Official Statistics

Universal Credit Statistics – deductions September 2023 to August 2024

Updated 28 November 2024

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

This release includes statistics on:

• the number of households with deductions from their Universal Credit (UC) entitlement

• the average amount deducted in total, and for each of the three main deduction types: advances, third-party and government deductions (see “What you need to know” section for more information on types of deduction)

• the distribution of the proportion of the UC standard allowance deducted

• the combination of deductions applied to UC households

Where appropriate, these figures are broken down by region, local authority and parliamentary constituency. More detailed breakdowns are available in the supplementary tables.

1. Main stories

The headline statistics are:

• Approximately 2.7 million UC households (45% of all UC households) had one or more deductions taken from their UC entitlement in August 2024. North East England has the largest proportion of UC households with one or more deductions, at 53%. South West England has the lowest proportion, at 40%.

• The average amount deducted was £68 in August 2024.

• Around 13% of UC households had deductions capped at 25% of their Universal Credit standard allowance, a further 2% had deductions taken over the cap to help prevent eviction or disconnection of their energy supply in August 2024.

2. What you need to know

A “deduction” refers to an amount of money taken off the monthly UC entitlement amount towards reducing a debt owed to the government or other organisation.^{[footnote 1]} Deductions are subtracted from the monthly UC entitlement after any adjustments have been made to account for the household’s financial circumstances e.g. earnings.

There are 3 main types of deduction:

• Advances – deductions taken towards the repayment of a UC advance payment. The 4 types of UC advances are: new claim, benefit transfer, change of circumstances and budgeting.^{[footnote 2]}

• Third Party Deductions (TPD) – deductions for money owed by the UC household to organisations such as energy companies or landlords.

• Government Deductions – deductions for money owed to government organisations such as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or HM revenue & Customs(HMRC).

The amount deducted for each debt depends on the type of debt and combination of debts owed by the household. In most cases the maximum amount that can be deducted from a UC household is capped at 25% of the monthly UC standard allowance. There is a priority order of deductions, starting with advances, followed by third-party debts like rent and utility arrears, then government debts such as social fund loans and tax credit overpayments. Any deductions that would push the total amount deducted above the 25% overall deduction cap are not taken but are addressed when there is room within the cap. Therefore, for households with multiple debt types, deductions for debts further down the priority order are more likely to push the total amount over the cap, and so would not be taken.

The 25% overall deduction cap can be exceeded only for ‘last resort deductions’, which are housing cost arrears (rent and or service charges) and gas and electricity arrears. This helps to support the prevention of eviction and having pre-payment meters fitted.^{[footnote 3]}

3. Households with deductions from their UC entitlement

Figure 1: Number and proportion of households with one or more deductions from their monthly UC entitlement, September 2023 to August 2024

Number and proportion of households with one or more deductions from their monthly UC entitlement, September 2023 to August 2024.

2.7 million UC households had one or more deductions taken from their UC entitlement in August 2024. Whilst this is 400,000 more households than had a deduction in September 2023, the proportion of all UC households with a deduction has remained stable at around 45% over the whole period. This is because the UC household caseload has increased over this period but the likelihood of any household having a deduction has remained the same.

Figure 2: Distribution of total deduction amount relative to the standard allowance, September 2023 to August 2024

Distribution of total deduction amount relative to the standard allowance, September 2023 to August 2024.

13% of UC households had monthly deductions capped at 25% of Standard Allowance (SA) in August 2024 – these proportions have not changed substantially over the reporting period. A further 2% had monthly deductions at over the 25% cap. The 25% cap can only be exceeded in certain circumstances, for example where there is a risk that the household may face eviction or having their energy supply disconnected if they do not repay some of an outstanding debt.

4. Deductions by type of deduction

Figure 3: Proportion of UC households with each deduction type

Proportion of UC households with each deduction type.

The proportion of UC households with each main deduction type is stable over time. Advances are the most common with 31% of UC households repaying advance debt in August 2024. Government deductions are the second most common, at 22%, followed by third party deductions at 13%.

5. Mean amount deducted per UC household

Figure 4: Average (mean) monthly UC household deduction by deduction type

Average (mean) monthly UC household deduction by deduction type.

The mean total deduction amount for UC households increased from £64 in September 2023 to £68 in August 2024. In August 2024, the mean deduction amount for government deductions was £59, for advances it was £41 and for third party deductions it was £36.

This increase was driven by the standard allowance being uprated in April 2024. Since most deduction amounts are set at a fixed percentage of the standard allowance, the increase in the standard allowance led to the total mean deduction amounts also increasing.

Advances do not show this increase since the monthly repayment amounts are fixed for the lifetime of the advance repayment period.

