Universal Credit Scottish Choices – management information to March 2026

Offers

• By end March 2026, 1,345,830 new UC clients had been offered one or both UC Scottish choices since October 2017. There has been an average of more than 13,000 offers per month over the lifetime of the scheme, although it took around a year after the scheme started to reach this level. A much higher peak was seen during 2020 around the time of the main Covid lockdown (Chart 2, Chart 3).
• More than twice as many offers included MFP than included DPL. This is because it is more common for individuals to be ineligible for the DPL offer, either because they are not in the rental sector and therefore do not receive the housing element of UC, or because they have an Alternative Payment Arrangement (APA) in place.
• Most new clients (92%, 1,335,070 people) were offered more frequent payments (MFP), whereas 35% (515,720 people) were offered direct payment to landlords (DPL). 35% received both.
• Most new clients (830,100 people, 62%) received an offer of MFP only, 10,760 (1%) received an offer of DPL only.

Implementations

• Of those offered either choice, 32% (424,410 people) had accepted an offer, as at March 2026. Clients that are new to UC may not accept offers for various reasons such as having more savings or being more experienced in budgeting on a monthly cycle.
• Of those offered MFP, 28% (370,780 people) accepted MFP; of which 327,130 accepted MFP only.
• Of those offered DPL, 19% (97,280 people) accepted DPL; of which 53,630 accepted DPL only (Chart 4).

The falls seen in the most recent months are related to the reduction in numbers of new claims during early 2026.

Chart 2: Monthly number of new UC clients offered and accepting MFP since introduction in October 2017

Chart 3: Monthly number of new UC clients offered and accepting DPL since introduction in October 2017

Chart 4: Total number of new UC clients offered and accepting either choice or both together since introduction in October 2017