The benefit cap is a limit on the total amount of benefit you can get. It applies to most people aged 16 or over who have not reached State Pension age.

The benefit cap affects:

• Universal Credit
• Bereavement Allowance
• Child Benefit
• Employment and Support Allowance
• Housing Benefit
• Incapacity Benefit
• Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Maternity Allowance
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• Widowed Parent’s Allowance (or Widowed Mother’s Allowance or Widow’s Pension if you started getting it before 9 April 2001)

You might not be affected by the benefit cap if you get certain benefits or you’re over State Pension age.

If you’re part of a couple and one of you is under State Pension age, the cap may apply.

You could be affected if you are unemployed and able to work or you (and any resident partner) are earning less than £881 a month.

You’re not affected by the cap if you or your partner:

• get Universal Credit because of a disability or health condition that stops you from working (this is called ‘limited capability for work and work-related activity’)
• get Universal Credit because you care for someone with a disability
• get Universal Credit and you and your partner earn £881 or more a month combined, after tax and National Insurance contributions
• If you’re claiming Universal Credit the benefit cap might not start for 9 months, depending on your earnings

You’re also not affected by the cap if you, your partner or any children under 18 living with you gets:

• Adult Disability Payment (ADP)
• Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
• Armed Forces Independence Payment
• Attendance Allowance
• Carer’s Allowance
• Carer Support Payment
• Child Disability Payment
• Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• Employment and Support Allowance (if you get the support component)
• Guardian’s Allowance
• Industrial Injuries Benefits (and equivalent payments as part of a War Disablement Pension or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme)
• Pension Age Disability Payment
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance (SADLA)
• War pensions
• War Widow’s or War Widower’s Pension

The benefit cap might not affect your Universal Credit payments for up to 9 months. This is called the ‘grace period’.

You’ll get the grace period if all of the following are true:

• you’re claiming Universal Credit because you stopped working or your earnings went down
• you’re now earning less than £881 a month
• in each of the 12 months before your earnings went down or you stopped working, you earned the same as or more than the earnings threshold (this was £846 up to 31 March 2026 and is £881 from 1 April 2026)

Your partner’s earnings will be included when working out how much you earned even if they’re not claiming benefits. If you have separated from your partner, their earnings will be included for the time that you lived with them before you separated.

Help if you're affected by the benefit cap

Contact the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) if you’re affected by the benefit cap and you need help.

If you need help paying your rent or a rent deposit/rent in advance, you can check if you’re eligible for help and apply for a Crisis and Resilience Housing Payment 

If you get Universal Credit

Contact DWP either:

• through the journal in your online account
• by calling the Universal Credit helpline

If you get any other benefits

Benefit cap helpline if you do not get Universal Credit

Telephone 0800 169 0145