I have a friend (England) who migrated to UC about 6 months ago. They live in social housing (not private) and their rent has recently increased by just over £5 per week.
They submitted their rent increase info to UC at the beginning of April 2026.
We just checked to see if UC has updated their account for the rent increase. I can see on their payment statement that the "Housing" figure has changed to the new rent amount, and I can see that their Transitional Protection has reduced.
Their new monthly total payment is still the same as before the rent increase.
I have no idea how this works, so could I just ask:
- Should the claimant now be receiving an extra amount to cover their new rent increase?
It's just I noticed under Transitional Protection it says "Your transitional protection payments have decreased. This is because your Universal Credit entitlement has increased"
Or
- Is the Payment Statement correct and the claimant will have to pay the increased rent amount themselves, so they are now "worse off" (sorry, I don't know how else to word that) than they were before their rent increased?
Will post figures below.
Before the rent increase their figures were... Standard Allowance: £400.14
Housing: £462.58
LCWRA: £423.27
Transitional Protection: £236.74
Total entitlement before deductions: £1522.73
Total deductions: £609.05 (because of ESA)
Total monthly payment: £913.68
.
Their new figures since rent increase...
Standard Allowance: £400.14
Housing: £484.77
LCWRA: £423.27
Transitional Protection: £214.55
Total entitlement before deductions: £1522.73
Total deductions: £609.05 (because of ESA)
Total monthly payment: £913.68 (still the same as before rent increased)