Guidance

Benefit cap statistics: background information and methodology

Updated 19 September 2023

The latest release of statistics can be found in the collection of benefit cap statistics.

Context of the statistics

There is a limit on the total amount of benefits that most working age people can get. This is called the benefit cap.

Benefits affected by the cap

The benefit cap applies to the combined income from:

• Bereavement Allowance
• Child Benefit
• Child Tax Credit
• Employment and Support Allowance (except when the Support Component is in payment)
• Housing Benefit (HB)
• Incapacity Benefit
• Income Support
• Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Maternity Allowance
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• Widowed Parent’s Allowance (or Widowed Mother’s Allowance or Widow’s Pension if you started getting it before 9 April 2001)
• Universal Credit (UC)

The cap is applied by reducing the amount of benefit a household receives, so that the total household benefit no longer sums to more than the cap level. The benefit cap can be applied through either:

• UC
• HB

Unlike legacy benefits, UC is assessed and paid monthly and it is calculated based on the household circumstances. The benefit cap is applied to the full UC award, not just to housing costs.

The benefit cap for UC is calculated as:

• Calculate the UC maximum amount (the standard allowance plus any elements, for example housing costs and child elements)
• Deduct for any earnings or income (for example, savings)
• Compare this revised UC amount with the cap level
• Reduce the UC amount to the cap level, if relevant
• Take into account any loans, advances or penalties

Benefits not included in the cap

A household is not capped if someone in the household is:

• working enough hours to get Working Tax Credit (WTC), even if not claiming it
• over Pension Credit age
• getting UC because of a disability or health condition that stops them from working (this is called ‘limited capability for work and work-related activity’)
• getting UC because they care for someone with a disability
• getting UC and the household earns more than £722^{[footnote 1]} a month combined, after tax and National Insurance contributions.

There is also a grace period during which the cap will not be applied:

• for households where the cap is applied through HB there is a grace period of 39 weeks during which time the cap will not apply to households where the claimant or, if applicable, their partner has worked for 50 weeks out of the 52 weeks preceding their last day of work
• for households where the cap is applied through UC there is a grace period of 9 months during which time the cap will not apply to those who have been in work for the previous 12 months, with household earnings above the UC earnings threshold, currently more than £722 a month combined, after tax and National Insurance contributions.

A household is also not affected by the cap if someone in the household, including any children under 18, is in receipt of an exempt benefit:

• Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
• Armed Forces Independence Payment
• Attendance Allowance
• Carer’s Allowance
• Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• Employment and Support Allowance (Support component)
• Guardian’s Allowance
• Industrial Injuries Benefits (and equivalent payments as part of a War Disablement - Pension or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme)
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• War pensions
• War Widow’s or War Widower’s Pension

Households in receipt of Carer’s Allowance or Guardian’s Allowance became exempt from the benefit cap on 7 November 2016. This was announced in Parliament during the passage of the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016.

One-off payments are not included in the assessment of benefit income.

Benefit Cap amounts

The benefit cap was introduced from 15 April 2013 in Bromley, Croydon, Enfield and Haringey Local Authorities (LAs), with all other LAs applying the cap to households in receipt of HB between 15 July 2013 and the end of September 2013. The initial level of the benefit cap was £26,000 a year (£18,200 for single adults with no children).

The Summer Budget 2015 announced changes to the level of the benefit cap to £20,000 a year (£13,400 for single adults with no children) nationally or £23,000 a year (£15,410 for single adults with no children) in Greater London (the 32 London boroughs and the City of London). These changes were introduced from 7 November 2016. They were applied to all households that were already capped on 7 November and rolled-out to newly affected households from 7 November 2016 to 20 January 2017 by LA.

The benefit cap levels were increased for UC and HB by 10.1% from April 2023 in line with inflation. The current levels are now:

• £22,020 per year (or £14,753 for single adults with no children) nationally

• £25,323 per year (£16,967 for single adults with no children) in Greater London

Read more information about the benefit cap.

Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) is a discretionary scheme that allows LAs to make monetary awards to people experiencing financial difficulty with housing costs who qualify for HB or the housing costs element of UC. As part of the welfare reforms package introduced from 2011, the government has contributed over £1 billion towards DHPs to help LAs support those affected by some of the key changes to HB, including the introduction of the benefit cap.

Read more information about DHPs.

