Numerous households are being informed about significant changes to their benefits. Those receiving income-related Employment Support Allowance (ESA) will be transitioned to Universal Credit by April 2025, accelerating the shift three years earlier than initially planned.
Accelerated Transition to Universal Credit
Around 600,000 individuals will likely receive Migration Notice letters in the first quarter of the next year. These letters will inform them that they must apply for Universal Credit or risk losing their current benefits. This transition primarily affects those on so-called legacy benefits, who are being moved to the single Universal Credit system.
To date, many recipients have already been transferred to the new system, though the process continues for some this year. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is currently engaging with individuals on income support, tax credits, and housing benefit.
It is crucial that recipients of a Migration Notice letter do not ignore this communication. The switch to Universal Credit is not automatic, and beneficiaries must apply for Universal Credit once their legacy benefit expires.
Phasing Out Old Benefits
Originally, in the Autumn Statement of 2022, the government had postponed the transition for individuals receiving income-related ESA and housing benefits until 2028. However, this decision has recently been reversed.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the reversal last week as part of his “Welfare Reform” act, with the benefits department expected to contact all 600,000 affected households later this year, according to reports from the Mirror.
The DWP confirmed this unexpected shift following the Prime Minister’s speech, stating that the Managed Migration of legacy ESA and housing benefit cases to Universal Credit would be accelerated, with all migration notices to be sent by the end of December 2025. The department will collaborate with stakeholders to flesh out the plans.
The DWP is discontinuing the older “legacy” benefits, which include:
- Working Tax Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Income Support
- Housing Benefit
- Income-related Employment Support Allowance (ESA)
The DWP has been phasing out these legacy payments for several years and resumed the process last year after a brief hiatus during the Covid epidemic.
Currently, around 2.6 million people in the UK were still receiving these old-style legacy benefits when controlled migration restarted.