Find out about money taken off your Universal Credit payment
Help to understand debts and deductions taken from Universal Credit payments and who to contact about your debts and deductions if you're struggling financially.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Universal Credit can take money off your payment if you have a debt. You will see this on your Universal Credit statement.
To find your statement, sign into your online account and go to ‘Payments’. On your statement, look for ‘What we take off – deductions’.
Who to contact about money taken off your payment
This depends on what the deduction is for. Find out who to contact.
Types of debt
Advance payments
This is your repayment of a Universal Credit advance.
Universal Credit overpayment
This is when you have been paid too much Universal Credit. To find out more about your overpayment, sign into your online Universal Credit account. Go to your journal and look for a message about overpayments.
If you believe you have been overpaid but have not heard from Universal Credit, you need to contact Universal Credit to tell them about this.
Tax credits and benefit overpayment
This is when you have been paid too much for any benefit other than Universal Credit. It includes tax credits and Housing Benefit overpayments.
Penalties can be added to a benefit overpayment.
If you have been overpaid, you will have a journal message or letter explaining what the overpayment is for.
If you believe you have been overpaid but have not heard from DWP, you must report it immediately. If not, you may be prosecuted or have to pay a penalty.
Recoverable hardship payment
You can apply for a hardship payment if your Universal Credit payment has been reduced because of a fraud penalty or sanction.
You will need to pay this back once your fraud penalty or sanction has ended. When the amount you pay back has been agreed it cannot be changed.
Budgeting and crisis loan repayment
This is your repayment of a budgeting or crisis loan. How much you pay back is agreed at the time you accept the loan.
Other debts you owe – ‘third party deductions’
Third party deductions are when money is taken off your Universal Credit to pay your debts for things including:
- utilities, like electricity, gas and water
- Council Tax
- child maintenance
- rent
- service charges
- court fines
Only 3 third party deductions can be taken at any one time.
Universal Credit will send you a message in your online journal when a third party deduction starts.
Deductions for rent and service charge arrears
Your landlord can ask for money from your Universal Credit payment (a ‘deduction’) if you owe them rent or service charge debts. We call this debt ‘arrears’.
Rent and service charges you owe become arrears when they are unpaid the day after your tenancy agreement says they are due.
Universal Credit will tell you if your landlord makes this request.
You have 7 days to sign in to your Universal Credit account and tell us whether you object to the deduction. If you do not respond, the deduction may be made anyway.
You can object if any of these apply. You:
- are in a dispute with your landlord about repairs
- owe less than a certain amount of rent and service charge arrears
- do not owe your landlord any arrears
We only make deductions for arrears on your current home. Tell us if you have moved, or plan to move.
Following an objection, you have a further 7 days to provide correct evidence. We’ll use the evidence to decide whether to make the deduction.
Your payments will stop until the decision is made.
Amount of rent and service charge arrears
You can object to the deduction if your arrears add up to less than 2 months’ rent and service charges (or just rent, if your home doesn’t have service charges).
The arrears can be from:
- rent
- service charges
- both rent and service charges
You can be in arrears from not paying your landlord at all, or from paying less than you owe over time.
Other money owed to your landlord does not count towards the total.
Evidence for rent and service charge arrears
You must show an up-to-date record of payments to the landlord. This includes:
- rent books
- rent and service charge statements or invoices
We do not usually accept bank statements as evidence. We may accept them if you do not owe any arrears or you need to prove your landlord’s records are incorrect.
Evidence of disrepair disputes
We will accept uploads of emails, documents and letters (electronic copies or photographs of paper versions).
These could be from, for example:
- the landlord
- the local council
- a solicitor
- a support or advice organisation
We will not accept screenshots or downloads of texts or instant messages (such as WhatsApp).
After you have provided evidence
A Universal Credit agent will decide whether to apply the deduction.
We’ll send a message in your online journal about the decision.
How much will be taken off your Universal Credit payment
Universal Credit calculate the amount taken from your payment at the end of every assessment period (one calendar month).
The amount taken off may change if your:
- earnings change
- other benefits change
It is not possible to tell you how much will be taken before this calculation takes place.
Normally the most that can be taken from your payment to repay a debt is 15% of your Universal Credit standard allowance. This is the basic amount you are entitled to, before money for things like childcare and housing costs are added.
You may have more than 15% of your standard allowance taken off if you pay a ‘last resort deduction’. A ‘last resort deduction’ helps you to meet your child maintenance obligations and prevents you from being evicted or having your utilities cut off. It is paid directly to the person or organisation you owe money to.
What to do if you’re struggling to repay your debt
If you’re struggling, you can ask for a financial hardship decision to reduce the amount of benefit debt you pay.
You may be considered for this if you have money taken from your Universal Credit for:
- benefit debt
- Budgeting Loan and Crisis Loan repayment
- advances
- rent arrears (if they’re taken at a rate greater than 10% of the standard allowance)
If a decision is made to reduce the amount you pay, it will be applied automatically to your next Universal Credit assessment period.
Find out who to contact about money taken off your Universal Credit payment.
Advice on money and debt
You can get help and advice from the government, local councils and other organisations.
Updates to this page
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Added new information to the 'Other debts you owe – ‘third party deductions’' section. Universal Credit (UC) claimants can now object to landlords' requests to recover rent and service charge arrears from their UC payments.
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Clarified that 'last resort deductions' also help claimants to meet their child maintenance obligations.
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The most that can normally be taken from your Universal Credit payment to repay a debt has changed from 25% to 15% of your Universal Credit standard allowance.
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The most that can normally be taken from your Universal Credit payment to repay a debt has changed from 30% to 25% of your Universal Credit Standard Allowance.
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First published.