Uses of the statistics

The statistics allow people to see how many households have had their HB capped since the introduction of the policy, how many households currently have their HB capped and how many households have moved off the HB cap, along with the characteristics of these households, such as family type and geographical location.

From February 2018 the statistics included experimental statistics on the number of households that have had their UC capped by geographical location, family type and amount of UC capped.

From August 2018 the statistics on households that have had their UC capped were expanded to include the cumulative caseload and off-flows from the cap under UC. Off-flows are broken down to show the number of households that became exempt from the cap due to their earnings.

From August 2019 the statistics were further expanded to include total combined figures for HB and UC capped households. These figures became available when the method to identify whether households who move from having their HB capped to UC are then capped under UC, was developed. Totals are available for the point in time caseload, cumulative caseload, and off-flows from the cap. The proportion of capped households containing children has since referred to all capped households, rather than only those claiming HB. From August 2019, average (mean) cap amounts for both benefits were added.

The statistics are used by a variety of people within the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), other central government Departments, Scotland and Wales devolved administrations and LAs and councils across Great Britain (GB).

The statistics are used to answer Parliamentary Questions and requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

Definitions

Point-in-time caseload

The number of capped households at each month.

Point-in-time datasets contain one record per household, per month capped. From these datasets it is possible to identify the capped caseload at each month. UC source data, DWP UC Quarterly Statistics, are subject to revision. The most recent quarter of data are therefore provisional and will be subject to revision in subsequent releases. It is expected that the overall provisional figures will be within two per cent of their revised figure in future releases.

Cumulative caseload

The number of households that have ever been capped from the introduction of the benefit cap (or October 2016 for UC) to the latest month.

Cumulative datasets contain one record per household that has ever been capped on either HB or UC. Characteristics (such as family type, LA, region) are based on when the household was first capped and may have subsequently changed.

Off-flows

The number of previously capped households that are no longer capped on either benefit (HB or UC).

These are true off-flows i.e. no longer capped on either benefit. However, it is possible to talk about households that are off-flows from the HB cap or off-flows from the UC cap. Where this is the case it will clearly state HB off-flows or UC off-flows, if it is not stated then it is assumed to be a true off-flow.

On-flows

The number of households that are capped on their respective benefit (HB or UC) for the first time.

It is possible to be capped on HB and when no longer capped on HB to immediately on-flow to UC and remain capped i.e. the household is capped on UC for the first time.

Newly capped

The number of households that have their benefits capped for the very first time.

Unlike on-flows, newly capped is the first time a household is capped irrespective of the benefit (HB or UC). This means that households that on-flow to the UC cap having immediately off-flowed from the HB cap are not newly capped because they have been capped previously.

Due to limitations of current methodology, it is not possible to identify a household that off-flows the HB cap and later (however, not immediately) on-flows to the UC cap. This would currently be counted as newly capped because they did not immediately flow from the HB cap to the UC cap.

Household

One or two adults, living together as a couple, plus any dependent children they are living with.

This definition applies to the benefit cap policy and hence this analysis. A household may also be referred to as a ‘benefit unit’. This definition differs from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) definition that defines a household as one person alone; or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room or sitting room or dining area. A household by the ONS definition may contain multiple benefit units.

There are a small number of cases where an individual or household has more than one HB claim, for these cases, only the most recent claim is reported on.

Reporting month

For HB data, LAs extract and return their data to DWP over a four week rolling period based on an extraction schedule for each LA. For example, “February 2020” data shown last quarter was typically extracted between 28 January and 21 February 2020. Each LA may extract their data up to a week before the date it is scheduled to be returned to DWP. Consequently, the statistics do not directly relate to a particular date but rather show the position of capped cases over a monthly cycle.

For UC data, a household must have an assessment period spanning the ‘count date’ for a particular month. An assessment period is the period of a month for which a UC payment is made. The count date is the second Thursday of the month. Entitlement to UC must also have been calculated.

Administrative geographies

In this release, HB data are presented using two sets of geographies:

• Administrative
• Residential

Administrative geographies represent the administrative body responsible for administering the HB, and is therefore only meaningful at LA level. There are cases where the administrative LA is responsible for administering HB outside the geographical boundaries of the LA, and the responsibility for particular dwellings can also change with time.

