http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/22/section/4Universal Credit Act 2025Statute Law Database2026-04-08Expert Participation2026-04-06
Universal creditProtected LCWRA amount for tax years 2026-27 to 2029-30
4
1
Where it is necessary in order to achieve the result in subsection (2) for any of the tax years 2026-27 to 2029-30, the Secretary of State must exercise the power in section 9(2) or 12(3) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 to increase—
a
the protected LCWRA amount for that tax year, or
b
any amount of the standard allowance for that tax year.
2
The result to be achieved for a tax year (“the current tax year”) is that for each combination of the protected LCWRA amount and an amount of the standard allowance, the sum of those amounts for the current tax year is at least (in each case) the amount given by increasing—
a
the sum of those amounts for the previous tax year, by
b
the relevant CPI percentage for the current tax year.
3
In this section—
a
“the protected LCWRA amount” means the amount of the LCWRA element that applies to a pre-2026 claimant, a severe conditions criteria claimant or a claimant who is terminally ill (within the meanings of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013);
b
“the LCWRA element” has the meaning it has in section 3;
c
“the standard allowance” means the allowance to be included in an award of universal credit under section 9(1) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012;
d
reference to an amount or allowance “for” a tax year means the amount or allowance applicable for any assessment period commencing on or after the first Monday of that tax year and before the first Monday of the following tax year, and for this purpose “assessment period” has the same meaning as in Part 1 of that Act.
4
In this section and in section 5—
a
the “relevant CPI percentage” for a tax year is the percentage by which the consumer prices index for the September before the start of the tax year is higher than it was for the September before that (or 0% if it is not higher);
b
the “consumer prices index” means the all items consumer prices index published by the Statistics Board.
S. 4 in force at Royal Assent