Almost 300,000 people claiming one of six benefits have had their payments stopped after missing a letter in a three-month ‘migration’ window.
The DWP is in the process of moving people claiming one of six ‘legacy benefits’ over to Universal Credit.
The Department for Work and Pensions sent letters to hundreds of thousands of people warning them that they would lose their benefits payments unless they took action to migrate over from one of their old benefits to Universal Credit.
The legacy benefits are Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, and income-related Employment and Support Allowance.
But currently, as many as 284,660 people have lost their benefits payments entirely due to missing the call to action.
A total of two million people on these legacy benefits are slowly being moved to Universal Credit.
The process sees the DWP send a migration notice to someone on one of the old benefits. That benefit claimant then has to take action within three months to avoid losing their benefits entirely.
A total of 1.1 million migration notices were sent out by the DWP between July 2022 and Jul 2024, but 284,660 people have lost their benefits after failing to act.
A National Audit Office (NAO) report in February warned that 21% of households claiming legacy benefits had not transferred to UC after receiving a notice to switch, and therefore had these older benefits stopped.
Almost all of these households had been receiving tax credits, that report said.
Alison Garnham chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) said: “Warnings are coming thick and fast as the DWP steamrolls on with managed migration, leaving vulnerable claimants in its wake – without the benefits they are entitled to and need.
“The department’s lack of concern that so many tax credit claimants haven’t moved to UC and have had their benefits cut off as a result is chilling.
“The DWP must put its spreadsheet targets aside, slow the roll-out of UC right down and come up with a safe process that won’t leave large numbers of claimants falling over a cliff edge into debt.
“The time to do this is now – not later, when even more claimants will be at risk.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “We disagree with these findings, which do not acknowledge that the vast majority of Tax Credit customers have successfully moved to Universal Credit.
“There is a range of support to help people move, including dedicated helplines, extensions and transitional protection for those who need it.
“Universal Credit is having a sustained positive impact on the jobs market, with people on Universal Credit more likely to be in work within three, six and nine months of their claim.”
