DWP letter being sent to thousands as they could see benefits stopped before Christmas

Thousands of claimants could see their payments stopped before if they don't act in the next few weeks.

The warning comes as the Department for Work and Pensions () pushes on with its "Managed Migration" plan. This plan involves moving those claiming so-called older "legacy" benefits onto . This process began in 2019 and is expected to be completed in 2025.

The benefits affected by the move include Tax Credits, Housing Benefit, Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income-Related Employment and Support Allowance. As part of the process, households claiming legacy benefits are being sent letters called "migration notices" through the post. Once claimants receive this letter, they have three months to put in claim for Universal Credit. If they don't then they will have their current claim stopped.

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Recent figures revealed that over 284,660 individuals have already lost their benefits after failing to switch to Universal Credit within the three-month deadline. The latest round of migration notices began to be sent to 800,000 households who claimed Employment Support Allowance (ESA) in September.

State pensioners on Tax Credits, Income-based JSA, and ESA with Housing Benefit claimants also started to receive letters in September. So, if you received a migration notice in September or at the beginning of October, you will need to act as you could risk losing your benefits around the festive period. Your migration notice will explain how you can make a claim alongside the exact date of your deadline.

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. In 2022, 2.6million people were still claiming old-style legacy benefits in the UK and between July of that year and June 2024, a total of 1.1million people were sent migration notices.

Earlier this week, the DWP sent out a warning as the Tax Credit benefit will be shut down in April 2025. This means those claiming the HMRC benefit will need to put in a claim for Universal Credit within the next six months. 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".

Commenting on the managed migration process, a DWP spokesperson said: "We are committed to ensuring all customers receive the support they need from our staff and services. The department has a wide range of support available to all individuals, particularly those who are vulnerable."

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