Official Statistics

Universal Credit deductions statistics September 2024 to August 2025

Updated 11 November 2025

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

This release includes statistics on:

• the number of households with deductions from their Universal Credit (UC) entitlement
• the average amount deducted in total, and for each of the three main deduction types:
  • advances
  • third-party
  • government deductions (see the What you need to know section for more information on types of deduction)
• the distribution of the proportion of the UC standard allowance deducted
• the combination of deductions applied to UC households

Where appropriate, these figures are broken down by region, local authority and parliamentary constituency. More detailed breakdowns are available in the supplementary tables.

What you need to know

A “deduction” refers to an amount of money taken off the monthly UC entitlement amount towards reducing a debt owed to the government or other organisation^{[footnote 1]}. Deductions are subtracted from the monthly UC entitlement after any adjustments have been made to account for the household’s financial circumstances e.g. earnings.

There are three main types of deduction:

• Advances – deductions taken towards the repayment of a UC advance payment. The four types of UC advances are: new claim, benefit transfer, change of circumstances and budgeting^{[footnote 2]}
• Third Party Deductions (TPD) – deductions for money owed by the UC household to organisations such as energy companies or landlords
• Government Deductions – deductions for money owed to government organisations such as the DWP or HMRC

The amount deducted for each debt depends on the type of debt and combination of debts owed by the household. In most cases, the maximum amount that can be deducted from a UC household was capped at 25% of the monthly UC standard allowance before June 2025 and 15% from June 2025 onwards (following the introduction of the Fair Repayment Rate in April 2025 – see The Fair Repayment Rate section for more information).

There is a priority order of deductions, starting with advances, followed by third-party debts like rent and utility arrears, then government debts such as social fund loans and tax credit overpayments. Any deductions that would push the total amount deducted above the overall deduction cap are not taken but are addressed when there is room within the cap. Therefore, for households with multiple debt types, deductions for debts further down the priority order are more likely to push the total amount over the cap, and so would not be taken.

The overall deduction cap can be exceeded only for ‘last resort deductions’, which are child maintenance payments, housing cost arrears (rent and or service charges) and gas and electricity arrears. This helps ensure child maintenance obligations are met, prevents eviction, and avoids disconnection of essential utilities^{[footnote 3]}.

The Fair Repayment Rate

The Fair Repayment Rate (FRR) was introduced on 30 April 2025. The FRR applies to households with assessment periods starting from 30 April 2025. Therefore, the first payments under the FRR were paid to affected households from June 2025 and the effects can be seen from this date onwards. The FRR reduced the maximum amount that can be deducted from UC households from 25% to 15% of standard allowance.

Along with the FRR, child maintenance has been designated as a Last Resort Deduction (LRD). This means it can breach the 15% cap to ensure child maintenance payments are met.

Main stories

The headline statistics are:

• approximately 3.1 million UC households (46% of all UC households) had one or more deductions taken from their UC entitlement in August 2025. The number of households with a deduction has increased over the past year in line with the UC caseload increasing.
• North East England has the largest proportion of UC households with one or more deductions, at 53%. South West England has the lowest proportion, at 41%
• the average monthly amount deducted has reduced over the past few months from £67 in May 2025 to £52 in August 2025. This is due to the introduction of the Fair Repayment Rate on 30 April 2025 (see The Fair Repayment Rate section for more information)
• around 22% of UC households had deductions capped at 15% of their Universal Credit standard allowance, a further 3% had deductions taken over the cap to help pay child maintenance, prevent eviction or disconnection of their energy supply in August 2025. The percentage of UC households with deductions capped at 15% has increased over the past few months due to the introduction of the Fair Repayment Rate

Households with deductions from their UC entitlement

Figure 1: Number and proportion of households with one or more deductions from their monthly UC entitlement, September 2024 to August 2025

3.1 million UC households had one or more deductions taken from their UC entitlement in August 2025. This is 400,000 more households than had a deduction in September 2024. The proportion of all UC households with a deduction was around 46% in August 2025. This proportion has been relatively stable over the past 12 months.

Figure 2: Distribution of total deduction amount relative to the standard allowance, September 2024 to August 2025

22% of UC households had monthly deductions capped at 15% of Standard Allowance (SA) in August 2025 – these proportions have changed since May 2025 due to the introduction of the Fair Repayment Rate. A further 3% had monthly deductions at over the 15% cap. The cap can only be exceeded in certain circumstances, for example where there is a risk that the household may fail to pay child maintenance, face eviction or have their energy supply disconnected if they do not repay some of an outstanding debt.

Deductions by type of deduction

Figure 3: Proportion of UC households with each deduction type

The proportion of UC households with an advance deduction is relatively stable over time. The proportion of UC households with a third party and government deduction has decreased since June 2025, when the Fair Repayment Rate started to take effect. Advances have not been affected by the introduction of the Fair Repayment Rate as much as government and third party deductions because advances are the first deduction to be repaid, so households are likely to hit the 15% cap sooner and will be unable to repay government and third part debts.

Advances were the most common with 32% of UC households repaying advance debt in August 2025. Government deductions were the second most common, at 21%, followed by third party deductions at 10%.

