{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/universal-credit-regulations-2013/regulation-8",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/universal-credit-regulations-2013/regulation-8.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2013/376",
  "legislation_title": "The Universal Credit Regulations 2013",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/universal-credit-regulations-2013",
  "path": "regulation/8",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "8",
  "heading": "Cases where the minimum age is 16",
  "text": "(1) For the basic condition in section 4(1)(a) of the Act (at least 18 years old), the minimum age is 16 years old where a person—\n(a) has limited capability for work;\n(b) is awaiting an assessment under Part 5 to determine whether the person has limited capability for work and has a statement given ... in accordance with the Medical Evidence Regulations which provides that the person is not fit for work;\n(c) has regular and substantial caring responsibilities for a severely disabled person;\n(d) is responsible for a child;\n(e) is a member of a couple the other member of which is responsible for a child or a qualifying young person (but only where the other member meets the basic conditions in section 4 of the Act);\n(f) is pregnant, and it is 11 weeks or less before her expected week of confinement, or was pregnant and it is 15 weeks or less since the date of her confinement; or\n(g) is without parental support (see paragraph (3)).\n(2) Sub-paragraphs (c), (f) and (g) of paragraph (1) do not include any person who is a care leaver.\n(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(g) a young person is without parental support where that person is not being looked after by a local authority and—\n(a) has no parent;\n(b) cannot live with their parents because—\n(i) the person is estranged from them, or\n(ii) there is a serious risk to the person's physical or mental health, or that the person would suffer significant harm if the person lived with them; or\n(c) is living away from their parents, and neither parent is able to support the person financially because that parent—\n(i) has a physical or mental impairment,\n(ii) is detained in custody pending trial or sentence upon conviction or under a sentence imposed by a court, or\n(iii) is prohibited from entering or re-entering Great Britain.\n(4) In this regulation—\n“parent” includes any person acting in the place of a parent;\n“care leaver” means—\n(a) in relation to England..., an eligible child for the purposes of paragraph 19B of Schedule 2 to the Children Act 1989 or a relevant child for the purposes of section 23A of that Act;\n(b) in relation to Scotland, a person under the age of 18 who—\n(i) is looked after by a local authority; or\n(ii) has ceased to be looked after by a local authority but is a person to whom a local authority in Scotland is obliged to provide advice and assistance in terms of section 29(1) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 or a person who is being provided with continuing care under section 26A of that Act,\nand who, since reaching the age of 14 has been looked after by a local authority for a period of, or periods totalling, 3 months or more (excluding any period where the person has been placed with a member of their family);\n(c) in relation to Wales, a category 1 young person or category 2 young person within the meaning of section 104(2) of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014.\n“confinement” means—\n(a) labour resulting in the birth of a living child; or\n(b) labour after 24 weeks of pregnancy resulting in the birth of a child whether alive or dead, and where a woman's labour begun on one day results in the birth of a child on another day she is to be taken to be confined on the date of the birth.",
  "extent": "E+W+S",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in reg. 8(1)(b) omitted (1.7.2022) by virtue of The Social Security (Medical Evidence) and Statutory Sick Pay (Medical Evidence) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/630), regs. 1(2), 4(3)(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in reg. 8(4) omitted (26.5.2016) by virtue of The Universal Credit (Care Leavers and Looked After Children) Amendment Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/543), regs. 1, 2(3)(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words in reg. 8(4) substituted (26.5.2016) by The Universal Credit (Care Leavers and Looked After Children) Amendment Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/543), regs. 1, 2(3)(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M1",
      "text": "1989 c.41. Section 19B was inserted by section 1 of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 (c.35). Section 23A was inserted by section 2 of that Act."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/376/regulation/8",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-11-05T03:36:10.415553+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}