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Written question asked by Mel Stride (Conservative) on Thursday, 21 May 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 2 June 2026 (named day). It was answered by Stephen Timms (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 June 2026 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Universal Credit

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants were deemed LCWRA via the substantial risk provisions in each of the last 15 financial years expressed in (a) numerical terms and (b) as a proportion of the caseload.

Answer

The available requested information for Universal Credit (UC) limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) Work Capability Assessment (WCA) decisions where claimants qualified for LCWRA due to 'substantial risk arising from work-related activity' is provided in the table below.

Financial Year

Volume of UC LCWRA Substantial Risk decisions

Total volume of UC LCWRA decisions

Proportion

2019/20

81,240

246,040

33%

2020/21

52,990

186,250

28%

2021/22

55,780

273,180

20%

2022/23

48,870

327,230

15%

2023/24

56,130

357,190

16%

2024/25

53,670

397,370

14%

2025/26 (to Nov 25)

26,280

229,020

11%

Information prior to April 2019 is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Information on UC WCA decisions and on UC LWCRA caseload is published and can be found on Stat-Xplore.

For time periods prior to the introduction of UC, information on ESA WCA decisions broken down by reason for allocation (including substantial risk) can also be found on Stat-Xplore.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
3753
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Employment Universal credit
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk