DWP update affecting thousands of people moving to Universal Credit from today

11 December 2023 , 11:18

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The DWP has extended a key Universal Credit deadline but only for some people (Image: Getty Images)

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has extended a deadline for people moving over to Universal Credit.

It affects anyone who has previously received a “migration notice“ with a deadline date to move to Universal Credit between today, December 11, 2023, and January 5, 2024. These people will now have an extra 30 days to transfer across to Universal Credit.

Universal Credit is replacing six older legacy benefits, including Tax Credits, for most people by the end of March 2025. The process of moving everyone over from the old system started again in May 2022, having been paused due to Covid.

The DWP is conducting its move to Universal Credit programme in stages - when it is your turn, you’ll be sent a “migration notice” in the post. Once you have received this letter, you then have three months to move over, or you could lose your current benefits.

In a DWP Touchbase newsletter, the Government department said: "For migration notices that would have had a deadline date that fell between December 11, 2023, and January 5, 2024, 30 days has been automatically added to the claimant's deadline date."

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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

Those who claim income-related ESA and do not get Tax Credits will be moved over slightly later, and will be transferred across by 2028. The DWP claims 1.4million people (55%) will be better off on Universal Credit, and 900,000 (35%) would be worse off. The other 300,000 benefit claimants will see no change.

If you will eventually need to move over to Universal Credit, you should use one of the following free benefit calculators to get a rough idea about whether you will be better off.

Policy in Practice calculator
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entitledto calculator
Turn2us calculator

If you think you will be better off, seek expert advice first before switching to Universal Credit - once you make the move, you can’t go back to your old benefits. If you are moved over to Universal Credit through managed migration, and you'll be worse off, you will get monthly transition payments to cover any financial shortfall.

The transitional protection lasts until there is no difference between the amount awarded under Universal Credit and what you received before under legacy benefits.

Households in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire are being contacted in December to move over to Universal Credit, followed by Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear residents and the remaining parts of Devon and Cornwall in January 2024.

In February, people in Birmingham and Solihull will start to be contacted, followed by the Black Country in March 2024. Households on Tax Credits in the following locations should have started to receive these letters: