PETITIONRejectedPetition · petition.parliament.uk
Reform Universal Credit to reduce long-term benefit dependency and costs
Reduce Universal Credit by applying stricter eligibility for work-capable claimants. Pay standard Credit only for a defined job-search period (e.g. 3 months). After this, reduce payments and make them conditional on accepting suitable work, approved training/placements or community work.
Last fetched 03 May 2026 · petition.parliament.uk
Signatures
8
signatures
Government response threshold (10,000) · 8/10,000
Debate threshold (100,000) · 8/100,000
Background
Over 8 million now claim credit, including many work-capable adults who remain on benefits for years with no automatic end point. In some cases, people can receive more on benefits than by working, reducing incentives to work, effectively rewarding unemployment, while undermining fairness for working taxpayers who help fund the system. Time-limiting support and tightening capability criteria would reduce dependency, lower costs, restore confidence while protecting those genuinely unable to work.