Residential geographies

In this release, HB data are presented using two sets of geographies:

• Administrative
• Residential

Residential geographies represent the geographic boundaries of the LA area and is determined by the location of the dwelling that the HB relates to. Residential geographies can be presented using a wide range of geographies based on the postcode level of the dwelling itself, usually ranging from the output areas (OAs), which comprise a few postcodes only, up to country level. Residential geographies may change if there is a change in the geographical boundaries, and affect all the dwellings affected by the boundary change.

Data sources

Data used to create the statistics come from administrative databases. For these, accuracy is determined by how well the information is recorded and transmitted.

Change in methodology – source data

From November 2020 (data to August 2020) methodology to use existing HB and UC data sources to produce this release has been implemented. Using existing data sources for HB and UC allows for:

• more retrospection in the data ensuring a more accurate picture of what is happening within HB and UC across GB
• consistency across government publications ensuring more accurate comparisons can be made
• more up to date statistics regarding the proportion of households capped under each benefit (this previously had a 3-month lag)

Housing Benefit data – from November 2020

HB capped household data have been sourced from the DWP HB Caseload Statistics since November 2020. Read more about HB Caseload Statistics (including their methodology).

The HB Caseload Statistics data source is the DWP 100% Single Housing Benefit Extract (SHBE). Read Housing Benefit data – to November 2020 for further details on SHBE and how data are matched to other data sources.

Housing Benefit data – to November 2020

In the historical data up to November 2020, the main source of data on households that had their HB capped is the SHBE. SHBE is a monthly electronic scan of claimant level data direct from LA computer systems. It has been designed to provide sufficient information for all current and future statistical purposes and is now the single source of HB data. From April 2013, a Benefit Cap field was added to the SHBE which provides the weekly amount that the HB of a household had been capped by. This marker is central to the production of the statistics on households that have had their HB capped.

The proportion of HB claiming households that have their benefits capped is created by taking the latest published HB caseload statistics from Stat Xplore, and calculating the percentage of these households that appear in the HB cap caseload at that month.

The age of the youngest child dependant in a household is calculated by merging data held on HMRC child benefit systems to HB data on capped households. DWP benefits data is merged with HB data on capped households to give information on the types of benefits claimed by capped households. Data on those households that have (previously) had their HB capped that are no longer capped is linked to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and DWP benefits data to determine why households are no longer capped.

Universal Credit data – from November 2020

UC capped household data have been sourced from the DWP UC Quarterly Statistics since November 2020. Read more about UC Quarterly Statistics (including their methodology).

The UC Quarterly Statistics data source is the DWP UC Official Statistics database. Read Universal Credit data – to November 2020 for further details on the DWP UC Official Statistics database and how data are matched to other data sources.

Universal Credit data – to November 2020

In the historical data up to November 2020, data on households that have had their UC capped is taken from the DWP UC Official Statistics database, which is compiled using data from systems within local offices and records of UC benefit payments made by the DWP. This database includes a field that contains the amount of UC that a household has been capped by for an assessment period. This marker is used in the production of statistics on households that have had their UC capped.

This database only contains information for households that have had their UC Full Service (UCFS) capped. This data is available from October 2016 onwards. Due to data quality and reporting it is not possible to produce robust experimental statistics on the number of households that were capped under Universal Credit Live Service (UCLS).

Data on households that had their UC capped is merged with the DWP Customer Information System (CIS) address file so that the number of capped households can be broken down by region and LA.

The proportion of UC claiming households who have their benefits capped is created by taking the latest published UC household caseload statistics from Stat Xplore, and calculating the percentage of these households that appear in the UC cap caseload at that month. These statistics have an additional 3-month lag compared to the rest of the statistics in the publication. This is due to the availability of published UC household caseload data.

Before the September 2021 publication, covering data to June 2021, the age of the youngest child dependant and number of children in a household was calculated by merging data held on HMRC child benefit systems to UC data on capped households.

From the September 2022 publication onwards DWP have provided new measures in the UC Quarterly Statistics, which is the source data for UC capped households. The new measures are, the:

• number of children in UC households
• age of the youngest child in UC households

The source data for UC capped households will now provide these measures, for UC only. This means that the methodology of merging two administrative data sources, can be replaced by a single data source – giving improved coherence throughout the Benefit Cap statistics. The methodology of obtaining these measures for HB remain unchanged.

Data on households that have had their UC capped is matched with the full DWP UC Official Statistics database to obtain information on earnings, which is used to determine which households flowed off the cap under UC due to becoming exempt due to their earnings.

