Universal Credit for armed forces personnel posted overseas

Eligibility

Serving personnel and families are entitled to claim Universal Credit, regardless of their location. This means families stationed overseas can submit claims in the same way as those in the UK.

How to claim

The Universal Credit account does not accept the standard British Forces Post Office (BFPO) address format. If you are currently posted, or soon to be posted overseas, you must use the following address format when claiming Universal Credit:

A team of DWP Armed Forces Champions will support Universal Credit claims for personnel serving overseas. Using the above address will ensure your claim goes to this team.

This is a temporary process while we enable the Universal Credit account to accept overseas addresses for armed forces personnel.

Find out more about how to claim Universal Credit.

If you’re already serving overseas and claiming Universal Credit

If you already get Universal Credit and are serving overseas, you should sign into your Universal Credit account and update your address by reporting a ‘change of circumstances’. This will enable your claim to be managed by the DWP Armed Forces Champions.

Detailed guidance

Defence Instruction Notice (DIN) Universal Credit – BFPO location claim process, address format (internal MOD access only) has more detailed guidance.

Improving overseas armed forces claims

In the long-term we will improve overseas claims by:

• enabling the Universal Credit account to accept BFPO addresses and postcodes
• updating Universal Credit staff guidance to confirm that serving personnel and families are entitled to submit Universal Credit claims when posted overseas, and adding specific guidance for completing Universal Credit forms
• updating JSP 770, the internal Defence Instruction Notice (DIN), and relevant GOV.UK pages when the Universal Credit account can accept BFPO addresses and postcodes