Universal Credit is slowly replacing older legacy benefits, through a process called ‘managed migration’ which is being done in stages and affects millions of people
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has explained exactly when millions of people will need to start claiming Universal Credit.
Universal Credit is slowly replacing older legacy benefits, through a process called “managed migration”. The transfer to Universal Credit is being done in stages, having been temporarily paused during the coronavirus pandemic. At the time of the “managed migration” restarting in May 2022, some 2.6million people were still claiming old-style legacy benefits in the UK.
When it is your turn to move to Universal Credit, you’ll receive a “migration notice” in the post – and this will give you a three-month deadline to start claiming Universal Credit. After this date, your existing benefits will be stopped. The benefits being replaced by Universal Credit are: Housing Benefit, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit and Income Support.
The DWP wants everyone moved over by March 2026. In a briefing published on the UK Parliament website, the Government explained how it started contacting around 800,000 people claiming income-related ESA only, or incomed-related ESA and Housing Benefit, from September. It aims to notify all these claimants by December 2025.
These people were originally scheduled to be moved over by 2028/29 but the date had been brought forward. It continues: “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.”
The DWP sent migration notices to over 500,000 households getting Tax Credits only in 2023/24. Then in 2024/25, the DWP contacted a further 440,000 households, including the remaining Tax Credit claimants who are receiving other legacy benefits, and all claimants of Income Support, income-based JSA, and Housing Benefit.
You can choose to move over earlier, before you receive your “migration notice” in the post, if you think you will be better off on Universal Credit. But you need to do your research first, as you can’t move back to your old benefits once you’ve made the switch. You should use a free benefits calculator online to check if you’ll likely be better off:
If you think you will be better off, get advice first before switching to Universal Credit from Citizens Advice or Turn2Us. The DWP claims 55% of people will be better off on Universal Credit, and 35% would be worse off. The rest will see no change.
If you are moved over to Universal Credit and you’ll be worse off, you will get monthly transition payments which are designed to make cover the shortfall of payments – but only if you wait to be moved across through the “managed migration” process. The transitional protection lasts until there is no difference between the amount awarded under Universal Credit and what you received before under legacy benefits.
Keep in mind that once you make a Universal Credit claim, your old benefits will be stopped and you’ll have to wait five weeks for your first Universal Credit payment to arrive. Some legacy benefits – including Housing Benefit, Income Support, income-related ESA and income-based JSA – will “run on” for two weeks to help bridge that gap.