Data cleansing

As part of our general data cleaning, we review the cases. From the March 2022 release we have introduced some additional cleaning which has made some minor revisions to previous published figures. There is no material impact on the published statistics.

Change in methodology – proportion of capped households

The proportion of benefit claiming households that are capped, is calculated by summing UC and HB capped households then dividing this, by the sum of all UC and HB claiming households. Figures for the number of capped households are taken from the Benefit Cap UC point-in-time caseload and the Benefit Cap HB point-in-time caseload in Stat-Xplore. Figures for the total number of households claiming benefit are taken from Universal Credit Households on Universal Credit and Housing Benefit Housing Benefit – Data from April 2018 in Stat-Xplore for UC and HB respectively.

Prior to June 2021, this calculation included claimants of state pension age whom are not in scope for the benefit cap. Therefore, to ensure fairer comparisons, from June 2021 (data to February 2021) this calculation selects only working age claimants (claimant type) from the Housing Benefit Housing Benefit – Data from April 2018 in Stat-Xplore.

Geography

Improvements to geography in National and Official statistics releases

Given the increased demand from users, the DWP is making improvements to the published geography information in its National and Official statistics releases. Read further information about Changes to DWP statistical geographies in National and Official statistics.

Census Output Area data – from November 2020

Since November 2020, in line with improvements to National and Official Statistics, geography data have been taken from the DWP HB Caseload Statistics and DWP UC Quarterly Statistics for HB and UC, respectively. These datasets provide geography data on the 2011 Census Output Area (COA) geographies.

Census Output Area data – from August 2020

In August 2020 (data to May 2020), a new methodology was used to assign residential geographies by matching the address data for households with CIS data to obtain the most recent address information. The methodology is consistent with the methodology used in other statistical publications in DWP.

Since August 2020 all residential data, in the accompanying ODS tables and Stat-Xplore, have been presented on the 2011 COA geographies. Methodology introduced in August matches that of DWP HB Caseload Statistics and DWP UC Quarterly Statistics.

Census Output Area data – to August 2020

Prior to August 2020 all residential data were presented on 2001 COA geographies. For comparison purposes, users can access residential data presented on the 2001 COA geographies for the period of April 2013 to February 2018 via Stat-Xplore. This data is currently only presented for PCs but the range will be updated in future releases.

Limitations of the statistics

Housing Benefit disruption

An interruption in the supply of data from Gloucester City Council has affected Housing Benefit statistics from December 2021. Data problems are unlikely to be fixed for the foreseeable future and until then HB statistics that cover Gloucester will be derived from earlier data. This means estimates for South West and Gloucester on Stat-Xplore will deteriorate in their quality and accuracy. Gloucester City Council represents 0.2% of all Housing Benefit claims in Great Britain and 2.5% of claims for the South West region.

Housing benefit data covering the periods November 2020 to July 2021 were impacted by an interruption in the supply of data from Hackney Borough council.

Hackney Borough Council have now resumed the supply of Housing Benefit data to DWP. Data from August 2021 is based on their most recent return. However, it should be noted that recovery work in Hackney is still ongoing, and therefore the statistics for the latest periods should be handled with caution.

Housing Benefit flows data

The statistics may not report on very short term capped households. This will occur in instances where a household is capped and then ceases to be capped all between the monthly snapshots taken from the source data – the SHBE. In any such cases, the recorded SHBE data will not flag that a household has been capped, as at the times when scans were taken they were not. Therefore, whilst accurate at the time of scan, it does not capture these households.

When looking at the off-flows and outcomes statistics, the following points should be noted:

• there is no single source of outcomes and reasons for households to flow off the cap – the latest 100% DWP benefit scans, weekly HMRC tax credit data, the SHBE extract and DWP UC Official Statistics database are used to determine the most appropriate household benefits status
• an open WTC claim is a proxy for movements into work – this is not a comprehensive measure of moves into work; some individuals may go into work but not be eligible to claim WTC if their earnings are too high or the hours worked do not meet the claim requirements
• due to churn in on-flows and off-flows, the number of off-flows could fall from one month to the next if households move back onto the cap
• some of the lower category outcomes are not specifically a reason in themselves to come off the cap but are a measurable change in circumstance that may lead to an off-flow, for example a change in LA
• from August 2018 the method for determining off-flow outcomes, and the outcome categories used, have changed – this means that off-flow outcome statistics published from August 2018 are not comparable with those published before August 2018. Read more detail on housing benefit data
• from August 2018 we report on households that have flowed off the HB cap as they have stopped claiming HB and have a UC claim. From August 2019 we identify whether these households have their UC capped at the end of the quarter during which they leave the HB cap. Households who do move from the HB cap to the UC cap during the quarter are not counted as off flows from the benefit cap, only as having left the HB cap caseload

