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Section 4: Basic conditions

Welfare Reform Act 2012 · 2012 c. 5View on legislation.gov.uk

Part 1: Universal credit — CHAPTER 1: Entitlement and awards

For the purposes of section 3, a person meets the basic conditions who—

is at least 18 years old,
has not reached the qualifying age for state pension credit,
is in Great Britain,
is not receiving education, and
has accepted a claimant commitment.

Regulations may provide for exceptions to the requirement to meet any of the basic conditions (and, for joint claimants, may provide for an exception for one or both).

For the basic condition in subsection (1)(a) regulations may specify a different minimum age for prescribed cases.

For the basic condition in subsection (1)(b), the qualifying age for state pension credit is that referred to in section 1(6) of the State Pension Credit Act 2002.

For the basic condition in subsection (1)(c) regulations may—

specify circumstances in which a person is to be treated as being or not being in Great Britain;
specify circumstances in which temporary absence from Great Britain is disregarded;
modify the application of this Part in relation to a person not in Great Britain who is by virtue of paragraph (b) entitled to universal credit.

For the basic condition in subsection (1)(d) regulations may—

specify what "receiving education" means;
specify circumstances in which a person is to be treated as receiving or not receiving education.

For the basic condition in subsection (1)(e) regulations may specify circumstances in which a person is to be treated as having accepted or not accepted a claimant commitment.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.