UK households told to move over to Universal Credit have been issued with an update that comes into effect from December 11. It's expected to ease pressures on people whose claim deadline falls right on top of Christmas and New Year (Image: Shared Content Unit)

DWP issues major update for Universal Credit claimants starting this week

Deadlines are being moved for those caught up in the 'managed migration' from legacy benefits over the December, Christmas and New Year period

by · Birmingham Live

The Department for Work and Pensions has announced a major update affecting Universal Credit claimants from this week onwards including the Christmas and New Year period.

The move comes amid a 'managed migration' in which millions of people are being told they must transfer from their old benefits to Universal Credit. The six legacy benefits that will then be phased out are Income Support, Housing Benefit, income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.

The changeover to Universal Credit was paused during the pandemic and started up again in April 2022, when there were 2.6 million households to be moved across. Around 1.4 million will be on higher payments when claiming Universal Credit, 300,000 will get the same amount and the others would be due to get less but will see their payments kept at the same level by transitional protection to top it up to what it was before.

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As the managed migration moves to different areas of the UK, households are sent a letter telling them they must claim Universal Credit within three months or their current benefits will be terminated. But for those who must have moved across by a date that falls between the remainder of December and the beginning of the New Year, there has been a fresh update.

Because of the added pressures of completing a new claim for Universal Credit right on top of the financial demands of the festive season, people are being given an extra month to do it. The start date for this special extension is this week, from Monday, December 11.

The DWP announced: "For migration notices that would have had a deadline date that fell between 11 December 2023 and 5 January 2024, 30 days has been automatically added to the claimant’s deadline date." During December, households in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire are now being targeted to take part in the move, joining those in many other parts of the country where the changeover is already underway.

This will be followed by Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and the remaining parts of Devon and Cornwall in January 2024. In February, it expands into other areas including Birmingham and Solihull, finally followed by the Black Country in March 2024.

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The DWP's latest statistics on the big switch to Universal Credit show that a total of 117,690 'migration notices' were sent out in the year from July 2022 to August 2023. Just over 61,000 households successfully changed over to Universal Credit and more than 40,000 transfers are in progress, while 16,020 households didn't complete a claim and saw their benefits stopped.

The DWP says that Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Income Support, and Jobseeker's Allowance will be axed at the end of the 2024/2025 financial year as claimants are absorbed into the Universal Credit system.

Government guidance says: "By the end of 2024/25, we will have completed the moves of all legacy cases with tax credits (including those on both ESA and tax credits), all cases on Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance, and all Housing Benefit-only cases. That will allow HMRC to close down the tax credit system for those of working age and DWP to close down Income Support and Jobseeker's Allowance – generating savings for taxpayers."

Around 800,000 ESA cases will remain after 2024/2025, some also getting Housing Benefit to cover their rent, with the managed migration of these cases being delayed until 2028/29 as outlined in the Chancellor's 2022 Autumn Statement.