Universal Credit Calculator

LCWRA Points Calculator

Score the Work Capability Assessment yourself: the 15-point Schedule 6 threshold for limited capability for work, and every Schedule 7 descriptor for LCWRA.

Looking for the rules behind the figures instead? Read How Universal Credit is calculated.

Last updated

Your details
Schedule 6: physical activities

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

Schedule 6: mental, cognitive and intellectual function

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

0 points

The descriptor that applies most of the time, not on your best day.

Schedule 7: does any of this apply to you?

Cannot either mobilise more than 50 metres on level ground without stopping in order to avoid significant discomfort or exhaustion, or repeatedly mobilise 50 metres within a reasonable timescale because of significant discomfort or exhaustion.

Cannot move between one seated position and another seated position located next to one another without receiving physical assistance from another person.

Cannot raise either arm as if to put something in the top pocket of a coat or jacket.

Cannot pick up and move a 0.5 litre carton full of liquid.

Cannot press a button (such as a telephone keypad) with either hand, or cannot turn the pages of a book with either hand.

Cannot convey a simple message, such as the presence of a hazard.

Cannot understand a simple message, such as the location of a fire escape, due to sensory impairment.

At least once a week experiences either loss of control leading to extensive evacuation of the bowel and/or voiding of the bladder, or substantial leakage of the contents of a collecting device sufficient to require the individual to clean themselves and change clothing.

Cannot learn how to complete a simple task, such as setting an alarm clock, due to cognitive impairment or mental disorder.

Reduced awareness of everyday hazards, due to cognitive impairment or mental disorder, leads to a significant risk of injury to self or others, or damage to property or possessions, such that the claimant requires supervision for the majority of the time to maintain safety.

Cannot, due to impaired mental function, reliably initiate or complete at least two sequential personal actions.

Cannot cope with any change, due to cognitive impairment or mental disorder, to the extent that day to day life cannot be managed.

Engagement in social contact is always precluded due to difficulty relating to others or significant distress experienced by the claimant.

Has, on a daily basis, uncontrollable episodes of aggressive or disinhibited behaviour that would be unreasonable in any workplace.

Cannot convey food or drink to the claimant's own mouth without receiving physical assistance from someone else, or without repeatedly stopping or experiencing breathlessness or severe discomfort, or without receiving regular prompting given by someone else in the claimant's presence, or, owing to a severe disorder of mood or behaviour, fails to do so without that assistance or prompting.

Cannot chew or swallow food or drink, or cannot do so without repeatedly stopping or experiencing breathlessness or severe discomfort, or without repeatedly receiving regular prompting given by someone else in the claimant's presence, or, owing to a severe disorder of mood or behaviour, fails to do so without that prompting.

Good to know

  • Every figure updates as you answer. There is nothing to submit.
  • The calculation runs in your browser, so nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
  • Rates are the published 2026/27 figures, in force since 6 April 2026.

Reviewed by

MR
Matilda Rose Edwards

Researcher and editor

Researches and maintains the calculators and guides on this site, checking every figure against the rates DWP publishes for the current tax year.

Your estimate

No limited capability for work found

Estimated Work Capability Assessment outcome · 2026/27 rates
Schedule 6 points
0

15 needed for limited capability for work

Physical points
0
Mental points
0
Schedule 7 descriptors met
0
0 points does not reach the 15-point Schedule 6 threshold, and no Schedule 7 descriptor was met, so normal work-related requirements would continue on these answers.
This is a self-assessment, not a decision. A DWP decision maker, usually working from a healthcare professional's report, decides the actual outcome.
Only your highest-scoring descriptor in each Schedule 6 activity counts.
Result
Physical points, Schedule 60
Mental points, Schedule 60
Schedule 6 total15 points needed for LCW0
Schedule 7 descriptors met0
OutcomeNo limited capability for work found
Before and after

Disclaimer: This tool does not constitute financial advice. Results are estimates based on the information you enter and the published rates at the time of writing, and may be affected by changes in policy, rates or your own circumstances. Use them at your own risk and take professional advice before acting on them.