Universal Credit data

The statistics for UC capped households include UCFS only. This data is available from October 2016 onwards. Due to data quality and reporting it is not possible to produce robust experimental statistics on the number of households that were capped under UCLS. UCFS is available to all claimant types, with all Live Service cases having moved across to Full Service, which has been available in every Jobcentre across the country since December 2018. Read more about the introduction of UC cap statistics within the release.

Figures may be revised in future publications, as in some instances UC awards may be retrospectively revised.

For example, the amount of UC due to be paid for a past assessment period may go up where it’s identified that a household should have been entitled to a UC element (such as housing costs), that wasn’t included in an earlier calculation of UC. This in turn could see their award being capped. In other circumstances there can be changes which means a household has the cap removed for a past assessment period.

The level of revision between previously published figures and the revised series varies across time periods, by geographical area and by other available breakdowns. More recent periods tend to be subject to a greater degree of revision than more distant ones. Read more on the revision of UC data.

Characteristics of a household

The characteristics of a capped household (for example family type, number of children, cap amount) are reported differently for point-in-time caseload and cumulative caseload statistics:

• point-in-time caseload – the characteristics are reported as at the reporting month
• cumulative caseload – the characteristics are reported as at the first time a household was capped. This means they may have subsequently changed

Age of youngest child dependant

This is calculated differently for point-in-time caseload and cumulative caseload statistics. In both cases the age of the youngest child dependant in a household is calculated by merging data held on HMRC child benefit systems to HB data on capped households.

• point-in-time caseload – figures are based on the point-in-time caseload; the age of the youngest child dependant in a household is calculated at the reporting month (not at the time of initial cap) and household type is also given as at the reporting month
• cumulative caseload (HB only) – figures are based on the cumulative caseload; the age of the youngest child dependant in a household is calculated at the last month they were capped (not at the time of initial cap), which can be any month between April 2013 and the reporting month. Household type is reported as at the time of the initial cap and therefore, the household structure may have subsequently changed.

Number of children

This is calculated differently for HB and UC statistics. HB data are populated from the SHBE and UC capped household data are merged with data held on HMRC child benefit systems.

From February 2020 (statistics for November 2019) a method to identify households who had no children and those with an unknown number of children has been developed for number of children in UC capped households. This means that UC number of children statistics published from February 2020 are not comparable with those published before February 2020.

Benefit cap off-flows by outcome

Housing Benefit data

From August 2018 (statistics for May 2018) the method for determining off-flow outcomes, and the outcome categories used, have changed. This means that off-flow outcome statistics published from August 2018 are not comparable with those published before August 2018.

In August 2018, statistics for May 2018 were published using both the old and new methods, to allow users to understand the effect of the changes.

The way the total number of off-flows is determined is unchanged, so these statistics are comparable with those published before August 2018.

Households may flow on and off the cap numerous times as their circumstances change. The benefit cap official statistics contain data on the number of households no longer subject to the HB cap as at the reporting month. For example, in the August 2018 publication, the statistics show the total off-flows from the cap as at May 2018.

Before August 2018, the reason for off-flow from the benefit cap was given as at the reporting month, regardless of when a household moved off the cap. This meant that the outcome could change if a household remained off the cap.

From August 2018 onwards the outcome is reported as at the end of the quarter in which a household moved off the HB cap. This means the outcome is fixed at that point, unless a household is re-capped at a later date; if a household has multiple spells on and off the cap, the outcome after the latest spell will be reported.

For example, a household moved off the cap and at the end of that quarter had an open WTC claim. The household remained off the cap and by the next quarter had stopped claiming WTC and was instead claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP), which is an exempt benefit. Before August 2018 the off-flow outcome for this household would have been reported as “open WTC claim” until they moved to PIP, when the outcome would change to “in receipt of an exempt benefit”. From August 2018 the outcome would be reported as “open WTC claim”, and stay like that for as long as the household remained off the cap, as this is the outcome at the end of the quarter the household flowed off the cap.

