The number of people claiming universal credit (UC) has hit a record high of eight million. Claimants jumped by more than a million in a year – from 6.9 million people in July last year.
The latest figure of 8.0 million for July 2025 is the highest level it has been since UC was introduced in 2013, according to official figures published on Tuesday. UC is a payment to help with living costs and is available for people in work who are on low incomes, as well as those who are out of work or cannot work.
The steep rise in the past year has been driven almost entirely by people who are not required to work, with 3.7 million in this category in July – a rise of 39% or 1 million since the same time in 2024. People in this bracket can include those in full-time education, over the state pension age, someone with a child aged under one, and those considered to have no prospect of work.
The Labour Government has previously said it “inherited a broken welfare system and spiralling, unsustainable benefits bill” from the Conservatives, and is working on reforms including tightening rules on who can claim UC. The number of working people on UC rose to 2.2 million in July, up slightly from 2.1 million 12 months previously.
Last month, a breakdown of UC claimants by immigration status was published for the first time. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said it had published the statistics “following a public commitment to investigate and develop breakdowns of the UC caseload by the immigration status of foreign nationals in receipt of UC”.
The latest data for July is largely unchanged from the previous month, again showing that the majority (83.8%) of claimants were British and Irish nationals and those who live or work in the UK without any immigration restrictions. Of this group, 99.9% are UK citizens and around a third were in work, the DWP said.
Almost one in 10 (9.6%) people on UC were those with EU Settlement Scheme settled status who have a right to reside in the UK, while 2.7% were people who had indefinite leave to remain in the UK. Refugees accounted for 1.5% of UC claimants, while 0.7% were people who had come by safe and legal humanitarian routes including under the Ukraine and Afghan resettlement schemes.
Around 0.9% of those on UC had limited leave to remain in the UK, covering those with temporary immigration status, while the rest were either no longer receiving UC payments or had no immigration status recorded on digital systems, the DWP said. Conservative MP Helen Whately, who is the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “Labour promised good jobs but are just putting people on more benefits paid for by ever higher taxes.”
A Government spokesperson said: “As the majority of vulnerable customers started moving from legacy benefits on to the modernised universal credit system from July 2024, it is to be expected that the number of people claiming the benefit with no requirement to work will increase. Today’s figures are yet more evidence of the broken welfare system we inherited that is denying people the support they need to get into work and get on at work. That’s why we are fixing the welfare system so it genuinely supports those who can work into employment, backed by £3.8 billion investment in employment support over this Parliament, while ensuring there is always a safety net for the most vulnerable.”
