The Benefit Cap
The Benefit Cap is an upper limit on the amount of benefit a household can receive. It applies if you or your partner, if you have one, is of working age.
Applying the Benefit Cap
For the Benefit Cap to apply, someone in the household must receive Housing Benefit or Universal Credit.
A household means you, your partner (if you have one) and any children you are responsible for and who live with you.
Benefit Cap limits
The Benefit Cap limits are:
- £423.46 a week if your household is made up of a couple (with or without children) or you are a lone parent and you have children living with you, that you are responsible for
- £283.71 a week if you are a single person and have no children living with you
How Benefit Cap is calculated
Some of the benefits that are received by you, your partner (if you have one) and any children who live with you and you are responsible for, are added together to work out if you are above the limit.
It does not include individuals who may live in your household, who you are not responsible for.
Benefits which count towards Benefit Cap
The following benefits all count towards your household income:
- Bereavement Allowance
- Child Benefit
- Child Tax Credit
- Employment and Support Allowance (except where the support part has been awarded)
- Housing Benefit
- Incapacity Benefit
- Income Support
- Jobseeker's Allowance
- Maternity Allowance
- Severe Disablement Allowance
- Universal Credit
- Widowed Parent's Allowance
- Widowed Mother's Allowance
- Widow's Pension
- Widow's Pension (age-related)
Households not affected by Benefit Cap
The Benefit Cap does not apply to households living in Supported Exempt Accommodation.
You’re not affected by the cap if 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’re not affected by the cap if you or your partner:
- get Working Tax Credit (even if the amount you get is £0)
- 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 £793 or more a month together, after tax and National Insurance contributions
You’re also not affected by the cap if you, your partner or any children you are responsible for and live with you gets:
- Adult Disability Payment (ADP)
- Attendance Allowance
- Carer's Allowance
- Child Disability Payment
- Disability Living Allowance
- Personal Independence Payment
- Employment and Support Allowance (where the Support part has been awarded)
- Guardian's Allowance
- Industrial Injuries Benefit
- Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (Guaranteed Income Payments)
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
- War Pensions (this includes the War Widow’s/Widower’s pension and War Disablement Pension)
If you are affected, the benefit cap might not start for 9 months - depending on your earnings.
One off payments such as Discretionary Support Service payments, Bereavement payments, Cold Weather and Winter Fuel payments are excluded from the calculation.
This list is not exhaustive.
When the benefit cap affects your Universal Credit payments
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 £793 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 £658 up to 9 April 2023, £722 from 10 April 2023, and £793 from 8 April 2024)
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.
You need to report your last 12 months’ earnings when you apply for Universal Credit to get the grace period.
You will not be affected by the Benefit Cap if you or your partner get Universal Credit because you have a disability or health condition or because you care for someone with a disability or you earn £793 or more between you.
How the 9 month grace period works
If you’re already claiming Universal Credit, the grace period will start on the first day of the assessment period in which your earnings went below the earnings threshold. (The threshold was £658 up to 9 April 2023, £722 from 10 April 2023 and £793 from 8 April 2024).
If you’re making a new claim for Universal Credit, the grace period starts from either:
- the day after the last day you worked
- the payday when your earnings went below the earnings threshold (this was £658 up to 9 April 2023, £722 from 10 April 2023, and £793 from 8 April 2024)
The 9 month grace period continues if you stop claiming Universal Credit and then start again.
Example
Your 9 month grace period starts on 1 February.
You get a job on 1 May and your benefit stops. You stop work and claim again from 1 August.
Your 9 month grace period will end on 31 October.
After the 9 month grace period ends, the amount of Universal Credit you get will usually go down. It might not go down if your circumstances change and you are not affected by the benefit cap.
How Benefit Cap is administered
For those affected by the Benefit Cap, it is administered through a cut in Housing Benefit or Universal Credit.
For those getting Housing Benefit, if your household is, or becomes affected by the Benefit Cap, you will receive a Housing Benefit award notification from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, advising that your Housing Benefit amount will reduce due to the Benefit Cap.
This letter will also detail the benefits and itemised amounts used to calculate the Benefit Cap.
For those getting Universal Credit, the Benefit Cap might apply to your income from Universal Credit together with other benefits such as Child Benefit and will be shown on your Universal Credit statement if it has been applied.
Help available for affected households
Finding work could mean that the Benefit Cap would not apply to you because qualifying for Working Tax Credit will mean that you are not affected by these new rules. If you earn £793 or more per month, or you and your partner together earn £793 or more per month, after tax and National Insurance contributions, while getting Universal Credit then you will not be affected by the Benefit Cap.
You can get help finding work by contacting your nearest Jobs and Benefits office where an adviser will support you.
If you use sign language, you might be able to use the video relay service to contact Jobs and Benefits offices using British Sign Language (BSL) or Irish Sign Language (ISL). To access the service go to:
An additional Supplementary Payment, to cover any loss of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit, may be available for households with children identified as being affected by the Benefit Cap. This does not affect your tax credits entitlement and you won't have to pay any tax on it.
If you are affected by the Benefit Cap, and think you may be entitled to this payment, contact the Welfare Supplementary Payments Team to check if you are eligible. The payments will cover any loss of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit.
The Supplementary Payments are made every four weeks in arrears and are paid to the person who receives the Housing Benefit or Universal Credit - this could be the claimant, their landlord or a letting agent acting on the landlord’s behalf.
Any landlords or letting agents must be on the Landlord Register to receive a Supplementary Payment where applicable. If they are not, the payments are made to the benefit claimant.
Anyone affected by the Benefit Cap who is not eligible for a Supplementary Payment, may be eligible to apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment to make up for a cut in their Housing Benefit.
More information
More information on finding work/claiming Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit can be found at:
More information on Housing Benefit and claiming Discretionary Housing Payment can be found at:
More information on Benefit Cap can be found at: