New bar on tax credit claims for tax year 2025-26 inserted

A new paragraph, regulation 4A(9), was inserted into the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016 on 27 January 2025 by The Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025 (S.R. 2025/3)¹. The inserted rule provides that "a person may not make, or be treated as making, a claim for a tax credit in respect of the whole, or any part, of the tax year beginning on 6th April 2025 or any subsequent tax year"¹.

They set out the transitional arrangements for the move to universal credit, including restrictions on claiming what the regulations call "existing benefit", defined as income-based jobseeker's allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, income support, housing benefit and child tax credit and working tax credit under the Tax Credits Act 2002¹.

Regulation 4A itself was inserted into the 2016 Regulations on 1 August 2022 by The Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2022 (S.R. 2022/194)¹. The same 2025 instrument that inserted paragraph (9) also omitted words in regulation 6A(a) on 27 January 2025¹. Separately, regulation 4A was substituted on 6 April 2025 by The Social Security and Universal Credit (Migration of Tax Credit Claimants and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 (S.R. 2024/54)¹.

The general bar in the 2016 Regulations already provides that, except as set out in the paragraphs that follow, "a person may not make a claim for housing benefit, income support, or a tax credit"¹. Exceptions in the regulations cover housing benefit claims for specified accommodation or temporary accommodation, and housing benefit claims by a single person who has reached the qualifying age for state pension credit, or by members of a couple where both have reached that age, or by all members of a polygamous marriage who have reached that age¹.

Why it matters for households

The bar applies to tax credit claims in Northern Ireland for the tax year starting 6 April 2025 and later tax years¹. Tax credits in this context means child tax credit and working tax credit under the Tax Credits Act 2002, which the regulations treat as "existing benefit" alongside income-based jobseeker's allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, income support and housing benefit¹. The effect is that a claim for tax credits cannot be made, or treated as made, for any part of that tax year or subsequent years¹. The regulations also set out how awards of income support or housing benefit for a new claimant partner terminate, and provide that a claimant is treated as entitled to universal credit for housing benefit purposes during a two week period¹. The 2016 Regulations state that there are currently no known outstanding effects for them¹.

What happens next

The insertion took effect on 27 January 2025, and the substitution of regulation 4A takes effect on 6 April 2025¹. No further commencement dates beyond those recorded in the amended regulations have been reported.