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£800 a month, 2,500 people, and a change bereaved families spent a decade asking for

Qurexa Editorial Team22 October 20266 min read 0 0
£800 a month, 2,500 people, and a change bereaved families spent a decade asking for

What happened

On 20 October 2026 the Department for Work and Pensions laid regulations in Parliament that will stop certain serious offenders receiving benefits while they are detained in hospital. The benefits affected are Universal Credit, Pension Credit, the State Pension and Employment and Support Allowance. The change applies to people detained under what is called a Hospital Order. This is what a court imposes when someone has committed an offence but a judge decides they need treatment in a secure hospital rather than a prison sentence. In England and Wales it comes under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983. In Scotland the equivalent is section 57A of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. It will not apply to everyone under a Hospital Order. It covers only people convicted of a specified list of serious offences, mainly violent and sexual crimes. People held on remand, awaiting trial, or found unfit to plead are not affected. The regulations still need parliamentary approval. If passed, they take effect early next year and will apply to existing cases as well as future ones, whenever the conviction happened. Pat McFadden, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said the government had promised to act on the unfairness and was delivering on that promise.

Why this matters

The situation this addresses is one most people find hard to defend once they hear it. Someone convicted of a serious violent or sexual offence, detained in a secure hospital where their accommodation, food and care are all provided by the state, could also be receiving benefit payments. The department gives an illustrative figure: an offender living as a single person aged over 25, on the higher Universal Credit health rate, could receive over £800 a month. This change exists because bereaved families campaigned for it, in some cases for close to a decade. Julian Hendy of the charity Hundred Families, which supports families bereaved by killings involving mental illness, called the move very welcome and noted the campaign had run for nearly ten years. Relatives of victims are quoted in the announcement. Emma Webber, mother of Barnaby Webber, said the change was long overdue and simply the right thing to do. Dr Sanjoy Kumar, father of Grace O'Malley-Kumar, said the campaign had always been about accountability and fairness. Linda Westcarr, mother of Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche, said that her daughter mattered, and her life mattered. Those are the voices that moved this, and they deserve to be quoted rather than summarised away.

What the evidence actually says

The numbers involved are smaller than the attention suggests, and it is worth being straight about that. Around 2,500 offenders already detained in hospital are expected to be affected. Roughly 200 more are expected each year. The expected saving is in the low tens of millions of pounds a year. For a department that spends hundreds of billions, that is not a budget measure, and the government has not presented it as one. The scope is also narrower than some coverage will imply. Murder is excluded — not as a concession, but because a Hospital Order is not legally available for murder. People who have not been convicted, including those on remand or found unfit to plead, are untouched. The list of qualifying offences is specified rather than open-ended. A few practical questions are not answered in the announcement. People detained under Hospital Orders are sometimes discharged, and will then need to claim again; how quickly that can happen is unclear. The State Pension is also included, which is unusual, because it is normally treated as something earned through National Insurance contributions rather than a means-tested benefit. The announcement does not set out the reasoning for including it. And the regulations are not law yet. They are subject to parliamentary approval, which is a real step rather than a formality, even if it is usually a quiet one.

Practical advice

Most readers will have no direct connection to this. For those who do, here is what is useful. **If you are bereaved by a killing involving mental illness, specialist support exists.** Hundred Families is the charity that has campaigned on this issue and supports families in exactly this position. Victim Support offers free, confidential help to anyone affected by crime, whether or not it was reported to the police. **If you are a family member managing someone's affairs, watch the timing.** If these regulations pass, they apply to existing cases from the date they take effect, regardless of when the conviction was. Any standing arrangements involving those payments will need reviewing. **On discharge, benefits must be claimed again.** They do not resume by themselves. If you support someone who may be discharged, factor in that a new claim takes time. **Do not rely on news coverage for your own case.** The qualifying offence list, the detention sections and the exclusions all matter. Citizens Advice gives free, independent benefits guidance, and complex situations deserve proper advice rather than an inference drawn from a headline. **If you are struggling, say so early.** Benefit changes are stressful, and support is easier to arrange before arrears build than after.

What to know

Regulations laid on 20 October 2026 will remove Universal Credit, Pension Credit, State Pension and Employment and Support Allowance from people detained in hospital under a Hospital Order, where they have been convicted of specified serious offences — mainly violent and sexual crimes. Murder is excluded because a Hospital Order cannot be imposed for it. People on remand, awaiting trial or found unfit to plead are not affected. About 2,500 people already detained are expected to be covered, with around 200 more a year. Savings are put in the low tens of millions annually. The DWP's illustrative example is an offender who could receive over £800 a month in Universal Credit. The regulations require parliamentary approval and would take effect early next year, applying to existing cases as well as new ones. This change came about because bereaved families pressed for it over roughly a decade. If you are affected by a similar bereavement, Hundred Families and Victim Support both offer help, and Citizens Advice can give free independent guidance on any benefit change. Sources: GOV.UK (Department for Work and Pensions), "Serious offenders detained in hospital will no longer receive benefits", 20 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/news/serious-offenders-detained-in-hospital-will-no-longer-receive-benefits. GOV.UK, "Department for Work and Pensions", accessed 22 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions. GOV.UK, "Ministry of Justice", accessed 22 October 2026, https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice. This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified professional.

#benefits#DWP#Universal Credit#justice#Hospital Order#victims

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