On Monday 9 May the Department for Work and Pensions resumed the managed migration of people who claim legacy benefits to Universal Credit. It is due to be completed by December 2024.
The picture is not black and white.
Nearly a million people on legacy benefits are expected to be worse off when migrating to UC, 600,000 of whom will be offered transitional protection.
Conversely, DWP estimates that nearly two million working households will be £1,000 a year better off on UC.
Moving to Universal Credit is a complex subject and local authorities and advice organisations are preparing to help people who are uncertain about how it may affect them.
Listen back to hear
- Background to managed migration and the current context
- A view from the Harrogate pilot with Michelle Birley, The Guinness Group
- Who is better off and worse off from the move to UC with Graeme Connor from DWP
- What transitional protection is and who should wait for it to be offered
- Case studies of who is likely to be better off or worse off and get transitional protection
- Practical actions advisors and organisations can take
With guest speakers Michelle Birley, Customer Support Manager, The Guinness Partnership and Graeme Connor, Chief Analyst, DWP
View the webinar
People have to move at the right time. They must not move onto Universal Credit without their Transitional Protection (TP) and they need to do it when the DWP tells them to do it. I don't want people getting their migration notice and doing it before the date stated because they won't get their TP.
We are starting small. We are focusing on getting on the wording right in letters, deciding when to make phone calls and when to deploy home visits. We've also set up a support line that's well staffed so that people can get through for support straight away.