Check you’re in the right Universal Credit work-related activity group

Tell your work coach if your sickness or disability reduces what you can do to work or look for work. You’ll usually need to fill in a form and you might need to go to a medical assessment.

Your work-related activity group will depend on how the DWP thinks your sickness or disability affects you:

• if they decide you have ‘limited capability for work and work-related activity’ (LCWRA) you’ll be in the ‘no work-related requirements group’

• if they decide you have ‘limited capability for work’ (LCW) you’ll be in the ‘work preparation group’

If the DWP decide you don’t have LCW or LCWRA you’ll be in the ‘all work-related activity group’. The Jobcentre should still take your sickness or disability into account when considering what type of work you need to apply for.

You won’t need to fill in the form or have an assessment if you’ve already been assessed as having LCW or LCWRA and you either:

• get contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance

• get Incapacity Credits

• got income-related Employment and Support Allowance before you claimed Universal Credit

Find out how to show that you have limited capability for work if you’re sick or disabled.

If you care for a severely disabled person for at least 35 hours a week, you’ll be in the ‘no work-related activity group’ if one of these applies:

• you’re entitled to or getting Carer’s Allowance or Carer's Support Payment

• you can’t get Carer’s Allowance or Carer Support Payment, but only because your earnings are too high, and the DWP thinks it would be unreasonable for you to look for work and be available for work

The person you care for must be getting one of these benefits:

• Attendance Allowance

• Pension Age Disability Payment

• the standard or enhanced rate of the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment

• the standard or enhanced rate of the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment

• the middle or highest rate of the care component of Child Disability Payment

• the highest or middle rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance

• Constant Attendance Allowance paid with a war disablement pension or industrial injuries benefits

• Armed Forces Independence Payment

You aren’t classed as having caring responsibilities if you earn money from them.

If you don’t meet these conditions, you could be placed in the ‘all work-related activity group’. Your work coach should still consider your care responsibilities when setting your work activity. For example, if you spend 20 hours a week caring for someone, you shouldn’t have to go to job interviews in those hours.

If you’re the main carer for a child, your work-related activity group depends on how old your child is.

If you’re living with your partner you’ll need to nominate which of you is the main carer. You usually do this at your first interview at the Jobcentre.

The same rules apply if you’ve adopted a child or are looking after the child for a friend or relative. There are some differences in the first 12 months you’re looking after them.

If you’re in the all work-related activity group

Your work-related activity should still fit in with looking after your child.

While your child is under 13 your work coach has to make sure your work activity fits around school or nursery hours. This includes the time it takes you to travel there and back.

Your work coach should adjust your work-related activity if your child has extra care needs - for example if they have a mental health condition. They should do this even if your child is over 13.

Tell your work coach if you’re looking after your child but they normally live with an ex-partner. Your work-related activity group won’t change, but your work-related activity should still take your child into account while you’re looking after them.

If you’re responsible for the child of a friend or relative

If the child is over 2, you’ll stay in the ‘work-focused interview group’ if you’ve become responsible for them in the past 12 months.

To meet this exception you’ll need to meet all of these conditions:

• you're not the child's parent or step-parent

• you're caring for the child because they have no parents or their parents can't care for them

• if you don't care for them, it's likely that the local authority will look after them instead because of concerns about their welfare

• the child is under 16

After 12 months, you’ll be in the same work-related activity group as if they were your own child.

If you adopted a child less than 12 months ago

You'll be in the ‘no work-related activity group’ for 12 months, no matter how old the child is.

Usually the 12 months starts when when the child is placed with you. You can start your 12 months up to 14 days before then if you tell the Jobcentre you need time to prepare for the adoption. You can’t ask for this if you're a close relative of the child you've adopted.

After 12 months, you’ll be in the same work-related activity group as if the child wasn’t adopted.

If you’re 29 weeks pregnant or more, you will be in the ‘no work-related activity group’.

If you’re less than 29 weeks pregnant, you might still need to look for work. If you can’t manage this, explain why to your work coach.

Tell the DWP if working or looking for work could be a risk to your health or your baby’s health. They’ll class you as having either:

• ‘limited capability for work’ - this will put you in the ‘work preparation group’

• ‘limited capability for work-related activity’ - this will put you in the ‘no work-related activity group’ and increase your Universal Credit payments

You might need to show some evidence of the risk - for example a letter from your doctor. Find out more about having limited capability for work.

