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 2027England, Wales, Scotland and Northern IrelandWorking age and pension ageRates and thresholds you can change
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
How much of each extra hour is kept
Show the rates as a table
Against the poverty line
Relative low income (60% of median income)
Income against the line as hours change
Show the chart as a table
How the poverty lines are set
The poverty line is 60% of median household income. The latest official figures are for 2024/25: £431.40 a week before housing costs and £373.80 after, for a couple with no children.65,66 Lines for other households are scaled for the number of adults and children.72
To bring the line to 2026/27 it moves with median income. That's set to 6.6% here, the same as inflation over the two years, so the line holds its value in real terms.70,76 Change it if you expect incomes to grow faster or slower.
Before housing costs, income is after Council Tax, with any Council Tax Reduction counted as income. After housing costs, rent or other housing costs come off too.67
Work and pay
Monthly
Things to know about this result
Saved cases
No saved cases yet
Set up a household in the calculator and press Save this case. Or start with a set of example households to see how different families fare, and how a change to the rules affects each of them.
One image of the households you choose, for reports, slides and posts
Saved cases stay in this browser on this device. They aren't sent anywhere, and clearing the browser's site data removes them.
Help and information
How to use the calculator, what the results mean, and what it can and can't do. It's built for policy colleagues and advisers who want to see how the 2026/27 rules work for a household, and how a change to the rules would affect it.
Getting started
Start on the Calculator page. It opens with a single person aged 30, with no work, no children and no housing costs.
Change the household on the left. The details are in four tabs: People, Work and money, Home and childcare and Other (students, prison, immigration, sanctions and deductions). A dot on a tab shows something has been set there. Every figure updates as you go, and the card at the top of the results shows the household you're looking at.
Read the results in three tabs: This month, Work and hours and Poverty line. Use Week, Month or Year in the summary to change the period.
Press Save this case to keep the household, then compare saved households on the Saved cases page.
Press Reset household to go back to the starting point. If you've changed the rules, the button becomes Reset and asks whether to reset the household, the rule changes or both. You can undo a reset for a few seconds afterwards.
Setting up the household
Where you live
The nation sets income tax (Scotland has its own rates), devolved payments such as Scottish Child Payment, and the Local Housing Allowance areas. Tick Greater London for the higher benefit cap.
Ages
Age decides whether someone is over State Pension age, which moves a household from Universal Credit to Pension Credit. At 16 or 17, extra questions appear because Universal Credit is only paid in certain cases.
Work and pay
Enter hours and pay per hour, week, month or year. Pay is held as an hourly rate, so changing the hours changes pay at the same rate. You can also show someone off sick or on maternity leave, or on New Style JSA or ESA.
Pension age
State Pension starts at £0, so the result shows Pension Credit on its own. Add the State Pension actually paid. For people aged 73 to 75 you can say whether they reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, which decides the type of State Pension and whether savings credit can be paid.
Housing
Choose private rent, council or housing association, own home or no housing costs. For private renters, pick the Local Housing Allowance area. Enter the Council Tax bill to include Council Tax Reduction, either on a standard scheme or with your council's settings.
Childcare
Enter a set amount a month, or an hourly rate. With an hourly rate, the hours can follow working hours (so costs rise as hours go up) or be set directly, for example 10 hours of after-school care. Universal Credit pays back 85% of eligible costs up to a limit.
Health and caring
Choose the outcome of any work capability assessment, disability benefits and caring. These change Universal Credit elements, the work allowance and the benefit cap.
Students, prison and immigration
Full-time students, people in prison and people with no recourse to public funds are treated differently. The calculator shows who can claim and why, and when a partner claims as a single person.
Savings, sanctions and deductions
Savings affect means-tested benefits. You can add a sanction, a hardship payment and deductions from Universal Credit, with the 15% cap applied.
Reading the results
This month shows where the money comes from, line by line, how Universal Credit (or Pension Credit and Housing Benefit) is worked out, and notes about the result. The small numbers link to the official source for each figure.
Household income is take-home pay, pensions and benefits, after tax and National Insurance. Left after housing and childcare takes off rent or mortgage, Council Tax and childcare.
Amounts are monthly unless you choose Week or Year. Universal Credit is assessed monthly. Pension Credit and pension-age Housing Benefit are weekly, converted at 52 weeks over 12 months.
Work incentives and marginal deduction rates
The Work and hours tab shows household income at every number of hours from 0 to 50, for you or your partner. Childcare costs follow the hours if you entered an hourly rate.
The marginal deduction rate is the share of each extra pound of pay before tax that the household doesn't keep, because of income tax, National Insurance, pension contributions and lower benefits (including Council Tax Reduction). A rate of 70% means 30p of each extra £1 is kept. Over 100% means working the extra hour leaves the household worse off. A negative rate means income rises by more than the extra pay, for example when more hours lift the benefit cap.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys on a chart to see the breakdown for any hour. Each chart also has a table view.
The poverty line
The Poverty line tab compares the household's income with the relative low income line: 60% of median household income, as used in the official Households Below Average Income statistics.65,66 You can choose before or after housing costs.