How it works

How is it worked out?

What this tool does that the others do not, and the order it works in.

The Work Capability Assessment decides two different things, not one. Schedule 6 is a points test: seventeen activities, each scored on whichever of its descriptors applies to you the most, and 15 points across the physical and mental ones combined gives limited capability for work. Schedule 7 has no points at all. It lists sixteen activities, and meeting any single one of its descriptors, for the majority of the time or of the occasions you attempt it, gives limited capability for work and work-related activity instead.

This calculator scores both schedules from the wording DWP itself assesses against, activity by activity, though substantial risk and the severe conditions criteria are covered in the LCWRA assessment guide instead. It cannot make the decision: that is for a DWP decision maker, usually working from a report by a healthcare professional, on the facts of your own case. Descriptor changes proposed in 2023 were never brought into force, so the wording below is what still applies, and no date is fixed for the government's separate plan to fold the Work Capability Assessment into Personal Independence Payment instead. Once you have an outcome, the Health Element Calculator works out which of the two health element rates would follow.

Who it is for

Who uses the LCWRA Points Calculator?

The situations this tool is built to settle, and what each one is trying to find out.

  • You have a WCA50 to fill in

    See where your own answers land against the actual descriptors before you write anything down, so the questionnaire matches what you would score. If you have not started it yet, the UC50 questionnaire guide explains the paperwork itself.

  • You are waiting for a decision

    Work through the same two schedules DWP is assessing you against, and see whether the outcome looks like LCW, LCWRA, or neither, before checking what either verdict is worth on the health element page.

  • A decision has just landed and looks wrong

    Check which descriptors would need to apply for the decision to be right, before deciding whether a mandatory reconsideration is worth asking for.

  • You advise or support someone

    Talk through the descriptors activity by activity with a client, rather than guessing at a total from a vague description of their condition.

In detail

How does the highest-descriptor rule work?

Each of the 17 Schedule 6 activities offers several descriptors at different points, and only the highest-scoring one that applies to you counts. If picking up a one-litre carton is impossible but picking up a light bulky object is manageable, that activity scores the points for the carton, not both added together. The 15-point threshold is then the sum of your highest descriptor from each of the 10 physical activities and each of the 7 mental ones, added together as a single total rather than kept as two separate scores.

In detail

What does 'the majority of the time' actually mean?

A descriptor applies if it is true for more than half the time, or on more than half the occasions you attempt the activity, looking at a broadly typical day rather than your best one or your worst one. DWP's own handbook tells assessors to ask what happens repeatedly, reliably and safely, not what is possible once under ideal conditions. Answer each activity against that standard, because a description of a good day scores nothing. The guide on answering the questionnaire covers writing that up properly.

In detail

What is the substantial risk route, and why isn't it scored here?

Schedule 7 has a second way in that carries no descriptor at all: if there would be a substantial risk to the mental or physical health of any person were you found not to have limited capability for work and work-related activity, the test is treated as met. It turns on evidence and judgement rather than a tickbox, so it cannot be scored by a calculator. If you think it applies to you, put it in writing rather than relying on this tool, and see the LCWRA assessment guide for how that route is actually argued.

Recent changes

What changed with the Work Capability Assessment descriptors in 2023?

DWP consulted in 2023 on changing the mobilising, getting about, continence and social engagement descriptors, aiming to narrow who qualifies. A legal challenge over how that consultation was run succeeded in the High Court in January 2025, and the proposed changes were dropped rather than brought into force. The descriptors and points in this calculator are the ones actually in force now. Separately, the government has said it wants to fold the Work Capability Assessment into the Personal Independence Payment assessment so only one test remains, but no date for that change has been fixed, and until it happens the two-schedule test here is what decides a claim.

Rates

What figures does it use?

