The Department for Work and Pensions laid regulations in Parliament on 20 October 2026 that would stop certain offenders detained in hospital under a Hospital Order from receiving taxpayer-funded benefits. The department said the change targets so-called "double provision," where the NHS covers living costs while offenders also claim benefits, and that it would affect people already detained and future cases from early next year, subject to parliamentary approval.

Under the current system, the department said an offender on Universal Credit in a single household aged over 25 at the LCWRA rate could receive over £800 a month. It estimated the change would affect some 2,500 offenders already in hospital and approximately 200 a year in future, saving in the low tens of millions of pounds annually, with full financial impacts to be published in the 2026 budget. Those in scope would no longer be entitled to Universal Credit, Pension Credit, State Pension or Employment and Support Allowance while detained.

The regulations cover a dozen serious violent and sexual offences and do not affect people detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 who have not committed an offence, those on remand, unfit to plead, awaiting trial, or convicted of offences outside the prescribed list. Murder is excluded because a Hospital Order is not an available disposal. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said the government was delivering on a promise to close the loophole.