The benefit cap is:
- £384.62 per week (£20,000 a year) if you’re in a couple
- £384.62 per week (£20,000 a year) if you’re a single parent and your children live with you
- £257.69 per week (£13,400 a year) if you’re a single adult
When the benefit cap affects your universal credit payments
The benefit cap might not affect your universal credit payments for up to nine 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 £658 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 £617 up to 11 April 2022 and is £658 from 12 April 2021)
Find out if you are affected the by the benefit cap.