DWP Universal Credit update - vital next steps to keep benefits

Six legacy benefits are being absorbed into the Universal Credit system as part of the DWP migration. Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits officially ended on April 5 as part of this move.

Now, the deadline for people receiving Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits to get transitional protection has also passed. But this doesn’t mean your benefits have to be cut off entirely.

As part of the migration process, everyone receiving Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits should have received a migration letter from the DWP. This letter sets out their next steps to move to Universal Credit and their own personal deadline to complete these steps in order to get transitional protection.

Transitional protection assured people moving over that they wouldn’t lose money even if they didn’t meet specific requirements for Universal Credit or if they would receive less on the new benefit system.

For example, if a person was claiming £800 a month through Tax Credits, but would only be eligible for £600 a month on Universal Credit, they would be given £200 of transitional protection to get a total of £800 per month on Universal Credit. Ensuring the migration doesn’t leave any claimants out of pocket.

If you missed your transitional protection deadline or didn’t act on the migration letter at all, your legacy benefits will stop. But you can still claim Universal Credit.

You will need to meet the full requirements for Universal Credit and apply through the normal claim process. You also won’t get the transitional protection, so you may receive less on Universal Credit than you did on the legacy benefit.

If there’s a good reason that you can’t meet the deadline listed on your migration notice, you can contact the Universal Credit Migration Notice Helpline. They may be able to give you more time to make your claim,m but you’ll normally need to request this before the deadline.

The helpline is available from Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm on 0800 169 0328. It’s important to note that if you’re getting legacy benefits you’ll only need to act if you receive a migration notice telling you to claim Universal Credit or if your circumstances change.

Tax Credits are the first benefits to officially end under the migration. The following benefits are also due to end soon: