What proportion of benefit claimants has Universal Credit been applied to?

“It’s [Universal Credit] a huge reform, it has so far been applied to 8% of benefit claimants”

Chris Grayling, 19 October 2017

Chris Grayling’s claim refers to the number of people currently claiming Universal Credit—a new benefit that is replacing lots of different social security benefits—compared to the number of people expected to be claiming it by the time it’s fully introduced.

About 610,000 people are currently claiming Universal Credit.

It’s being introduced gradually and is only expected to be fully rolled-out by 2022, five years behind schedule. The roll-out is now set to accelerate over the coming year. About seven million people are expected to be claiming the benefit by that time.

That means between 8% of the expected claimants by 2022 are currently on Universal Credit.