Six legacy benefits for working-age Britons are due to be phased out in the coming months as they’re absorbed into the Universal Credit (UC) system. However, this changeover won’t happen automatically and immediate action will be needed to prevent any interruption in payments from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
The six means-tested benefits include Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) and Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). It’s currently not possible to make a new claim for these benefits under most circumstances and claimants will receive Migration Notices to assist them in transitioning to UC if they’re eligible.
There have been two types of migration; voluntary, where those on legacy benefits choose when to switch, and managed migration, which began last April and is part of the DWP‘s official timeline. Statistics from last November showed 5.36 million households were on UC while 1.66 million remained on legacy benefits.
By the end of this month, it’s expected that 440,000 households will have received their mandatory migration notices. These notices will detail when and which of their legacy benefit awards are set to end.
The DWP has advised claimants not to take any action until they receive this letter, although online benefits calculators can be used to check eligibility for UC, reports the Mirror.
The notice will also provide a deadline for claiming UC and outline the steps needed to do so. Typically, a claim must be made within three months of receiving the migration notice unless there is a valid reason for missing this deadline.
The DWP will also highlight the support and help available during this process and send reminder letters as the deadline approaches.
Even after the deadline passes, there is a one-month grace period where transitional protection can still be obtained. When a claim for UC is made, entitlement to legacy benefits ends on that day, or the day before the deadline if UC is not claimed.
JSA, ESA, Income Support and Housing Benefit will continue to be paid for two weeks after the entitlement ends.
Transitional protection acts as a top-up for those who would receive less on UC than they did on legacy benefits, estimated to be around 35 percent of claimants. This top-up ensures that payments don’t decrease when migrating to the new benefit and will gradually reduce over time if the UC award or household circumstances change.
The original plan for the migration to Universal Credit (UC) was to gradually move all legacy benefits claimants over by the end of this year, a deadline that was briefly extended to 2025. However, an update from the DWP earlier this year revealed that the final transfer, involving around 600,000 ESA and Housing Benefit claimants, will now take place by 2028.
This autumn, all legacy benefit claimants are set to start receiving their migration notices. Those claiming Tax Credits started receiving these notifications last March, while those on Income Support, ESA, and those being asked to switch from Tax Credits to Pension Credits began getting them earlier this year.
