Universal credit: Managed migration - Move to UC
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, which is sometimes referred to as ‘Move to UC’ by DWP.
- What is managed migration/move to UC?
- When will managed migration happen?
- What do the managed migration regulations cover?
- Who will not be moved across to UC?
What is managed migration/move to UC?
Until the managed migration exercise starts, most existing tax credits claimants are only affected by UC if:
- They choose to make a claim for UC
- They have a change of circumstances which ends their tax credit claim, they still need to claim support and they are not prohibited from claiming UC
- They need to make a claim for another benefit that UC has replaced, for example, housing benefit. Making a UC claim in this situation will result in the termination of the tax credits claim.
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 managed migration process called Move to UC' 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.
When will managed migration happen?
In Great Britain, DWP began by testing the managed migration process from July 2019 through a pilot. The pilot was initially expected to last for 12 months before being evaluated and the process gradually scaled up but the initial test phase may go on for longer. During the 12-month test period, up to 10,000 existing legacy benefit claimants (including some tax credit claimants) were expected to be moved across to UC through the new process. However, due to the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK (March 2020 onwards) the pilot has been suspended and no announcements have been made about next steps. 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 include the 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 was to take remaining tax credit claimants (and other legacy benefit claimants) through the managed migration process between November 2020 and September 2024 (pushed back from the initial completion schedule of December 2023). It is unclear what impact the delay to the pilot will have on this overall migration timetable.
Northern Ireland
The Department of Communities 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. This is also subject to change due to the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The letter to stakeholders is available via the rightsnet website.
What do the managed migration regulations cover?
The regulations, introduced in July 2019:
- Introduce the process that existing legacy benefit claimants will follow when migrated to UC by DWP
- Create a pilot so that once 10,000 awards of UC have been made to persons to whom a migration notice has been issued, no further notices may be issued by the Department
- Allow for a transitional element to be considered, calculated, paid and administered to provide protection for existing benefit claimants who, upon managed migration, would have a lower entitlement to UC than their total existing benefit awards
- Introduce, from July 2019, Discretionary Hardship Payments that can be made to those who have gone through the managed migration process and appear to be in hardship as a result of the termination of their existing benefits or if any other issues related to managed migration have resulted in hardship (in practice our understanding is this provision allows the DWP to introduce the 2 week run on of support of income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance, and income-related employment and support allowance for those in the pilot – this is due to come in from July 2020)
- To provide for a 12-month period when the Minimum Income Floor will not apply to self-employed claimants who are managed migrated
- Make provision so claimants who are receiving an existing benefit and are also in education are considered to meet the UC entitlement conditions when they are managed migrated to UC
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 chapter covering the managed migration pilot in their staff guidance, Advice for Decision Making, M7.
Last reviewed/updated 2 June 2020