How to reapply for Universal Credit
If you have previously claimed Universal Credit, you may not have to go through the full application process again. Find out how to reapply for Universal Credit.
If your Universal Credit claim has recently been rejected, you can challenge the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) decision - this is called a mandatory reconsideration.
If you previously received Universal Credit how you reapply is determined by the type of Universal Credit you claimed previously:
- Full service (an online account).
- Live service (if you claimed Universal Credit from April 2013- April 2016 and stopped claiming before you were moved to full service).
If you are not sure what service you received, you can call the free Universal Credit helpline.
Full-service Universal Credit
If you previously claimed full-service Universal Credit and it has been more than six months since you last received a Universal Credit payment, you will need to make a new claim from the start.
However, if it's been six months or less since you received your last Universal Credit payment, you can log in to your online account to make another claim. This will take less time than the full application, and you will receive payments on the same dates as before.
When you make a new claim like this, all of your previous messages and documents will be deleted from your Universal Credit account. If you want to keep a record of what is on your account, you can download documents or take screenshots of any messages.
If you are having a problem accessing your online account, call the free Universal Credit helpline to reapply.
Live service Universal Credit
If you were on the live service of Universal Credit, you would need to make a new claim from the start.
Reapplying for Universal Credit if you received a sanction
Depending on when the Universal Credit sanction was applied and for how long will determine how reapplying for Universal Credit will affect you.
- If you had received a sanction when your claim ended.
- If you had received a sanction after you stopped claiming.
Irrespective of whether you finished claiming Universal Credit your sanction will finish on the date it was initially scheduled to end. If you are having a problem finding out when your sanction period was for, call the free Universal Credit helpline.
If you were sanctioned before your claim ended
If you received a Universal Credit sanction before your claim ended the sanction will not affect your new claim payments if it has now ended.
Your payments will be reduced by the same amount if you receive Universal Credit again, but the sanction has not expired.
If you were sanctioned after you finished claiming Universal Credit
If you were given a sanction but had already stopped claiming Universal Credit the sanction will not affect your new claim payments if it has now ended.
When you make a new Universal Credit claim, the DWP will calculate how long the sanction would have been for, and your payments will be reduced if your new claim starts before the sanction finishes.
Example
Let's say you didn't accept a job you were offered - which can cause a 91-day sanction.
However, you stopped claiming Universal Credit on July 13th before you were sanctioned.
You reapply for Universal Credit on October 28th. The DWP investigated your previous claim and calculated the sanction should have been 91 days.
The sanction would start on July 12th - It starts the day before your previous claim ended - and finish on October 11th.
Therefore the sanction wouldn't affect you as it finished before you made your new claim on October 28th.
If you had made a new claim before October 11th, you would have had a reduced payment until October 11th.
