SMI eligibility rule changes for Universal Credit claimants documented

The Department for Work and Pensions added information about changes to Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) eligibility rules for Universal Credit claimants to section 2 of its background and methodology note, in an update published on 27 June 2023¹. The same update revised the interest rate information in that section and the information about households in section 6, "Interpretation of the statistics"¹. The latest release of SMI statistics was published the same day¹.

SMI is a loan that contributes towards the interest payments on a claimant's mortgage and other eligible loans, according to the note¹. A member of the household must be in receipt of, or treated as receiving, one of the qualifying benefits¹. The statistics cover England, Scotland and Wales¹.

The document, first published on 13 April 2021, has been updated repeatedly since, most recently on 31 March 2026¹. That update made various amendments, including clarifying the description of SMI and the qualifying benefit rule, and explaining that from March 2026 all new releases of SMI statistics on Stat-Xplore will use Census Output Area 2021 geographies, replacing 2011 geographies¹. It also explained that with each publication, the previous quarter's breakdown of qualifying benefits from the latest quarter in the previous release will be revised¹.

Earlier updates include a new section 5, "Known issues", added on 26 September 2023, and changes to the disclosure control and status of the statistics sections on 24 June 2025¹. On 29 June 2021 the note updated the section "Revision of SMI loans in payment statistics" and added a section "Change to methodology for backdated payments"¹.

The note does not set out what the eligibility changes for Universal Credit claimants are, and no detail of those changes has been reported in the document¹.

Why it matters for households

SMI is paid as a loan rather than a grant, so the amount a household receives is recovered later, and eligibility is tied to receipt of a qualifying benefit¹. The 27 June 2023 update records that the eligibility rules for Universal Credit claimants changed, but the note itself does not describe the change, so the practical effect on individual households is not set out in this document¹. Households affected are those with a mortgage or other eligible loan who receive, or are treated as receiving, a qualifying benefit¹. The statistics cover England, Scotland and Wales¹.

What happens next

The note states that from March 2026, new releases of SMI statistics on Stat-Xplore will use Census Output Area 2021 geographies instead of 2011 geographies¹. It also states that with each publication, the previous quarter's breakdown of qualifying benefits from the latest quarter in the previous release will be revised¹. The document was last updated on 31 March 2026¹.