VerbatimParliament, as it happens

Universal Credit

Asked by Helen WhatelyConservativeDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled Answered 10 June 2025UIN 56292

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households on Universal Credit had (a) five, (b) six, (c) seven, (d), eight, (e) nine and (f) 10 or more children since November 2018.

Answered by Sir Stephen Timms

The latest statistics for the number of children in households on Universal Credit are available on Stat-Xplore for November 2024. As statistics for the number of children are only available from April 2019, the table shows the data for November 2019 to November 2024.

Total number of households receiving a Universal Credit payment, with five or more children in the household, November 2019 to November 2024

Number of Children

Nov 2019

Nov 2020

Nov 2021

Nov 2022

Nov 2023

Nov 2024

5

10,841

20,591

26,136

31,310

35,124

48,956

6

3,136

5,879

7,753

9,348

10,278

14,899

7

860

1,649

2,221

2,689

3,053

4,812

8

286

564

736

914

995

1,822

9

83

170

269

288

337

668

10 or more

40

81

114

169

184

424

Total

15,256

28,934

37,224

44,712

49,972

71,580

Source: Households on Universal Credit dataset

Notes:

  1. Statistical disclosure control has been applied to this table to avoid the release of confidential data. Totals may not sum due to the disclosure control applied.

  1. Award, entitlement and payment information may be missing for a very small number of households on Universal Credit, where more limited information is entered onto IT systems.

  1. Users are advised that these statistics have ongoing work to improve the data quality and so are subject to revision.

  1. Figures for November 2024 are provisional. These figures will be subject to revision in subsequent releases. It is expected that overall provisional figures will be within two per cent of their revised figure in future releases.

  1. Revised figures for households on Universal Credit are published quarterly in February, May, August and November. With each publication, the previous 2 years are revised. This means that the totals in this table may vary slightly from the statistics published on Stat-Xplore for November 2019, November 2020, and November 2021.

Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →

Open this question in Verbatim →

Every written question, searchable

155,000 questions tabled since the election, with the answer each department gave — and the ones still unanswered, with the clock running. Free to search.

Search written questions →Read on Verbatim