health by local authority, Great Britain, June 2026

Of all local authorities, 4 (1%) have 30% or less of UC claimants on UC health, 39 out of 350 (11%) have over half of UC claimants on UC health.

Source: DWP Stat-Xplore, UC Health statistics

Group ranges are calculated to split local authorities evenly into 5 bands, so approximately 20% of local authorities fit into each group.

At local authority level, Inverclyde (58%) has the highest proportion of UC claimants on UC health in June 2026, followed by Neath Port Talbot (56%). Excluding very small local authorities where rates can be spurious, Slough (29%) has the lowest proportion of UC claimants on UC health.

5. UC Work Capability Assessment decisions and outcomes

DWP decisions are based on the WCA outcome report from the Assessment Provider (AP) together with any related evidence. A decision can also be made without a WCA referral whereby supporting evidence is sufficient without the need for an interview based WCA, including for ESA Transitional cases. Under UC policy, claimants who move to Universal Credit from the Employment and Support Allowance Support Group have their existing ESA WCA information transferred to the UC system. As a result, they are awarded LCWRA without the need to undergo a UC WCA until they are considered for reassessment. Decisions cover:

• LCW and required to participate in work related activity to help them move towards the labour market

• LCWRA and therefore not required to undertake any interviews or work related activity

• no limited capability for work and therefore no longer on UC health

Figure 5: Monthly Universal Credit WCA decisions, Great Britain, April 2019 to May 2026

In the quarter to May 2026, 53% of UC WCA decisions were for LCWRA, down from 81% in the quarter to May 2025.

Source: DWP Stat-Xplore, UC Health statistics

In the quarter to May 2026, 38% of UC WCA decisions were for claimants aged 50 plus and 13% for claimants aged under 25. 51% of decisions were for female claimants.

Of the decisions for claimants aged under 25, 58% of these decisions were for LCWRA.

In the quarter to May 2026, 23% of UC WCA decisions were Repeat decisions – up from 19% in the previous quarter, wherein an earlier UC WCA decision had been made for the same claimant, and 77% were Initial UC WCA decisions.

Of these Repeat decisions, 60% were LCWRA and 20% were LCW, for Initial decisions in the quarter to May 2026 51% were LCWRA and 15% LCW.

In the quarter to May 2026, of decisions made for claimants aged under 25, 8% were repeat decisions and 92% were initial decisions.

Cumulative Universal Credit WCA decisions, Great Britain, April 2019 to May 2026

Since April 2019, DWP have made 4.7 million decisions. Of these decisions, 13% of people were found to have no limited capability for work and hence no longer on UC health, 16% LCW, and 71% LCWRA.

The region with the highest proportion of LCWRA decisions was Wales (75%) and the lowest the North-East (67%).

Figure 6: Proportion of LCWRA decisions by local authority, Great Britain, April 2019 to May 2026

Of all local authorities, 234 (67%) have at least 7 in 10 decisions recorded as LCWRA.

Source: DWP Stat-Xplore, UC Health statistics

Group ranges are calculated to split local authorities evenly into 5 bands, so approximately 20% of local authorities fit into each group.

At local authority level, excluding very small local authorities where rates can be spurious, Westminster (79%) and Camden (77%) have the highest proportion of LCWRA decisions since April 2019. Slough (62%) has the lowest proportion.

6. Transitions from Employment and Support Allowance

Claimants transitioning from ESA to UC health, either through natural migration (through change in circumstances) or the Move to Universal Credit process which impacted historic trends in the UC health statistics as Move to UC is now largely complete.

Within this report, an ESA transition is defined as a claimant who had an open ESA spell or an ESA spell that had closed within 90 days of the UC WCA decision date or for the caseload, the recorded UC health start date. This will include both Move to UC cases and natural migration.

UC Health caseload and ESA transitions

At June 2026:

• 1.3 million (36%) of those on UC health transitioned from ESA. This is an increase of 7 percentage points from 820 thousand (28%) at June 2025

• UC Health caseload has increased by 680 thousand (23%) in the year to June 2026, 66% of the increase is from ESA transitions

• of those with LCWRA, 1.2 million (42%) were ESA transitions. This is an increase of 8 percentage points from 730 thousand (33%) from June 2025

• of all ESA transitions, 91% were for LCWRA

Figure 7: UC health caseload from ESA transitions, April 2019 to June 2026

Within the UC health caseload, there has been a notable increase in the number of ESA transitions over the last year, however the number of ESA transitions has remained largely stable in the last quarter.

