Administrative Earnings Threshold rise took place in May 2024

The rise in the Administrative Earnings Threshold (AET) took place in May 2024, according to the Department for Work and Pensions. The department states that changes seen in conditionalities in 2024 should be seen in context with that rise¹.

The AET is the earnings level at which Universal Credit claimants move between conditionality regimes, which set the work-related activities a claimant must carry out and the level of contact with the Jobcentre¹. The department has not reported the new threshold amount, the previous amount or the number of claimants affected in these statistics¹.

The department's own summary of the change is brief:

The conditionality picture has shifted since. In February 2026, 4.2 million people on Universal Credit were in the "no work requirements" conditionality regime, 50% of the caseload, and the department said that proportion continues to increase¹. The "searching for work" regime, which peaked at 2.4 million in March 2021, stood at 1.6 million in February 2026¹. By May 2026 the "no work requirements" share had reached 51%².

The department attributes much of the change to managed migration rather than to the AET alone. Move to Universal Credit claimants made up 650,000, or 78.3%, of the 830,000 increase in people on Universal Credit between February 2025 and February 2026¹. Of the 1.7 million Move to Universal Credit claimants in February 2026, 1.2 million (70.1%) were in the "no work requirements" regime, and 84.4% of those had previously received legacy benefits linked to Employment and Support Allowance or Housing Benefit¹.

Why it matters for households

The AET determines when a working claimant on Universal Credit is moved into a regime with fewer or no work-related conditions, so a rise in the threshold affects how much contact with the Jobcentre a claimant has and what they are required to do to keep their award. The department has not published the threshold figures in these releases, so the number of households whose conditionality changed as a direct result of the May 2024 rise has not been reported¹.

Separately, the composition of the caseload has changed. There were 8.3 million people on Universal Credit in February 2026, up from 7.5 million in February 2025¹, and 8.4 million in May 2026, which the department describes as the highest number on record, up from 7.7 million in May 2025². In April 2026, 3.1 million people on Universal Credit were in any employment, 37.7% of the caseload, compared with 3.2 million, or 41.9%, in April 2025². How earnings reduce an award is set out in the guide to how earnings reduce Universal Credit, and the rules on when wages are treated as savings are covered in when wages count as savings on Universal Credit.

Claimants who fail to meet their conditionality requirements can face a reduction, explained in Universal Credit sanctions: length and hardship payments. The department also reported that between 18 December 2024 and 7 May 2025, some claimants with refugee status were incorrectly categorised as Humanitarian Protection, and that from June 2025 onwards affected claimants who remained on Universal Credit were correctly recorded as having refugee status¹.

What happens next

Universal Credit statistics moved to quarterly releases only from May 2026, published each February, May, August and November, with all four data series aligned to a three-month lag¹. The next quarterly release covering people, claims, starts, households, deductions and childcare was scheduled for 18 August 2026¹. The department has not reported any further change to the AET¹.