A large number of households are being notified about big changes to their benefits. People who receive income-related Employment Support Allowance (ESA) will be transferred to Universal Credit by April 2025, three years earlier than initially envisaged.
DWP Rushes Universal Credit Migration: 600,000 Households Alerted to Major Changes
The big changes mean that approximately 600,000 people will receive Migration Notice letters, most likely in the first quarter of next year, informing them that they must apply for Universal Credit or lose their benefits. People who receive so-called legacy benefits are being transitioned to the single Universal Credit payment.
Many applicants have already been transferred, but the process is still ongoing for some this year. The DWP is currently contacting persons on income support and tax credits who receive housing benefit.
People who get a Migration Notice letter warning them of the transition to Universal Credit have been advised not to ignore it. That's because the procedure isn't automatic, and people must apply for Universal Credit when their legacy benefit expires.
Government Accelerates Universal Credit Changeover, Scrapping Legacy Benefits
In the 2022 Autumn Statement, the government postponed the changeover for persons receiving income-related ESA and housing benefit until 2028. However, that proposal has now been abandoned.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the U-turn last week as part of his "Welfare Reform" act, with the benefits department slated to contact all 600,000 households earning these benefits later this year, based to the Mirror's reports.
The DWP confirmed the surprising shift on X. Following the speech, they wrote: Following the speech, they posted: "The Prime Minister’s welfare reform speech earlier today announced the acceleration of the Managed Migration of legacy ESA/ESA & HB cases to Universal Credit. All migration notices will be sent by the end of December 2025. We will work with stakeholders on the detailed plans."
The DWP is scrapping the older "legacy" benefits, which include:
- Working Tax Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- Income-based Job Seeker's Allowance (JSA)
- Income Support
- Housing Benefit Income-related Employment Support Allowance (ESA)
The DWP has been phasing out legacy payments for several years and resumed the process last year after a brief pause during the Covid epidemic.
Around 2.6 million people in the UK were still receiving old-style legacy benefits when the controlled migration restarted.