Source: DWP Stat-Xplore, UC Health statistics

UC WCA decisions and ESA transitions

Between April 2019 and May 2026, 29% (1.4 million) of all UC WCA decisions were ESA transitioned cases. Of all LCWRA decisions, 36% were ESA transitioned cases. Of all UC WCA decisions in the latest quarter to May 2026:

• ESA transitions accounted for 10% (14 thousand) of decisions, compared with 56% in the quarter ending May 2025. This is now in line with the 13% recorded in the quarter ending May 2024 (before the Move to UC migration notices were extended to all ESA households)

• for those with a LCWRA decision, 12 thousand (16%) were ESA transitions. This is a decrease of 16 percentage points on the previous quarter (December 2025 to February 2026) and a decrease of 47 percentage points on the same quarter of the previous year

• of all decisions from ESA transitional cases (in the latest quarter), 82% had an outcome of LCWRA

Figure 8: UC WCA decisions from ESA transitions, April 2019 to May 2026

In May 2026, 8% of decisions were ESA transitional cases, this is a decrease of 53 percentage points from May 2025.

Source: DWP Stat-Xplore, UC Health statistics

7. UC Work Capability Assessment medical conditions

Claimants often have complex health issues and can thus be recorded with multiple conditions across International Classification of Disease (ICD10) Codes. Unlike ESA medical statistics, a primary medical condition is not recorded. As such, UC WCA medical conditions convey all recorded medical conditions, but do not relate to a primary medical condition. Mental and behavioural disorders span a wide range of conditions.

Medical condition is based on evidence recorded at the WCA, this in itself does not confer entitlement to UC. The Background and Methodology provides further information on the source of these statistics and how they are recorded, and on their coding and derivation.

Coverage is not complete for data on medical conditions for UC WCA. The rate has been falling following the Move to Universal Credit and is now less than the 70% threshold for publication. However, for non-ESA transitional cases for whom medical conditions from Medical Services Referral System (MSRS) are more likely to be recorded (see below), coverage remains above 70% and medical condition statistics continue to be published for this cohort. Of all non-ESA transitional WCA decisions in the period January 2022 to May 2026 (2.4 million), 82% have a medical condition recorded on the Medical Services Referral System (MSRS).

Those without a medical condition primarily comprise claimants for whom a decision is made without the need for an interview based WCA. These filework cases can relate to claimants who are severely or terminally ill, or have other complex conditions and thus may not be representative of the cohort of known medical conditions.

Of all non-ESA transition WCA decisions in the period January 2022 to May 2026:

• at least 71% are recorded as having mental and behavioural disorders albeit this may not be their primary medical condition. The proportion recorded as having mental and behavioural disorders is lower (53%) for claimants found capable for work, and higher for claimants found to have limited capability for work (91%)

• 49% are recorded with diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue. This proportion is higher (55%) for claimants found capable for work

Figure 9: Universal Credit non-ESA transition WCA decisions, Great Britain, January 2022 to May 2026 by medical condition (ICD summary group)

Claimants can be recorded across multiple ICD10 Classifications, but are only shown once within a Classification. Primary conditions are not recorded.

Source: DWP, UC Health statistics

8. About these statistics

The statistics in this bulletin are classified as Official Statistics. The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 defines ‘Official Statistics’ as all those statistical outputs produced by the UK Statistics Authority’s executive office (the Office for National Statistics), by central government departments and agencies, by the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and by other Crown bodies (over 200 bodies in total). The statistics in this bulletin are compliant with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The Code encourages and supports producers of statistics to maintain their independence and to ensure adequate resourcing for statistical production. It helps producers and users of statistics by setting out the necessary principles and practices to produce statistics that are trustworthy, high quality and of public value.

Plans and proposals for further developments to the statistics are shown in the Release Strategy and summarised in the DWP Statistical Work Programme. This includes plans for ethnicity breakdowns. The ethnicity data has not yet met the minimum threshold for meaningful interpretation without significant risk of bias leading to misleading results, but if the 70% coverage threshold is met, ethnicity statistics will begin to be published.

Benefit combination statistics are included as part of the annual DWP benefits statistics collection, and allow users to view the combinations of benefits that people claim at a point in time for almost all benefits administered by DWP, including Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

Key uses of the statistics include:

• providing the evidence base for assessing the potential effect of changes, monitoring and evaluation of DWP policy

• answering Parliamentary Questions and Freedom of Information requests and forecasting benefit expenditure (in conjunction with expenditure statistics)

• policy development and evaluation by local authorities and other welfare to work stakeholders and providers

Where to find out more

This statistical bulletin gives an overview of the important points and trends. More detailed breakdowns can be found via the supporting data tables and DWP’s online tabulation tool Stat-Xplore.

Read more about UC statistics and ESA-WCA statistics.

See Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper - GOV.UK for information on proposed changes to support for those with health and disability needs.

Contact information and feedback

DWP would like to hear your views on these statistics. We would be interested in hearing what you use them for and how well they meet your requirements.

Feedback and queries about the statistics can be sent to stats.consultation-2018@dwp.gov.uk.

Press enquiries should be directed to the DWP Press Office.

E-mail: newsdesk@dwp.gov.uk.

Lead Statisticians: David Leighton and Russ Bentley

ISBN: 978-1-80786-032-5