DWP warning as thousands could have benefits cut by not doing one thing

Thousands of households have been warned they could have their benefits cut off by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It is anticipated that many people could lose out on support after failing to move over to Universal Credit.

Figures from the DWP show that from July 2022 to June 2024, hundreds of thousands of people did not respond to migration notices within a three-month window. This means more than 318,000 households had their payments stopped because they did not move over.

The department has been sending out its migration notices to people across the UK informing them of the change. It comes as the DWP prepares to replace six 'legacy benefits'.

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Ayla Ozmen, director of policy and campaigns at Z2K said: "We're concerned to see that more people have had vital benefit payments stopped as part of the government's plan to move people on to Universal Credit."

Universal Credit is replacing six benefits:

• Housing Benefit
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• Child Tax Credits (CTC)
• Working Tax Credits (WTC)
• Income Support

DWP has accelerated the move of all claimants from older benefits which will be completed by March 2026. A £15million increase in support was introduced by the Universal Credit programme, Mirror reports.

It will help Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland continue supporting a move from legacy benefits. Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: "Over the last five years our specially trained advisers have supported thousands of people across Britain to navigate the move from old benefits to Universal Credit.

"We make our service as accessible as possible, offering phone, chat and British Sign Language options, so we're there for people as they move over." More than a million people have made Universal Credit claims since 2019.

Claimants receive a DWP migration notice and have three months to claim Universal Credit before their current benefits end. Almost 1.4 million migration notices have been sent out since July 2022.

It is estimated that 883,944 people have already claimed Universal Credit, while 166,594 are still changing over. The DWP said 55 per cent of claimants will be better off - but 35 per cent will lose money.

Other claimants will not see any change. The Government wants to increase the speed of migration notices and so 63,000 notices will be issued each month from February next year.

Sir Stephen Timms MP, Minister for Social Security and Disability said: "I want to encourage anyone receiving a migration notice over the coming months to act without delay to secure quick access to benefit entitlement." Final notices will be be sent in early December 2025 before the programme closes in March 2026.

Anyone thinking of switching to Universal Credit before they get a migration notice should research their options as they cannot return to legacy benefits once moved. But those moved by the official 'managed migration' process will get a transition of payments every month if they are expected to be financially worse off.