If you’ve recently given birth

If it’s less than 15 weeks since you gave birth, you should be in the ‘no work-related activity group’.

If it’s been 15 weeks or more since you gave birth, and you’re not the child’s main carer, you could be expected to look for work. If you can’t manage this, explain your reasons to your work coach.

Your Universal Credit will stop if either:

• you’re single and reach State Pension age

• you’re in a couple and both of you have now reached State Pension age

You should claim Pension Credit instead.

If you’re in a couple and only one of you has reached State Pension age, you can continue to get Universal Credit. The person over State Pension age will be in the ‘no work-related activity group’.

If you’ve reached State Pension age and used to get tax credits, you might have claimed Universal Credit after getting a migration notice. You should get Universal Credit and be in the ‘no work-related activity group’.

If you’re self-employed you’ll be in the ‘no work-related activity group’ if either:

• the 'minimum income floor' applies to you - check how the minimum income floor works

• you earn more than a certain amount each week - the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) call this the ‘conditionality earnings threshold’

If you have an employer, you’ll be in the ‘no work-related activity group’ if you earn above your ‘conditionality earnings threshold’.

Work out your conditionality earnings threshold

Your conditionality earnings threshold is the weekly hours you’re expected to work multiplied by your minimum wage.

For your threshold, your weekly hours depend on what work-related activity group you would be in if you weren't working:

If your earnings are different each month

If there’s a cycle to the hours you work, the DWP take the average of your earnings over this cycle. For example, if you usually work 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off, your earnings will be averaged over the 4 weeks.

If there isn’t a cycle to the hours you work, the DWP work out your earnings using an average of 3 months. If there is anything unusual about your earnings over the 3 months, the DWP can choose another time period to get a more accurate average.

If you don't think the DWP has used the best time period, you can ask for them to look at a different period. Send them a message in your online journal.

If you live with your partner

Both of your conditionality earnings thresholds will be added together to create one joint threshold.

If your combined earnings are less than your joint threshold, one or both of you will need to look for more work. In this situation, if one of you is earning more than their individual threshold, that person doesn’t have to look for more work.

If your combined earnings are more than the joint threshold, neither of you has to look for work even if one of you earns below their individual threshold.

Contact your nearest Citizens Advice if you need help with your earnings threshold.

If you earn below your conditionality earnings threshold

You won't be in the ‘no work-related requirements’ group.

Unless any of the other exceptions apply, you'll be in the ‘all work-related requirements group’. You'll have to find enough work to increase your earnings above your threshold.

You may not need to look for work if you earn above a certain amount every month. This is a lower threshold, known as the ‘administrative earnings threshold’ (AET). Check if this applies to you in the section ‘If you're in the ‘all work-related activity group’ below.

In term time and most holidays you'll be in the ‘no work-related requirements group’ if you’re either:

• at university or college and you get a student loan, grant or bursary

• aged 21 or under and at school or college with no support from your parents

No support from your parents means you can’t live with them for one of these reasons: 

• you’re not regularly in contact with them - this is sometimes called being ‘estranged’ 

• they died

• your physical or mental health would be at risk 

• they can’t support you financially - for example, because they have a physical or mental condition

• they’re in prison

• they’re not allowed to enter Great Britain

In the summer holiday you might need to look for work.

If you’re aged 21 or over, you need to work at least 18 hours a week to earn the AET.

If you’re aged 18 to 20, you need to work at least 24 hours a week to earn the AET.

If you're in a couple, you can also reach the AET if your combined earnings are at least £1,437 a month. This means working at least 29 hours between you, if you're both aged 21 or over and earning the National Minimum Wage.

Multiply your hourly wage by the number of hours you work in a week.

Then, multiply this amount by 52. This will give you your annual earnings.

Divide your annual wage by 12 to get your monthly wage. 

If your monthly earnings are less than £892 a month, you’ll need to show your work coach that you’re looking for more work.

If there’s a cycle to the hours you work, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) take the average of your earnings over this cycle. For example, if you usually work 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off, your earnings will be averaged over the 4 weeks.

If there isn’t a cycle to the hours you work, the DWP work out your earnings using an average of 3 months. If there is anything unusual about your earnings over the 3 months, the DWP can choose another time period to get a more accurate average.

If you don't think the DWP has used the best time period, you can ask for them to look at a different period. Leave a note for them in your online journal.