Universal Credit: Carers

(asked on 16th December 2025) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions,how many households include (a) one, (b) two and (c) three or more people in receipt of Carer’s Element in the latest period for which data is available.


Answered by
Stephen Timms Portrait
Stephen Timms
Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 14th January 2026

There is a maximum of two claimants on a Universal Credit (UC) claim therefore there cannot be 3 or more claimants on the UC claim being attributed with the carer’s element.

a) In August 2025, 1,045,000 UC households had the UC carer's element of £201.68 for one claimant.

b) In August 2025, 37,000 UC households had the UC carer's element of two lots of £201.68 – one attributed to each claimant on a joint claim.

Notes:

  1. Figures are for GB.
  2. Figures relate to UC claims with an assessment period covering the 2nd Thursday of the month.
  3. Figures are rounded to nearest 1,000.
  4. Nil award claims are not included. However, some UC claims will have been reduced for adjusting factors such as capital, earnings and other income.
  5. Household in this definition is a single person or couple living together, and any child dependants. This may also be known as a benefit unit.
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