More than two million people who still claim legacy benefits will be moved over to Universal Credit as part of a “migration” process that was restarted this week.
The mass transfer to Universal Credit was paused due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has once again started inviting benefit claimants to move over to the new system.
Some 500 people will receive a “migration notice” to begin with, with the Government setting an overall deadline to get everyone moved over by December 2024.
There are around 2.6million people still claiming old-style legacy benefits in the UK.
This includes tax credits, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Housing Benefit.
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The DWP claims 1.4million people (55%) will be better off on Universal Credit, while 300,000 benefit claimants will see no change.
But the other 900,000 (35%) people due to be moved over will be worse off - so how do you work out whether you’ll get more or less money on Universal Credit?
Mirror Money reporter Levi Winchester will be joined by Turn2Us senior welfare benefits specialist Anna Stevenson live on the Daily Mirror Facebook page today (May 12) at 1pm to answer all your questions.
You can also send us your queries in advance to mirror.money.saving@mirror.co.uk.
Everyone will be moved over to Universal Credit by December 2024, but you can also choose to transfer over to the new system sooner if you think you'll be better off.
It is important to do your research first before moving over to Universal Credit by choice, as you can't go back to legacy benefits once you've made the switch.
Universal Credit is replacing the following six benefits:
- Working Tax Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Income Support
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Housing Benefit
Once you make a Universal Credit claim, your old benefits will be stopped and you'll have to wait five weeks for your first Universal Credit payment to arrive.
Some legacy benefits - including Housing Benefit, Income Support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance and income-based Jobseeker's Allowance - will "run on" for two weeks to help bridge that gap.
If you are moved over to Universal Credit through managed migration - so not by choice - and you'll be worse off, you will get monthly transition payments which are designed to make cover the shortfall of payments.
These will last until your Universal Credit has caught up with what you were owed before.