The reason for this change was the migration of households on HB to UC as the roll-out of UC continued.^{[footnote 2]} If we kept reporting outcomes at the latest reporting month, eventually all households would fall into the “No longer claiming HB” group as they move from HB to UC. The change ensures the outcome is a more timely representation of what happened to a household when they flowed off the HB cap.

We have also updated the outcome categories from August 2018:

• the “Household is no longer claiming HB” category has been broken down to show those who have moved off HB and started claiming UC. This is simply a measure of the number of households that had their HB capped that moved to UC. From August 2019 we identify whether these households have their UC capped at the end of the quarter during which they leave the HB cap. These households are considered off flows from the HB cap (as they are no longer a part of that caseload) but are not off flows from the cap. Due to this, total off flows from the benefit cap do not equal to the sum of HB cap and UC cap off flows
• some of the lower order outcome categories (such as “Change in Household Structure” and “Change in Local Authority”) have been grouped together. These outcomes are not in themselves reasons for moving off the cap, but show a change of circumstance which may be indicative of why a household is no longer being capped. These outcomes have been grouped to allow outcomes to be reported as at the end of the quarter in which a household moved off the HB cap; it was not possible to retrospectively update these outcomes for households that moved off the cap before the latest quarter as the data is no longer available. It also creates a set of outcomes that, in time, can broadly be replicated for off-flows from the cap under UC

The following table shows how the old outcomes map to the new outcomes.

Table: Benefit cap off-flow outcomes

Outcomes before August 2018 (show off-flow outcome at reporting month)	Outcomes from August 2018 onwards (show off-flow outcome at end of quarter of off-flow)
Household has an open Working Tax Credit (WTC) claim	Household has an open Working Tax Credit (WTC) claim
Household is in receipt of an exempt benefit (Employment Support Allowance support group / Disability Living Allowance /Industrial Injuries / Personal Independence Payment)	Household is in receipt of an exempt benefit (Employment Support Allowance support group / Disability Living Allowance / Industrial Injuries / Personal Independence Payment)
Household is no longer claiming Housing Benefit	No longer claiming HB with a UC claim – capped on UC
Household is no longer claiming Housing Benefit	No longer claiming HB with a UC claim – not capped on UC
Household is no longer claiming Housing Benefit	No longer claiming HB with no UC claim
Amount of Housing Benefit claimed has reduced	Amount of Housing Benefit claimed has reduced
Household benefit income below cap level without a change to Housing Benefit amount	Other – includes household benefit income below cap level without a change to Housing Benefit amount, change in original household structure, change in recorded Local Authority, grace period, operational factors / timing, no longer working age
Change in original household structure (i.e. change, addition or loss of a partner – does not include dependants)	Other – includes household benefit income below cap level without a change to Housing Benefit amount, change in original household structure, change in recorded Local Authority, grace period, operational factors / timing, no longer working age
Change in recorded Local Authority	Other – includes household benefit income below cap level without a change to Housing Benefit amount, change in original household structure, change in recorded Local Authority, grace period, operational factors / timing, no longer working age
Other – includes grace period, operational factors / timing, no longer working age	Other – includes household benefit income below cap level without a change to Housing Benefit amount, change in original household structure, change in recorded Local Authority, grace period, operational factors / timing, no longer working age

There may be multiple reasons for the cap to no longer apply. To avoid multiple counts for a household, a hierarchical approach to outcome is used for reporting, as set out in the table above, with only the top-most reason for which a household is eligible being reported on.

The hierarchical ordering of outcomes was determined in discussions with policy colleagues. The WTC exemption was deemed to be the most important reason (indicating a movement into work), followed by other exemptions from the cap (such as a household starting to claim an exempt benefit, such as Disability Living Allowance).

Universal Credit data

As with the HB cap, households may flow on and off the cap under UC numerous times as their circumstances change. The UC cap statistics report on the number of households no longer subject to the cap as at the reporting month. For example, in the August 2018 publication, the statistics show the total off-flows from the cap as at May 2018.

The outcome for a household flowing off the cap under UC is reported as at the next assessment period following the one in which a household was last capped. This means the outcome is fixed at that point, unless a household is re-capped at a later date; if a household has multiple spells on and off the cap, the outcome after the latest spell will be reported.

From August 2018 the only outcome reported on for households moving off the cap under UC is if they become exempt because of their earnings. This means that their earnings in the assessment period following the assessment period in which they were last capped exceed an earnings threshold. The earnings thresholds for each financial year are given in the following table.

Table: Earnings threshold

Financial year	Earnings threshold (household earnings per assessment period after tax and National Insurance contributions)
2016 to 2017	£430
2017 to 2018	£520
2018 to 2019	£542
2019 to 2020	£569
2020 to 2021	£604
2021 to 2022	£617
2022 to 2023	£658
2023 to 2024	£722

We are working on developing further off-flow outcome categories for future publications, as quality assurance of data from the UC systems is progressed.

Data confidentiality

The Code of Practice for Statistics states that “appropriate disclosure control methods should be applied before releasing statistics and data”.

Most of the figures in the benefit cap statistical release are derived from Stat-Xplore and are subject to Introduced Random Error to ensure that no data is released which could risk the identification of individuals. The relative effect of using a statistical disclosure control on small value cells will be greater than high value cells, therefore calculating percentages based on very small value cells should be treated with caution. There may be occasions where disclosure control creates illogical values; for example, in rows containing small values, sub-category totals may be larger than the category total. In this case any percentages would be capped at 100% of the total.

Data from May 2023 provided in the accompanying data tables have been randomly adjusted to prevent the release of confidential individual data. Figures in earlier releases were rounded to the nearest 10 and any figures less than 10 were supressed.

From November 2016, all figures contained within the statistical release are subject to rounding unless otherwise stated. The level of rounding applied, which is dependent on the magnitude of the figure being quoted, is shown in the table below.

Table: Statistical release rounding policy

Range	Rounded to the nearest
0 to 1,000	10
1,001 to 10,000	100
10,001 to 100,000	1,000
100,001 to 1,000,000	10,000
1,000,001 to 10,000,000	100,000
10,000,001 to 100,000,000	1,000,000

Sometimes figures are rounded differently where comparisons between figures are made based on different rounding precisions, or where the rounding of figures could potentially give a misleading picture of the statistics and trends. When figures are rounded differently, they are always rounded to at least a greater degree of precision than the policy set out above. These are rounded on a case-by-case basis.

Users should note that percentages shown within the statistical release are calculated using figures prior to rounding.

Revisions

The Department’s policy statement describes how DWP will handle revisions.

The statistics on households capped under UC may be revised because awards may be subject to retrospective revision. For example, the amount of UC due to be paid for a past assessment period may go up where it’s identified that a household should have been entitled to a UC element (such as housing costs), that wasn’t included in an earlier calculation of UC. This in turn could see their award being capped. In other circumstances there can be changes which means a household has the cap removed for a past assessment period.

The level of revision between previously published figures and the revised series varies across time periods, by geographical area and by other available breakdowns. However, more recent periods tend to be subject to a greater degree of revision than more historic ones.

Status of the statistics

Official statistics

In developing these Benefit Cap Statistics, DWP has acted in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics and supporting Principles.

Prior to 19 September 2023, the HB element of these statistics was badged as ‘official statistics’ and the UC element was badged as ‘official statistics with experimental status’. This was due to the UC computer systems and data not being fully developed.

In Spring 2023, the Chief Statistician for DWP led an internal review of all experimental official statistics produced by DWP. This is in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The review found that it was appropriate to remove the experimental label from the UC series in the Benefit Cap statistics because it is no longer under development. As of 19 September 2023, the UC series in these statistics are also now classed as ‘official statistics’.

The HB series continues to be classed as ‘official statistics’ as it was previously.

Feedback

Let us know what you think of the presentation and content of the Benefit Cap statistical releases: james.gray9@dwp.gov.uk

Useful links

This document, the statistical release and supporting tables, along with previous releases.

Use Stat-Xplore to create your own tables and further breakdowns of these statistics.

Read more information on the Benefit cap.

Read more information on the Housing Benefit caseload.

Read more information on the Universal Credit statistics.

Read more information on Local Authorities’ use of Discretionary Housing Payment.

1. Earnings exemption threshold for the financial year 2023 to 2024. See table for previous earnings threshold ↩

2. A household could move, or migrate, from Housing Benefit to Universal Credit in 2 ways: 1) if a household had a change in circumstance and Universal Credit had rolled out in their area then they may have needed to claim Universal Credit rather than continuing to claim Housing Benefit and 2) now that Universal Credit is fully rolled out working age households that are claiming Housing Benefit will gradually be moved onto Universal Credit. ↩