DWP cash axed for 300,000 on these six benefits after letters sent out

A massive migration program where six types of 'legacy' benefit are being shut down has led to 300,000 people losing their benefits, new figures reveal. About eight million people are set to be ordered to shift across to Universal Credit by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Universal Credit (UC) is intended to streamline and simplify the benefits system by combining six ‘legacy’ benefits (Working Tax Credits (WTC), Child Tax Credit (CTC), Housing Benefit (HB), income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Income Support (IS) and income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)) into a single monthly payment.

To that end anyone affected will be sent a ‘migration notice’ by DWP to apply for Universal Credit as the department continues to transition over a million claimants on legacy benefits to Universal Credit in the next few months. The issue is that people need to apply for the change - taking no action means that the benefit is just stopped three months after the letter is sent out.

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New figures released today (November 12) by the DWP for the period of between July 2022 and September 2024 show that almost 1.4 million people were sent migration notice letters. And of those it revealed that a total of 318,834 of individuals who were sent migration notices did not claim UC and have had their legacy benefit claims closed.

A total of 883,944 of these 1.3 million individuals, living in 622,127 households, who were sent migration notices have made a claim to Universal Credit. Amongst households sent a migration notice up to the end of May 2024 (allowing for a three month claim period and an additional month in which transitional protection would be considered if a claim was completed in this period), 73% had made a claim to Universal Credit and 27% had not made a claim and their legacy benefit was ended.

MPs have expressed concerns at the numbers of people who are having their benefits stopped, and highlighted that many could be classed as vulnerable and so are less likely to respond to the letters.

The Child Poverty Action group has said: "This is a non-move rate of 32 per cent, which is considerably higher than the 26 per cent the DWP predicted of tax-credit only claimants in November 2023.4 We have repeatedly raised concerns about the high proportion of people not moving to UC and the lack of evidence explaining why people with a strong financial incentive to claim UC are not doing so. These concerns have been echoed by the National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee."

In April this year the Public Accounts Committee said: "DWP said it was not concerned that so far 21% of tax credits claimants had not transferred to Universal Credit when invited to do so, even though it has only limited assurance that people who did not switch over are not missing out on benefits they are entitled to.

"The report warns that even a small proportion of people not transferring to UC could translate into substantial numbers facing financial hardship. " Dame Meg Hillier MP, the Chair of the Committee said: "The DWP must make sure that people are not cast into financial hardship due to a bureaucratic change, and that robust support is in place for those vulnerable claimants who need it most.”

Speaking about the three month window for a reply Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability, said previously: "Having three months to make a move may feel like a long time but life can often distract you elsewhere. For the best chance to secure your benefit entitlement don’t delay with responding to your migration notice. We are committed to ensuring a smooth transition and customers will have the full support of DWP staff to help manage this change."