DWP issues six-month warning as millions of benefit claimants sent important letter

The Department for Work and Pensions () has issued a fresh six-month warning to millions of Brits claiming .

Tax Credits are closing for good from April 2025 - this means Tax Credit claimants have six months left to move over to Universal Credit payments before their current benefits are stopped for good. When it is your turn to be moved across, you'll be sent a Migration Notice in the post. The letter is being sent by the department as part of its "Managed Migration" programme.

Through this scheme, the DWP is working to move those claiming older "legacy benefits" onto . The benefits affected by the move include Tax Credits, Housing Benefit, Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income-Related Employment and Support Allowance. From September, the DWP started to send letters about the move to those claiming state pensioners on Tax Credits, Income-based JSA, ESA, and ESA with Housing Benefit.

Once the letter arrives, claimants will need to put in a claim for Universal Credit within three months. If they don't, they will have their benefit claim terminated. In an update today, the DWP warned that three months might "feel like a long time" but life does get in the way and claimants could risk being put in a difficult situation. Due to this, the DWP has urged claimants to act "straight away".

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All migration notices will be sent to claimants by the end of December 2025. The DWP noted that if you a claiming one of the affected benefits, you do not need to take action until your Migration Notice arrives. You can put in your claim for Universal Credit online, or over the phone by calling the Universal Credit Migration Notice helpline on 0800 169 0328, or you can also ask your local Job Centre.

Once you have made your claim, you will have to wait five weeks until your first Universal Credit payment and you will continue to receive it going forward - unless your circumstances change. The DWP has been phasing out the legacy benefits for a few years and in 2022 2.6million people were still claiming old-style legacy benefits in the UK. Between July 2022 and June 2024, a total of 1.1million people were been sent migration notices.

Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability, said: "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."

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