DWP letters sent to 1.4m benefit claimants in huge Universal Credit change

Almost 1.4 million people have been sent letters alerting them to take action over a huge change affecting their finances. The Department for Work and Pensions says it posted the official communications to 1,369,367 individuals in 943,343 households across England, Scotland, and Wales.

The DWP issued the update in its latest figures for the 'managed migration' of people from legacy benefits onto Universal Credit. It has "accelerated" the process and hopes to complete the rollout by the end of the next financial year.

The final wave of claimants being asked to swap over to Universal Credit are those on income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Other benefits that have been affected are Income Support, Housing Benefit, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. The last two of those will be first to be phased out when the tax credits system is closed down entirely next April.

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Statistics show that of the 1.4 million claimants sent letters between July 2022 and September 2024, 883,944 people, living in 622,127 households, went on to make a claim to Universal Credit. Another 166,594 are still going through the move. Of those who have successfully claimed Universal Credit, 320,376 households have been awarded transitional protection to keep their payments at the same level they were on before.

In addition, 318,834 people who were sent migration notices did not go ahead with a claim for Universal Credit and have had their legacy benefit claims closed.

Those receiving a migration notice are given a period of three months within which to apply for Universal Credit. They may also be sent one or more reminders and the claim deadline may be extended if they have a good reason and request this before the deadline date given in the letter.

Sir Stephen Timms, DWP Minister for Social Security and Disability, said: "This Government are committed to getting Britain working. Completing the implementation of Universal Credit will support this mission. Universal credit provides greater support and incentives to get people into work and increase the hours they work than the benefits it replaces.

"Statistics published today show that, by the end of September, the Department had, since 2022, notified 943,343 households of the need to make the transition to UC. The latest published complaints data show that as of March 2024 with over 500,000 households asked to move, DWP had only 35 complaints about the process, with 10 upheld.

"Plans have now been agreed to notify the remaining households receiving income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), building on the insight that DWP has gathered through the summer. DWP is investing up to a further £15 million in Help to Claim to support ESA customers moving to universal credit. This means that free confidential and impartial support will continue to be available to help people make a new Universal Credit claim and manage their claim up to receiving their first correct payment.

"DWP will steadily increase the number of migration notices being sent to people receiving ESA over the next months and are aiming to issue 63,000 migration notices each month from February, sending the final notices in early December 2025 and fully moving people to Universal Credit and closing legacy benefits by the end of March 2026."

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