DWP issues update as six benefits are being phased out

The Department for Work and Pensions has announced a major change for Universal Credit from this week. The change will impact people moving from six legacy benefits to Universal Credit. Income Support, Housing Benefit, income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit are being phased out as claimants move to Universal Credit.

The migration has already begun and households set o be affected next are being 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 in December there has been a fresh update. Those people are being given an extra month to claim from Monday, December 11, reports BirminghamLive[1].

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.

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.

References

1. ^ BirminghamLive (www.birminghammail.co.uk)