The line is scaled for the size of the household, so a single person's line is lower than a couple's.72 The latest official figures are for 2024/25, so the line is moved on to 2026/27 by an assumed rise in median income, which you can change.
This is a guide to where one household sits, not an official poverty statistic. The official figures cover everyone in the household and average over a whole year.
Testing a change to the rules
Open the Rules tab next to Your household. Change any rate, threshold, taper or allowance, switch off the benefit cap or the two-child limit, or let mixed-age couples get Pension Credit as they could before May 2019.
Once a rule is changed, the results show your rules and the 2026/27 rules side by side, with the difference. Rule changes show what each household would be entitled to. They don't model changes in behaviour or take-up.
To compare a reform across several households, save each one under the 2026/27 rules, then change the rules and save each again as a new case. On the Saved cases page, choose the 2026/27 version as the reference case to see the gain or loss.
Saved cases, links and infographics
Saved cases lets you keep up to 20 cases and compare them. Each case is a household together with the rules it was saved under, so the same household under the 2026/27 rules and under a reform are two separate cards. Choose a reference case at the top of the page and every other case shows how much more or less it gets, with what drives the difference. There's also a chart of where each household's money comes from and a side by side table. Add example cases gives a ready-made set to start from, including one reform.
Copy link makes a link to a household (and any rule changes). Anyone who opens it sees the same household and can change it. The details are held in the link itself.
Make an infographic, at the bottom of the Saved cases page, turns the households you choose into a single image for reports, slides and posts. Download it as a PNG, or as an SVG that stays sharp at any size.
Privacy
Nothing you enter is sent anywhere. The calculation runs in your browser. The household you're working on and any rule changes last only until you close the page, so each visit starts afresh. Saved cases are kept in this browser on this device so they are still there next time, and clearing the browser's site data removes them. Avoid putting names or other personal details into case names, particularly if you share links or images.
Accuracy and limits
Rates are the official 2026/27 figures, each linked to its source under Rates used and sources. The calculator is checked against hand-worked examples, but it is an estimate based on what is entered, not advice. It leaves some things out, such as self-employment, transitional protection and local Council Tax Reduction schemes that use income bands. See What this calculator covers for the full list.
For a full check of someone's entitlement, use one of the independent benefits calculators listed on GOV.UK, or talk to a welfare rights adviser.
Words used
Maximum amount
The Universal Credit a household would get with no income: the standard allowance plus any elements for children, health, caring, childcare and housing.
Work allowance
Earnings that don't reduce Universal Credit, for households with children or limited capability for work.
Taper
How much benefit is withdrawn for each extra pound of income. Universal Credit's taper is 55% of take-home pay above any work allowance.
LCW and LCWRA
Limited capability for work, and limited capability for work and work-related activity, from the work capability assessment. LCWRA brings the health element.
Benefit cap
A limit on total benefits for working-age households, which doesn't apply when earnings are high enough or someone gets certain disability or carer benefits.
Local Housing Allowance
The most Universal Credit or Housing Benefit will pay towards private rent, set by area and number of bedrooms.
Before and after housing costs
Income before or after paying rent, mortgage interest and similar costs. After housing costs shows what is left to live on.
Council Tax Reduction
Help with Council Tax for people on low incomes (in Northern Ireland, help with rates). Councils in England set their own working-age schemes.
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 aged 16 or 17, a full-time student, someone in prison or someone with no recourse to public funds is only treated that way if you say so under "Students, prison and immigration". Everyone is assumed to live in the UK and meet the residence rules.
Student income is the yearly amount you enter, spread over the months of the course. Nothing is counted in the summer break.
Hourly childcare is needed for the hours a lone parent works, or the hours both partners are at work, for 52 weeks a year.
The poverty line is the 2024/25 line moved on to 2026/27 with the growth in median income shown with the chart.
Council Tax Reduction uses a standard scheme unless you set your council's: up to the full bill, less 20% of income above the UC maximum amount (15% for rates in Northern Ireland). Pension-age households follow the national rules.
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.
Over State Pension age, State Pension starts at £0 so the result shows Pension Credit on its own. Add the State Pension actually paid. Whether someone reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 decides both the type of State Pension and whether savings credit can be paid.
Weekly amounts are converted to monthly by multiplying by 52 and dividing by 12.
It leaves out
Local Council Tax Reduction schemes that use income bands, deductions for other adults, the second adult rebate, and Council Tax discounts and exemptions (enter the bill after any discount).
Self-employment and the minimum income floor.
Part-time students, the rules for 19 year olds in school or college, pension-age students and prisoners, hospital and care home stays, and time abroad.
Exceptions to the immigration rules, such as refugees, people with settled status and some family members. Get immigration advice before claiming.
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). Free childcare hours only count if you enter them with an hourly rate.
In the poverty comparison: other adults living with you, water charges, and the way official figures average income over the households surveyed.
Shared links hold the household and rule changes in the link itself. Nothing is sent anywhere or stored online.
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.