Mean amount deducted per UC household

Figure 4: Average (mean) monthly UC household deduction by deduction type

The mean total deduction amount for UC households has decreased from £67 in May 2025 to £52 in August 2025. This is due to the introduction of the Fair Repayment Rate. In August 2025, the mean deduction amount for government deductions was £41, for advances it was £37 and for third party deductions it was £35.

Advance repayment amounts are usually fixed for the lifetime of the advance repayment period. The maximum repayment period for budgeting advances increased from 12 months to 24 months in December 2024.

Combinations of deductions

Of all the UC households with a deduction, around 39% had deductions for advances only in August 2025 – the most common deduction type. This has increased since May 2025 due to the Fair Repayment Rate because advances are the first deduction to be repaid, so households are likely to hit the 15% cap sooner and will be unable to repay third party and government debts.

There has been some variation in the trends in deduction combinations over the past three months:

• an increase in the proportion of households with advance deductions only
• a reduction in the proportion of households with a combination of advance deductions, third party deductions and government deductions

The annual uprating of the standard allowance happened in April 2025. Since most deductions are set at a fixed percentage of the standard allowance, as the standard allowance increases, the deduction amount also increases. However, deduction amounts for advances are set at a fixed monetary amount agreed with the claimant(s) when the advance is taken out. Therefore, households with advance deductions may then be able to make repayments towards other debts that will now fit within the standard allowance cap, which potentially leads to these debts being paid off sooner.

Figure 5: Proportion of UC households with a deduction by specified combinations of deductions

The proportion of households with advance deductions only has increased since the introduction of the Fair Repayment Rate because advances are the first deduction to be repaid, so households are likely to hit the 15% cap sooner and will be unable to repay third party and government debts.

Since the introduction of the Fair Repayment Rate, the proportion of households with a combination of advance deductions, third party deductions and government deductions has decreased. This is because households with more than one deduction are more likely to hit the 15% cap and, as a result, will not be able to repay some third party or government debts.

Regional breakdown of deductions

The table below provides the regional breakdown of UC households, the number and proportion of households with one or more deductions and the total and average amount deducted.

Around 46% of all Universal Credits households in Great Britain had one or more deduction from their UC entitlement in August 2025. The mean monthly deduction amount was £52.

The table shows that North East England has the largest proportion of UC households with one or more deductions, at 53%. Whereas South West England has the lowest proportion, at 41%. UC households with a deduction have similar average monthly deduction amounts across Great Britain, at between £51 and £53, with the overall average being £52. Further breakdowns by local authority and parliamentary constituency are available in the accompanying supplementary data tables.

Figure 6: Regional breakdown of UC households with deductions in August 2025.

August 2025	UC Households with one or more deductions	Proportion of UC households with one or more deductions	Total amount deducted	Average monthly deduction per household
All	3,100,000	46%	£162,000,000	£52
North East	170,000	53%	£9,000,000	£52
North West	450,000	51%	£23,000,000	£52
Yorkshire and The Humber	310,000	49%	£16,000,000	£51
East Midlands	220,000	45%	£11,000,000	£51
West Midlands	320,000	46%	£16,000,000	£51
East of England	230,000	43%	£12,000,000	£52
London	470,000	44%	£25,000,000	£53
South East	320,000	43%	£16,000,000	£51
South West	200,000	41%	£10,000,000	£51
Wales	170,000	49%	£8,800,000	£51
Scotland	290,000	50%	£15,000,000	£51

About these statistics

These statistics have been classed as official statistics in development.

All figures in this publication are derived from Universal Credit administrative data.

Figures are provisional and may be subject to minor changes in subsequent releases. This is partly because a household’s UC entitlement, and therefore appropriate deductions, can be altered retrospectively e.g. if evidence is received late. This means that the number of households with deductions for any given month may be revised in subsequent releases.

All figures are for Great Britain only. Figures in tables are rounded according to the following convention:

Range	Rounded to the nearest
0 to 1,000	10
1,001 to 10,000	100
10,001 to 100,000	1,000
100,001 to 1,000,000	10,000
1,000,001 to 10,000,000	100,000
Over 10,000,000	1,000,000

Percentages are rounded to the nearest 1% and average monetary amounts have been rounded to the nearest £1.

Figures in charts are based on unrounded numbers. Therefore, charts may show trends not visible in the supplementary tables.

Notes

This bulletin counts households by the month their UC payment was received, whereas the main Universal Credit statistics count households whose assessment period spans a particular date in each month.

When information is given for regions of Great Britain, this is derived from the claimants’ residential address.

For the full data, see the supplementary data tables published alongside this release.

The following changes to deductions policy have been implemented recently:

• December 2024 – Increasing the maximum repayment period for budgeting advances from 12 months to 24 months^{[footnote 4]}
• April 2025 – The Fair Repayment Rate, which caps the overall deduction rate applied to deductions from Universal Credit (UC) at 15% of the UC claimant’s standard allowance^{[footnote 5]}

Further information and feedback

Lead Statistician: Owen Magrath

Analysts: Thomas Milner, Ayaan Halim

Email: ucad.briefinganalysis@dwp.gov.uk

1. Fraud penalties and benefit sanctions are considered to be reductions to the UC entitlement and are excluded from these statistics. ↩

2. Read more information on Universal Credit advances ↩

3. Read more information on deduction types ↩

4. Read more information on the Spring Budget 2024 changes ↩

5. Read more information on the Autumn Budget 2024 changes ↩