Every amount is 2026/27 and is read from the same table the calculator runs on, so the page and the tool cannot drift apart.

What each outcome is worth

Monthly, 2026/27

Assessment outcomeWhat follows
Under 15 points, no Schedule 7 descriptor metNo limited capability for work is found. Normal work search and work availability requirements continue to apply.
15 points or more (LCW), no Schedule 7 descriptor metLimited capability for work is found. Work-related requirements are switched off, but for claims made since 3 April 2017 this carries no separate financial element.
Any one Schedule 7 descriptor met (LCWRA)Limited capability for work and work-related activity is found, and the health element is added: £429.80 a month at the higher rate, or £217.26 at the lower rate, depending on when the condition was declared.
  • The healthcare professional's report and the decision maker's own view of the evidence can still differ from a self-assessment.
Work out which health element rate would apply
What this calculator does not score

Covered in the LCWRA assessment guide instead

RouteWhy it is not scored here
Substantial riskJudged on evidence and judgement rather than a descriptor
Severe conditions criteriaDecides which health element rate applies, not the LCWRA test itself
Read the LCWRA assessment guide

Eligibility

Can you claim Universal Credit?

The conditions that let you claim, and the ones that rule it out.

You can usually claim if

  • You are 18 or over and under State Pension age, with some exceptions at 16 and 17.
  • You live in the UK and meet the residence and presence conditions.
  • You and your partner have £16,000.00 or less in savings and capital between you.
  • You are in work, out of work, or unable to work. Universal Credit covers all three.

You cannot claim if

  • Your capital is more than £16,000.00, whatever your income.
  • You are in full-time education, unless you have children, a disability or a partner who can claim.
  • You are subject to immigration control with no recourse to public funds.
  • You and your partner are both over State Pension age. Pension Credit applies instead.

Process

How do you claim?

Three steps, in the order they have to happen.

  1. Get your figures together

    Your rent and what it includes, your last few payslips, childcare invoices, and the balance of every account you and your partner hold. Estimating the rent is the single most common reason an estimate comes out wrong.

  2. Make the claim online

    Claims start at GOV.UK and need an email address, bank details and ID. Couples make one joint claim, both partners signing in separately. Your first assessment period starts the day you claim, which fixes every payment date afterwards.

  3. Report changes as they happen

    A change of rent, hours, childcare or household is reported through your journal, and it takes effect from the assessment period it falls in, not from the day you tell them. Late reporting is what turns an underpayment into an overpayment.

The first payment takes about five weeks

Universal Credit is paid a month in arrears, so the first payment lands roughly five weeks after you claim. You can ask for an advance to cover the gap, but it is a loan. It comes back out of later payments.

Watch out

What do people get wrong?

The mistakes that actually cost claimants money, rather than the ones that are easy to list.

  • Adding up more than one descriptor per activity

    Only your highest-scoring descriptor in each activity counts. Picking two descriptors for the same activity and adding both totals overstates the score.

  • Describing your best day

    The test runs on the majority of the time or of the occasions attempted, not on what is possible once when everything goes right.

  • Assuming LCW alone pays something extra

    For claims made since 3 April 2017, meeting the 15-point threshold without meeting a Schedule 7 descriptor removes work-related requirements but adds no separate element to the award.

  • Missing the substantial risk route

    It needs no descriptor at all, so a self-assessment built only from the sixteen Schedule 7 descriptors can understate what a claim is actually worth.

  • Treating a self-assessment as the final word

    A DWP decision maker, usually working from a healthcare professional's report, decides the actual outcome, and can reach a different one from the same facts.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

The questions people ask most about LCWRA Points Calculator and the figures behind it.

References

Sources

Figures on this page are taken from the following primary sources and were last checked on 7 September 2026.

Reviewed by

MR
Matilda Rose Edwards

Researcher and editor

Researches and maintains the calculators and guides on this site, checking every figure against the rates DWP publishes for the current tax year.

Published