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u/northern_lass16 August 2026

April 2026 health element cut: who is protected and who is not

Trying to set this out plainly because I have seen a lot of confusion about who it actually applies to.

New Universal Credit claimants assessed as having limited capability for work and work-related activity from April 2026 receive £217.26 a month. Claimants who were already receiving it before that date stay on the previous rate of £423.27. New claimants with severe or lifelong conditions are also protected at the higher rate.

So you can have two people with the same condition, assessed the same way, with the same outcome, receiving very different amounts of money, and the thing that decides it is when they happened to become ill.

The government's own analysis, published in March before any of this took effect, projected around 50,000 additional people in poverty by 2030 as a result.

The separate PIP four-point rule for new claimants has been delayed pending a wider review of the assessment. Delayed rather than dropped, and the review has not reported yet, so it is worth keeping an eye on.

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2 comments

  • u/paper_trail
    28

    Worth adding that you should get everything in writing wherever you can. Phone calls disappear and letters do not.

  • u/northern_lass
    3

    This is the second time this week I have seen the six month ICE deadline come up. It ought to be printed on the front of every final response letter they send.