DWP has published a detailed guide to the arrangements for the migration of customers receiving legacy benefits to Universal Credit, which will affect most recipients of legacy benefits this year.  They will each receive a Migration Notice informing them that their existing benefit will come to an end, and they should apply for Universal Credit within three months of the date of the notice.  Housing benefit recipients can expect to receive their notices from June.

The timetable for migration is based on benefit combinations, not, as previously, on customer location.  Customers receiving the same benefit combinations will be affected simultaneously across the UK.  Recipients of the following benefit combinations will receive Migration Notices according to the following timetable:

April 2024            

• Income Support
• Tax credits with Housing Benefit only

June 2024           

• Housing Benefit only

July 2024               

• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Households receiving Tax Credits

August 2024        

• Pension-aged Tax Credit households (including mixed-aged couples)

Colleagues in local authority benefit teams should already be aware of this information, but it is of wider relevance to housing managers and residents generally, because in most cases the transition process will not be automatic, and it will be for customers to make a new claim for UC.  Also, from the information which ARCH has obtained from the DWP, it is clear that a significant proportion of those households moving over to UC will, once transitional protections expire, see their household incomes fall placing them under considerable added financial pressure.

 Third Party Guide to support households required to make a move to Universal Credit