On 6 April 2026 the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) made changes to Universal Credit payments, meaning that patients who are assessed to meet the Severe Conditions Criteria will receive the highest benefit entitlement. These criteria will be used to identify those with the most severe, lifelong health conditions or disabilities, who are unlikely to improve, are not expected to ever be able to work, and for whom reassessments for benefit entitlement are unlikely to provide further new information.
When making a claim, if they think they meet the Severe Conditions Criteria, patients will be asked to send DWP any supporting medical evidence they already have.
DWP does not expect GPs and their teams to do any additional work for this new Criteria. Therefore, in the event that a patient requests evidence from a GP team to support their claim, please advise them that DWP, if they need it, will request any further information they require from the patient directly in the standard way. There is no need to provide any additional evidence directly to patients.
AS STATED PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE PRACTICE FOR COPIES OF RECORDS- Many thanks
