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The number of universal credit (UC) claimants in Britain jumped by more than a million in 2025 in the biggest annual increase since the start of the pandemic, figures show. The claimant total stood at a provisional 8.40 million in December 2025, up from 7.36 million a year earlier, according to data published by the Department for Work & Pensions. The rise of just over a million an additional 1,044,865 claimants is slightly larger than the one between 2023 and 2024, when 1,044,063 claimants were added. It is the largest annual end-of-year increase in UC claimants since the total leapt from 2.73 million in December 2019 to 5.88 million in December 2020. This steep jump was caused by a temporary uplift of the standard UC allowance as part of a support package during the coronavirus pandemic, which took effect between April 2020 and October 2021. The 2025 increase has been driven almost entirely by people who are not required to work, which includes those in full-time education, over the state pension age, with a child under the age of one or who are considered to have no prospect of work. The number of UC claimants not required to work rose from 3.06 million in December 2024 to 4.17 million in December 2025, while the number of claimants in work fell slightly from 2.25 million to 2.19 million. The government has said the roll-out of universal credit across Britain should be completed in 2026, with any claimants still on older benefits known as legacy benefits due to be moved to UC by March. Universal credit 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. Labour has previously said it ‘inherited a broken welfare system and spiralling, unsustainable benefits bill’ from the Conservatives, and has undertaken reforms including tightening rules on who can claim UC. The government has said there will be a ‘rebalancing’ of UC from April, reducing the gap between what people get for being unemployed compared to long-term sickness. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has previously spoken out against people being ‘written off’ on benefits and ending up trapped ‘in a cycle of worklessness and dependency’. By Ian Jones and Aine Fox, Press Association source: PA Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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