Currently, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is working to move people claiming older “legacy benefits” onto Universal Credit through a process called Managed Migration
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has shared an update on its plan to axe six “legacy” benefits.
Currently, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is working to move people claiming older “legacy benefits” onto Universal Credit through a process called Managed Migration. The benefits affected by the change include:
- Working Tax Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Income support
- Housing Benefit
- Income related Employment Support Allowance (ESA)
The DWP has been phasing out the legacy benefits for a few years and restarted the move again last year after briefly pausing during the Coronavirus pandemic. At the time of the managed migration restarting, around 2.6million people were still claiming old-style legacy benefits in the UK.
The plan consists of the benefits department sending letters – known as Migration Notices – to people claiming the different benefits and this has been done in phases. In September, letters started to be sent to people claiming JSA and ESA.
In an update on the plan – published to the House of Commons library this week – the DWP gave a date for when all legacy benefits would end. The DWP aims to have moved all claimants onto Universal Credit by March 2026, with the final notices being sent to all those claiming ESA by the end of December next year.
The document read: “The DWP plans to move all legacy benefit claimants to UC by March 2026, completing the UC rollout and closing all legacy benefits by this date.”
Earlier this year, the DWP confirmed that Tax Credits would be ending much sooner in April 2025. The majority of those claiming Tax Credits have been sent migration notices, and next year they will not be able to renew their Tax Credit claims.
Once you receive one of these letters, you have three months to put in a claim for Universal Credit. If you don’t, then your benefits could be stopped. You can put in your claim online, or over the phone by calling the Universal Credit Migration Notice helpline on 0800 169 0328, or you can also ask your local Job Centre.
Once you have made your claim, you will have to wait five weeks until your first Universal Credit payment, and you will continue to receive it going forward – unless your circumstances change. However, in the published document, the DWP noted that households who put a claim in at the deadline – but within one month – will be treated as having claimed on time and can still get transitional protection in their Universal Credit award.
