UK benefits calculator 2026/27

Work out what a household gets from Universal Credit or Pension Credit, Child Benefit and related support, after tax and National Insurance. Change anything below and every figure updates. Save households as cases to compare them side by side, or open the Rules tab to test a change to the system.

Rates for 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027 England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland Working age and pension age Rates and thresholds you can change

Starts as a single person aged 30 with no children, no work and no housing costs. Change it to the household you want to look at.

Where the money comes from

How Universal Credit is worked out

Monthly assessment period

Income by hours worked

Hover, tap or use the arrow keys to read the values at any number of hours. Childcare costs are assumed to stay as entered whenever the selected person works, and to stop when they don't. Steps show where the benefit cap, Carer's Allowance or Scottish Child Payment start or stop.

Show the chart as a table

Work and pay

Monthly

Things to know about this result

Saved cases

Effect of your rule changes

Where each household's money comes from

Side by side

Saved cases stay in this browser on this device. They aren't sent anywhere, and clearing the browser's site data removes them.

What this calculator covers

It assumes

  • Sick pay and maternity pay are worked out from the usual hours and pay entered, as if the whole month is sick or maternity leave. Tax is worked out as if the month's income carried on for a year.
  • New Style JSA and ESA assume the National Insurance conditions are met. Sanctions use the daily rate for the number of days entered, and deductions are the amounts you enter, with the 15% cap applied.
  • Anyone working is employed (not self-employed) and paid the same amount each month. Pay entered by the week, month or year is for the hours entered, so changing the hours changes the pay at the same hourly rate.
  • A single person, or a couple who are both over State Pension age, gets Pension Credit and Housing Benefit. A couple where only one is over it claims Universal Credit.
  • Pension Credit and pension-age Housing Benefit are worked out weekly. Monthly rent is turned into a weekly figure, and so is the monthly LHA rate, which can differ from the official weekly rate by up to about £1.
  • Housing Benefit uses the higher personal allowance for anyone aged 72 or over, as they reached State Pension age before April 2021. Some people aged 71 did too.
  • Pension contributions, if entered, are taken before tax under a net pay arrangement.
  • Children aged 16 to 19 are in approved education or training.
  • Anyone marked as a carer looks after someone for at least 35 hours a week who gets a qualifying disability benefit.
  • The health element status you choose is the outcome of any assessment.
  • Weekly amounts are converted to monthly by multiplying by 52 and dividing by 12.

It leaves out

  • Council Tax Reduction (in Northern Ireland, rate relief), which depends on where you live.
  • Self-employment and the minimum income floor, and student income.
  • Statutory paternity, adoption and shared parental pay, the £27 a week Maternity Allowance for self-employed people, and sanctions on New Style JSA.
  • Transitional protection for people moved from older benefits, the old LCW element (£158.76) kept by some pre-2017 claimants, and the order in which different deductions are taken.
  • Scotland's Carer Additional Person Payment, and special rules for people in council-arranged temporary accommodation.
  • Earnings that change month to month, and the 9-month grace period before the benefit cap starts.
  • Tax-Free Childcare (you can't get it alongside UC childcare help) and free childcare hours.
  • One-off and seasonal payments such as Winter Fuel Payment, and support for mortgage interest (a loan).
  • Over State Pension age: deferred or inherited State Pension details, the assessed income period, and Housing Benefit for people in supported or temporary accommodation.
  • On the Rules tab: behaviour changes and take-up. Results show what each household would be entitled to under your rules, nothing more.

Rates used and sources

Every figure the calculator uses, with the official source. Numbers in the statements link here.

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