Check if the benefit cap applies and how much your benefits will be reduced.
Source: GOV.UK, Benefit cap
By Konstantin Iakovlev · Founder, Calks.uk
Last updated: · Verified against GOV.UK 2026/27 thresholds
Rates verified: 28 September 2026
Include UC (with any housing and childcare elements), Child Benefit and other counted benefits
Per month. The cap is not applied to this element, so it is taken off the reduction
Benefits Capped
Reduced by £265.00/month (£3,180.00/year)
You'll receive £1,835.00/month instead of £2,100.00/month
Benefit Cap (2026/27):
Couple or lone parent: £1,835.00/month (outside London) / £2,110.25/month (London)
Single, no children: £1,229.42/month (outside London) / £1,413.92/month (London)
For Universal Credit the whole award is reduced by the excess, less any childcare costs element.
Disclaimer
This calculator is for guidance only. It is not financial or tax advice: check anything you rely on against the official source or a qualified adviser. Rates and figures come from GOV.UK and the DWP and are reviewed for the 2026/27 tax year. Everything is calculated in your browser; nothing you enter is sent to our servers.
How It Works
The benefit cap limits the total amount of benefits a working-age household can receive. For 2026/27 the cap is £22,020 per year (£423.46/week) for couples and single parents outside London, and £25,323 per year (£486.98/week) in Greater London. Single people without children are capped at £14,753 (£283.71/week) outside London or £16,967 (£326.29/week) in London.
The cap applies to the combined total of Universal Credit, Child Benefit, Housing Benefit, Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Bereavement Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Maternity Allowance, Severe Disablement Allowance and Widowed Parent's Allowance (or the older Widowed Mother's Allowance and Widow's Pension). Tax credits no longer come into it, because they ended on 5 April 2025. Council Tax Reduction, free school meals, Healthy Start and Support for Mortgage Interest are not counted. The cap does not apply to anyone over State Pension age, although it can still apply to a couple where one partner is younger.
Some benefits exempt the household outright rather than simply being left out of the total. You are not capped if you, your partner or a child under 18 living with you gets Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Guardian's Allowance, Industrial Injuries Benefits, ESA with the support component, Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments or Armed Forces Independence Payment, a war pension or a war widow's or widower's pension. The Scottish benefits Adult Disability Payment, Child Disability Payment, Pension Age Disability Payment, Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance and Carer Support Payment exempt you too. On Universal Credit you are also exempt if your award includes the health element (limited capability for work and work-related activity) or the carer element, or if you, or you and your partner together, earn £881 or more a month after tax and National Insurance.
On Universal Credit the whole award is reduced by the amount the household is over the cap, less any childcare costs element, because the cap is not applied to help with childcare. Only people still on Housing Benefit have the cut taken from Housing Benefit. Take a couple with 2 children outside London receiving £2,100 a month in benefits. The monthly cap of £1,835 leaves £265 of excess, so their Universal Credit falls by £265 a month, or £3,180 a year. If the award included a £400 childcare costs element, there would be no cut at all. About 160,000 households in Great Britain had their Universal Credit capped in May 2026, up from about 113,000 a year earlier after the April 2026 uprating and the removal of the two-child limit, and larger families in high-rent areas are hit hardest.
Work is the main way out. The cap stops applying once you, or you and your partner together, earn £881 or more a month after tax and National Insurance, which is roughly 16 hours a week at the National Living Wage of £12.71, so a household sitting exactly on that line has almost no margin and 18 hours or more is safer. Self-employed income counts, and both partners' earnings are added together. Universal Credit also has a 9-month grace period for people who stop work or whose earnings fall, provided they (with their partner) earned at least the threshold in each of the previous 12 months. The threshold is £881 a month from 1 April 2026 and was £846 before that.
Doing the arithmetic before changing hours pays off. Once you are working, the Universal Credit childcare element reimburses 85% of registered childcare costs, and claimants with a housing element keep a work allowance of £427 a month before the taper starts. One or two extra hours a week can therefore be worth £3,000-£5,000 a year in combined income. Where the cap still bites, the council may help with rent: in England through a Housing Payment from its Crisis and Resilience Fund, which replaced Discretionary Housing Payments in April 2026, and in Scotland and Wales through a Discretionary Housing Payment. For some households moving to a lower-rent area remains the only workable answer.
Example: Couple with 2 children, outside London, £2,100 a month in benefits
- Total monthly benefits (UC including housing element, plus Child Benefit): £2,100
- Benefit cap (couple or lone parent, outside London): £1,835.00/month
- Excess above cap: £265.00/month
- No UC childcare costs element, so Universal Credit is cut by £265.00/month (£3,180/year)
- With a £400 childcare costs element the cut would be £0, as the element exceeds the £265 excess
Source: GOV.UK, Benefit cap
Frequently Asked Questions
- Will the benefit cap reduce what my household receives?
- It can, once your total working-age benefits pass the limit for your circumstances. For 2026/27 couples and single parents can receive up to £22,020 a year outside London or £25,323 in Greater London, while single people without children are capped at £14,753, or £16,967 in London. Universal Credit, Child Benefit, Housing Benefit, Jobseeker's Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and Maternity Allowance all count towards that total.
- Which benefits are exempt from the benefit cap?
- Some benefits take the household out of the cap altogether when you, your partner or a child under 18 living with you gets them: Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Carer's Allowance, Guardian's Allowance, Industrial Injuries Benefits, ESA with the support component, Armed Forces Compensation Scheme payments, Armed Forces Independence Payment, war pensions and war widow's or widower's pensions, plus the Scottish Adult Disability Payment, Child Disability Payment, Pension Age Disability Payment, Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance and Carer Support Payment. Universal Credit that includes the health element (limited capability for work and work-related activity) or the carer element also exempts you, as do earnings of £881 or more a month after tax and National Insurance. Others simply do not count towards the total, including Council Tax Reduction, free school meals, Healthy Start vouchers and Support for Mortgage Interest.
- How much do I need to earn to escape the cap?
- The cap stops applying once you, or you and your partner together, earn £881 or more a month after tax and National Insurance, which is about 16 hours a week at the National Living Wage of £12.71. Sitting exactly on that line leaves no margin for a quiet week, so 18 hours or more is the safer target. Self-employed earnings count, and the incomes of both partners are added together. If you stop work or your earnings fall, Universal Credit gives a 9-month grace period, provided you (with your partner) earned at least the threshold in each of the previous 12 months: £881 a month from 1 April 2026, or £846 before that.
- Where is the benefit cap reduction taken from?
- On Universal Credit the whole award is reduced by the amount you are over the cap, less any childcare costs element, because the cap is not applied to help with childcare. Only people still on Housing Benefit have the cut taken from Housing Benefit. A couple with 2 children outside London on £2,100 a month of benefits is £265 over the £1,835 monthly cap, so their UC falls by £265 a month; if the award included a £400 childcare costs element, there would be no cut. Larger families in high-rent areas are hit hardest.