The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is set to stop payments for six legacy benefits starting this July, with thousands of claimants receiving notification letters as part of the managed migration process. This change will affect Child Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), and Working Tax Credit, all of which are being replaced by Universal Credit.
Universal Credit serves as a consolidated benefit system designed to simplify and unify support for over eight million claimants, according to the latest DWP figures and data from the Labour Party. So far, the DWP has sent migration notices to approximately 2,352,886 claimants. Of these, 1,985,703 individuals across 1,574,075 households have submitted claims for Universal Credit.
Among those households, 808,633 have been granted transitional protection. This safeguard ensures that claimants do not receive reduced payments when moving onto Universal Credit compared to their prior benefits.
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Citizens Advice has confirmed that most people entitled to legacy benefits should have already received their migration notices, as the deadline for legacy benefits to end for most recipients is July 2026. Despite this, over 10,600 individuals remain in the process of moving to Universal Credit.
It’s important to note that the timing for benefit payments to stop varies depending on the benefit and when a Universal Credit claim is made:
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If you claim Universal Credit before the deadline, any affected tax credits end the day before your Universal Credit claim begins. Housing Benefit, Income-based JSA, Income-related ESA, and Income Support will cease two weeks after your Universal Credit claim starts.
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If you claim Universal Credit after the deadline, tax credits end the day before the deadline, and the other benefits will stop two weeks following the deadline.
Claimants should closely monitor correspondence from the DWP to ensure a smooth transition and avoid any gaps in benefit payments.