Managed Migration to Universal Credit

The DWP will be issuing a Universal Credit Migration Notice to those who should transfer on to Universal Credit. Once you have received your Migration Notice you will have three months to claim Universal Credit. You will not be automatically transferred on to Universal Credit.

If you ignore the Migration Notice and you don’t take any action, your existing benefits will stop after the three-month deadline. If the stopped benefits include Housing Benefits it is likely that you will fall in to rent arrears which you will need to pay back.

The DWP acknowledges that some claimants would ordinarily be worse off transferring to Universal Credit and so has introduced a system of “transitional protection” where they will pay an extra amount of money onto a claimant’s Universal Credit claim to ensure that they receive the same money that they would have done on legacy benefits.

However, to receive this transitional protection payment you must ensure that you:

• Apply for Universal Credit once you have received your Universal Credit migration notice,
• Apply for Universal Credit within the three-month deadline on the Notice,
• Have no other change of circumstances.

Do not therefore claim Universal Credit before you receive your Migration Notice otherwise, you will lose out on the ‘transitional protection’. Once you have claimed Universal Credit it cannot be undone.

Those claimants who only received Tax Credit have already received their Managed Migration Notice and transferred on to Universal Credit. For other benefit groups, the timetable is as follows:

Those who receive income based Employment and Support Allowance only, or income based Employment and Support Allowance with Housing Benefit will not be asked to move on to Universal Credit until a later date.

Yes – you will not move on to Universal Credit if you only receive Housing Benefit and you are:

• Pension age (and not claiming Tax Credits)
• Living in supported accommodation
• Receiving New Style Employment and Support Allowance or New Style Job Seekers Allowance

• Make sure you know what benefits and amounts you are currently receiving.
  • Keep any current benefit award letters safe so that you can check that your benefit entitlement is correct when you do move on to Universal Credit
• Don’t move on to Universal Credit too early or leave it too late – timing is everything
• Do your research before claiming Universal Credit – the government has set up a dedicated webpage to explain the move to Universal Credit
  • There are also benefit calculator websites such as Entitled To and Turn 2 Us which can show what your likely benefit entitlement will be.
• The benefit rules are complex – if you have any concerns please contact our specialist benefit case worker team at benefit.caseworkers@beyondhousing.co.uk before claiming Universal Credit.