Managed migration: Completing Universal Credit rollout
An overview of the final managed migration stage of the Universal Credit rollout.
Universal Credit is replacing a range of existing means-tested benefits and tax credits (‘legacy benefits’) for working-age households. Universal Credit is administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in Great Britain and by the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.
The most recent figures on the number of households on Universal Credit are for August 2024. 5.93 million households in Great Britain were on Universal Credit, and around 0.86 million households were on legacy benefits.
How people move onto Universal CreditUniversal Credit has been available in all parts of the UK since December 2018, for people who make new benefit claims, who claim because their circumstances change (‘natural migration’) or who choose to move from legacy benefits to Universal Credit (‘voluntary migration’).
Eventually, all remaining legacy benefit claimants will be contacted by the DWP and told they must claim Universal Credit to continue to receive means-tested support (‘managed migration’).
When this stage is complete, legacy benefits and tax credits for people of working age will cease to exist, and the full ‘caseload rollout’ of Universal Credit will be achieved.
The rollout timetable for Universal Credit has been pushed back repeatedly, although in April 2024 the government announced plans to accelerate managed migration. The DWP now plans to contact all the remaining legacy benefit claimants by December 2025, moving people to Universal credit and closing legacy benefits by the end of March 2026.
Issues and concernsIn response to a 2018 report from the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) on draft regulations setting out the process for managed migration, the DWP made some changes to its plans including extending the notice period for legacy benefit claimants to claim Universal Credit, and allowing a further one-month ‘grace period’ for those missing the deadline.
Latest ‘Move to Universal Credit’ plansFull-scale managed migration started in April 2023, expanding gradually to different areas of Great Britain. Under the latest (November 2024) plans:
- In 2023/24, migration notices were sent to over 500,000 households getting tax credits only (and no other legacy benefits).
- In 2024/25, the DWP contacted the remaining tax credit claimants (those also receiving other legacy benefits), and all claimants of Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), and Housing Benefit. The DWP aimed to send migration notices to these households – around 440,000 in total – by September 2024. All tax credit claims will be closed by March 2025.
- The managed migration of around 800,000 claimants of income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) only, or incomed-related ESA and Housing Benefit, has been brought forward, having previously been delayed to 2028/29. The DWP began sending migration notices to these claimants in September 2024 and aims to notify all claimants in this cohort by December 2025.
- The DWP plans to move all legacy benefit claimants to UC by March 2026, completing the UC rollout and closing all legacy benefits by this date.
Managed migration involves claimants being sent a migration notice by the DWP telling them that their legacy benefit awards will end and that they must make a claim for Universal Credit to continue to get support. The deadline for claiming must be at least three months from the date of the migration notice, and it can be extended if there is a good reason.
The DWP then sends reminder letters, and support is available for claimants from the migration notice helpline, online guidance, and the Help to Claim service.
If a person has not claimed Universal Credit by their deadline, but does so within one month, they are treated as having claimed on time and can still get transitional protection in their Universal Credit award.
A person’s entitlement to legacy benefits/tax credits ends when they claim Universal Credit, or on the day before their deadline if they have not claimed Universal Credit. Income Support, income-based JSA, income-related ESA and Housing Benefit continue to be paid for two weeks after entitlement ends, however.
The DWP has introduced an ‘enhanced support journey’ for income-related ESA and Income Support claimants needing extra help to claim Universal Credit. This is provided 12 weeks after a migration notice has been sent and includes additional contact over the phone and, if necessary, home visits.
Transitional protectionIn April 2022 the DWP estimated that 55% of the remaining households on legacy benefits would have a higher entitlement on Universal Credit, and 35% would have a lower entitlement. Those moving via managed migration with a lower notional entitlement will be eligible for ‘transitional protection’ – a top-up so they don’t lose out in cash terms when they move to Universal Credit.
The top-up will reduce or ‘erode’ over time if a person is awarded a new Universal Credit element, or if elements in their existing award increase, including following annual upratings. Transitional protection may also stop following a change in household circumstances.
There are also special rules for two groups who would not normally qualify for Universal Credit: people moving from tax credits with more than £16,000 in capital and students moving to Universal Credit at managed migration.
Emerging evidence from managed migrationA report from the National Audit Office (NAO) in February 2024 said that while the DWP had a clear plan to move around 900,000 households from legacy benefits to Universal Credit by the end of 2024, more people than expected were not claiming Universal Credit after being sent a migration notice. It recommended that the DWP continue to research why some people were not claiming Universal Credit and address any barriers to claiming.
Of the 708,091 households in Great Britan sent a migration notice up to May 2024, 190,727 (27%) had not claimed Universal Credit and had their legacy benefits closed. The DWP had initially thought that 3% of contacted households would not claim Universal Credit, but it now assumes 26% of tax credits-only households, and 4% of households getting other legacy benefits or combinations, will not move to UC.
On 29 February 2024, the DWP published research findings that suggested a higher proportion of claimants across all legacy benefits will claim Universal Credit than of the tax credits-only cohort. The DWP committed, however, to “continue to learn and iterate” its approach to managed migration.
The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has been monitoring claimants’ and advisers’ experiences of managed migration. In a series of quarterly reports, CPAG has called on the DWP to slow down its plans for managed migration to avoid vulnerable claimants “falling through the cracks” and losing their entitlement. In its final briefing in this series published on 28 November 2024
Northern IrelandThe Department for Communities’ timetable for managed migration in Northern Ireland is closely aligned with the DWP’s plans in Great Britain.
The 'Move to Universal Credit' rollout in Northern Ireland began in October 2023, when the Department began to issue migration notices to tax credits-only claimants across all Northern Ireland postcodes. This followed the department’s own ‘discovery phase’ between April and August 2023.
As of August 2024, 42,000 households in Northern Ireland had been notified of the need to claim UC. Of the 28,880 households who had reached their migration deadline, 19,940 households (69%) had claimed UC.