Universal Credit Managed Migration Sam Ashton, Principal Policy & Projects Officer Monday 26th November 2018

Universal Credit London Roll Out As of August 2018, 139,367 London residents were claiming UC, 51 per cent of whom were single with no dependents. As of November 31 of London’s 33 local authorities operate the full-service system. All remaining London authorities due to have UC full service in place by December 2018.

What is Managed Migration? Migration is the process by which claimants move from legacy benefits to Universal Credit. Natural Migration occurs when a claimant has a change of circumstances. Managed Migration will be the process by which all remaining legacy benefit claimants are moved onto Universal Credit. Managed Migration Notice Issued Claimant Makes UC Claim Transitional Protection Calculated UC Awarded and in Payment

Transitional Protection

Claimants being managed migrated to UC by existing benefit group Number Percentage JSA (JSA only / JSA & CTC and/or HB) 39,000 2% ESA (ESA only / JSA & CTC and/or HB) 745,000 36% IS (IS only / JSA & CTC and/or HB) 119,000 6% CTC (CTC only / CTC & HB) 395,000 19% WTC+CTC (WTC & CTC only / WTC & CTC & HB) 620,000 30% WTC (WTC only / WTC & HB) 102,000 5% HB (HB only) 72,000 3% Total 2,092,000 100%

Managed Migration support “Our focus will be on safeguarding claimants and ensuring a smooth transition with uninterrupted support. We will have a comprehensive and well-supported preparation period for claimants. This will include a variety of communication formats, including face-to-face, internet and postal notification, to ensure claimants are aware of the managed migration process. There is flexibility to extend that period if necessary for claimants; and a process to ensure that, before the existing benefits are stopped, our staff will check for evidence of complex needs or vulnerability or disability and act accordingly to support the claimant.” Baroness Buscombe, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Original Managed Migration Timeline Source: Resolution Foundation

Managed Migration Timetable Managed Migration was due to start from July 2019 but this has now been delayed to 2020. Instead the DWP will test the migration process with up to 10,000 claimants being moved on to UC during 2019, before expanding to larger numbers in 2020. Full migration is now due to be complete by the end of 2023. Delaying Managed Migration will mean more claimants will migrate naturally and lose out on Transitional Protection. This will save significant amounts of money:

SSAC Consultation SSAC consulted on the draft regulations over the summer. They received an unprecedented number of responses. Many of them from individual claimants. They made twelve recommendations, eleven of which the DWP have accepted but mostly ‘in principle’. Only substantive change is to extend the notice period from one month to three.

Changes to Universal Credit   In the 2018 autumn budget the following changes to UC were announced: Work Allowance increase: the amount that households with children and claimants with disabilities can earn before their UC award begins to be withdrawn will be increased by £1,000 from April 2019.   Additional support for claimants moving onto UC: From July 2020 claimants moving onto UC from Jobseekers Allowance and Employment Support Allowance will receive an additional payment providing two weeks worth of support during their transition to the new benefit. Self-employed claimants: From July 2019 all gainfully self-employed people will now be given a 12 month ‘grace period’ before the Minimum Income Floor (an assumed minimum level of earnings) is applied. This is designed to give them time to grow their businesses to a sustainable level. Debt repayment: from October 2019 the maximum rate at which deductions can be applied to a UC claim will be reduced from 40 per cent to 30 per cent of the standard allowance. In addition the period over which advances are recovered will be reduced from 12 to 16 months from October 2021.   

Conclusions Much of the detail of how managed migration will work in practice has yet to be decided. DWP has committed to ‘co-designing’ the process with stakeholders and taking a ‘test an learn’ approach. However we still have significant concerns.