Universal credit: Managed migration

This page explains the managed migration process - this is where DWP/HMRC move claimants from tax credits (and other legacy benefits) across to Universal Credit (UC) under a formal exercise.

What is managed migration?

Until the managed migration exercise starts, most existing tax credits claimants are only affected by UC if:

Moving to UC in any of the above situations is referred to as 'natural migration' and is characterised by the tax credit claimant taking some action (either by choice or due to a change of circumstances requiring it) to move to UC.

However, some tax credit claimants may choose not to claim UC and may not have any change of circumstances that would require them to claim UC. Most of these people will eventually be moved across to UC, by DWP/HMRC, through a process called 'managed migration' so that eventually the tax credits system will no longer exist.

The main difference between natural migration and managed migration is transitional protection. The Government have committed that there will be no cash losers at the point of moving to UC (assuming no change of circumstances) for those who are part of the managed migration. Those who migrate naturally will not have access to transitional protection - the one exception being for those who have already moved and who were previously entitled to a severe disability premium in legacy benefits (this has been announced but the Regulations are not yet in place).

When will managed migration happen?

The current plan in Great Britain is that DWP begin by testing the managed migration process from July 2019 through a pilot. The pilot was initially expected to last for 12 months but it may go on for longer. During this period, up to 10,000 existing legacy benefit claimants (including some tax credit claimants) will be moved across to UC through the new process. The draft regulations for the pilot were published in January 2019 and were then formally laid before Parliament, under negative procedure, on July 2019. The regulations are the same as those previously published in November 2018, however they now include a limit on the number of cases that can be migrated. Once 10,000 awards of UC have been made to people through the managed migration process, no further migration notices can be issued.

It has been confirmed that Parliament will be given a further vote in order to scale the migration up to the remaining legacy benefit caseload.

DWP's intention is to take remaining tax credit claimants (and other legacy benefit claimants) through the managed migration process between November 2020 and December 2023. 

Northern Ireland

The Department of Communities has announced a delay to managed migration of legacy benefit claimants to UC in Northern Ireland. The current plan is to consider learning from the managed migration pilot in Great Britain from July 2019. Northern Ireland is due to begin managed migration in 2020 and aim to complete by the end of 2023.

The letter to stakeholders is available via the rightsnet website.

What is the managed migration process?

The draft regulations setting out the managed migration process were consulted on by the Social Security Advisory Committee in July 2018. The SSAC report and the Government's response were published in November 2018. Some changes were made to the Regulations as a result of SSAC's report. The draft regulations were also published in November 2018 and were expected to be debated in Parliament in early January 2019. These regulations were withdrawn and replaced with a new set of draft regulations in January 2019 that contain a limit on the number of cases that can be migrated. The regulations were laid before Parliament on 22 July 2019 under negative procedure so were not debated.

Who will not be moved across to UC?

Some people will not be moved across to UC because they are not entitled to UC - for example, where both claimants have reached state pension credit qualifying age. It is not yet known what will happen to pensioners in this situation or anyone else who won't qualify for UC.

DWP have published a new chapter covering the managed migration pilot in their staff guidance, Advice for Decision Making, M7.

Last reviewed/updated 2 September 2019