UC health element split: £429.80 vs £217.26 a month
The Universal Credit and PIP Act 2025 split the UC health element by claim date. Universal Credit is paid monthly. Existing LCWRA claimants and those with severe lifelong conditions retain the protected monthly rate of £429.80 for 2026/27. New claims from 6 April 2026 receive the lower rate of £217.26 a month, roughly half, frozen to 2029/30. PIP itself is wholly unaffected by this change.
The two rates at a glance
| Cohort | Per month (statutory) | Weekly equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Existing LCWRA (protected) | £429.80 | £99.18 |
| New claim from 6 April 2026 | £217.26 | £50.14 |
Monthly figures are the statutory 2026/27 amounts (UC and PIP Act 2025; SI 2026/113). Weekly equivalents are monthly times 12 divided by 52. The protected rate continues to be uprated; the new-claim rate is frozen to 2029/30.
The severe-lifelong-conditions exemption
The Act provided for an exemption preserving the legacy rate for new claims where the claimant has a severe lifelong condition. The Department has published a draft list (terminal illness, certain cancers, advanced neurological conditions, profound learning disability). The list may be refined via the Timms Review.
How this interacts with PIP
The UC health element and PIP are paid separately. Receiving PIP does not automatically trigger the UC health element; you must have a separate Work Capability Assessment outcome of LCWRA. PIP receipt is treated as strong evidence in the LCWRA assessment.
If your LCWRA award is reconsidered
Reconsideration of an existing LCWRA award does not, in itself, move you to the new lower rate. The lower rate applies to genuinely new claims after commencement. Get a welfare-rights review before agreeing to anything that could be read as a fresh claim.