Work and Pensions

Monday 23rd February 2026 Written Corrections

Pensions and Social Security

The following extract is from the debate on Pensions and Social Security on 10 February 2026.

[Sir Stephen Timms]

For 2026-27, the standard allowance in universal credit will be uprated by September’s consumer prices index plus an additional 2.3%. That represents the first ever permanent above-inflation rise to the universal credit standard allowance, and I believe that it is the first permanent real-terms increase in the headline benefit rate since the 1970s.

[Official Report, 10 February 2026; Vol. 780, c. 732.]

Written correction submitted by the Minister for Social Security and Disability, the right hon. Member for East Ham (Sir Stephen Timms):

[Sir Stephen Timms]

For 2026-27, the standard allowance in universal credit will be uprated by September’s consumer prices index plus an additional 2.3%. That represents the first ever permanent above-inflation rise to the universal credit standard allowance, and I believe that it is the highest permanent real-terms increase in the headline benefit rate since the 1970s.