6. Combinations of deductions

Of all the UC households with a deduction, around 34% have deductions for advances only in August 2024 – the most common deduction type. There has been some variation in the trends in deduction combinations over the past year:

• An increase in the proportion of households with:

  • Advance deductions only

  • Government deductions only

• Small reductions in the proportion of households with:

  • a combination of advances and third-party deductions

  • a combination of advances and government deductions

  • a combination of government deductions and third-party deductions

  • a combination of advances, third-party deductions, and government deductions

The annual uprating of the standard allowance happened in April 2024. Since most deductions are set at a fixed percentage of the standard allowance, as the standard allowance increases, the deduction amount also increases. However, deduction amounts for advances are set at a fixed monetary amount agreed with the claimant(s) when the advance is taken out.

As a result, deductions for advances do not increase with uprating. Therefore, households with advance deductions may then be able to make repayments towards other debts that will now fit within the 25% of standard allowance cap, which potentially leads to these debts being paid off sooner.

Figure 5: Proportion of households with specified combinations of deductions

Proportion of households with specified combinations of deductions.

7. Regional breakdown of deductions

The table below provides the regional breakdown of UC households, the number and proportion of households with one or more deductions and the total and average amount deducted.

Around 45% of all Universal Credits households in Great Britain had one or more deduction from their UC entitlement in August 2024. The mean monthly deduction amount was £68.

The table shows that North East England has the largest proportion of UC households with one or more deductions, at 53%. Whereas South West England has the lowest proportion, at 40%. UC households with a deduction have similar average monthly deduction amounts across Great Britain, at between £66 and £69, with the overall average being £68.

Further breakdowns by local authority and parliamentary constituency are available in the accompanying supplementary data tables.

Figure 6: Regional breakdown of UC households with deductions in August 2024.

Region	Universal Credit households with one or more deductions	Proportion of Universal Credit households with one or more deductions	Total amount deducted	Average monthly deduction per household
All	2,700,000	45%	£180,000,000	£68
North East England	150,000	53%	£10,000,000	£68
North West England	380,000	50%	£26,000,000	£69
Yorkshire and The Humber	270,000	49%	£18,000,000	£69
East Midlands	190,000	45%	£13,000,000	£67
West Midlands	280,000	45%	£18,000,000	£66
East of England	200,000	42%	£13,000,000	£67
London	380,000	41%	£26,000,000	£68
South East England	270,000	42%	£18,000,000	£67
South West England	170,000	40%	£11,000,000	£66
Wales	140,000	48%	£9,600,000	£67
Scotland	240,000	50%	£16,000,000	£66
Unknown	4,700	57%	£290,000	£61

About these statistics

These statistics have been classed as official statistics in development.

All figures in this publication are derived from Universal Credit administrative data.

Figures are provisional and may be subject to minor change in subsequent releases. This is partly because a household’s UC entitlement, and therefore appropriate deductions, can be altered retrospectively e.g. if evidence is received late. This means that the number of households with deductions for any given month may be revised in subsequent releases.

All figures are for Great Britain only. Figures are rounded according to the following convention:

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
Over 10,000,000	1,000,000

In the case of broad ranges, a single convention is used. Percentages are rounded to the nearest 1% and average monetary amounts have been rounded to the nearest £1.

Notes

This bulletin counts households by the month their UC payment was received, whereas the main Universal Credit statistics count households whose assessment period spans a particular date in each month.

When information is given for regions of Great Britain, this is derived from the claimants’ residential address. Not all claimants have a valid address listed, which means that a small number of households have “Unknown” region information.

For the full data, see the supplementary data tables published alongside this release.

The following planned changes to deductions policy have been announced, but are yet to be implemented:

• Increasing the repayment period on budgeting advances from 12 months to 24 months.^{[footnote 4]}

• The Fair Repayment Rate, which caps the overall deduction rate applied to deductions from Universal Credit (UC) at 15% of the UC claimant’s standard allowance.^{[footnote 5]}

Further information and feedback

Lead Statistician: Owen Magrath

Analyst: Thomas Milner

Email: [email protected]

1. Fraud penalties and benefit sanctions are considered to be reductions to the UC entitlement and are excluded from these statistics. ↩

2. More information on Universal Credit advances is available here: Universal Credit advances, GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) ↩

3. More information on deduction types is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/find-out-about-money-taken-off-your-universal-credit-payment ↩

4. More information on the Spring Budget 2024 changes is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spring-budget-2024/spring-budget-2024-html ↩

5. More information on the Autumn Budget 2024 changes is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/672232d010b0d582ee8c4905/Autumn_Budget_2024_web_accessible.pdf ↩