Part-time work and Universal Credit: how much you keep

The short answer: you can work any number of hours on Universal Credit. If you have children or a health condition that limits your work, you keep all your take-home pay up to a work allowance of £427 a month (or £710 if you get no help with housing). Above that, your Universal Credit goes down by 55p for every £1 you take home, so you keep 45p.

The two numbers that decide what you keep

• The work allowance. You only get one if you, or your partner, are responsible for a child or have limited capability for work. It is £427 a month if your Universal Credit includes a housing element, and £710 if it does not, for 2026/27.
• The 55% taper. Every £1 of take-home pay above the work allowance reduces your Universal Credit by 55p. If you have no work allowance, the taper applies from your first pound.

Your pay is measured after Income Tax, National Insurance and pension contributions. Most part-time workers earn too little to pay tax, so their take-home is close to their gross pay.

How much you keep at different hours

On the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour, aged 21 or over. The middle columns assume the lower £427 work allowance:

"Better off by" is your take-home pay minus the drop in Universal Credit. These figures hold as long as you still get some Universal Credit. Once the reduction is bigger than your award, it simply stops, and every extra pound is yours again, less tax.

A worked example

Sam is a single parent who rents and gets the housing element, so has the £427 work allowance. Sam takes home £1,100 in a month.

1. Pay above the work allowance: £1,100 − £427 = £673
2. Reduction at 55%: £673 × 0.55 = £370.15
3. Sam's Universal Credit falls by £370.15, but Sam has £1,100 of wages, so is £729.85 a month better off than not working.

Is it worth working more hours?

Each extra hour at £12.71 adds £12.71 before tax. Once you are above the work allowance, Universal Credit takes 55p of each pound, so you keep about £5.72 of that hour. If you also start paying tax and National Insurance, you keep less: roughly 72p of each pound after tax, then 45% of that, about 32p.

That is still more money. The real question is whether it is worth it after the costs of working: travel, childcare and time. Universal Credit pays up to 85% of eligible childcare costs, up to £1,071.09 a month for one child or £1,836.16 for two or more in 2026/27, which often makes extra hours worth it for parents.

Things that catch people out

• Extra paydays. If you are paid weekly or four-weekly, some monthly assessment periods contain an extra payday. Your Universal Credit drops that month, then goes back up. See weekly vs monthly pay.
• Pension contributions are taken off your earnings before the taper, so paying into a workplace pension costs you less than it seems.
• Work search rules. Depending on what you earn, your claimant commitment may still ask you to look for more hours or better-paid work.
• Savings over £6,000 reduce your award, and above £16,000 you cannot get Universal Credit.
• Self-employed? After a start-up period you may be treated as earning a set minimum, the minimum income floor, even in a quiet month.

Other help that depends on your hours

Some support needs you to earn at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at the minimum wage, about £203 a week. That includes the 30 hours of funded childcare for working parents in England. See what you take home on 16 hours a week.

To see your own take-home before Universal Credit, use the part-time pay calculator. Your Universal Credit statement shows the exact figures each month.

This is a simplified guide using 2026/27 rates. Your award depends on your whole household. Check your Universal Credit journal or a benefits adviser for your exact figures.