Thousands of people currently claiming Tax Credits will soon be moved across to Universal Credit. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is in the process of replacing old legacy benefits with Universal Credit. This includes Tax Credits, the final claims for which will close by April 2025. The DWP has been sending letters to everyone claiming Tax Credits, giving them a three-month deadline to start claiming Universal Credit.
It is important you take action, as once the three months are up, your Tax Credits will stop. If you wait until you receive a letter from the DWP and your new Universal Credit payments are going to be less than what you currently get on Tax Credits, then you’ll be awarded "transitional protection" which is an extra amount which tops up your Universal Credit to bridge any shortfall.
The transitional protection lasts until there is no difference between your new Universal Credit payments and what you were getting before under your old benefits. But it is important to know that Tax Credits will stop from the day you put in a claim for Universal Credit - and you'll have to wait five weeks for your first Universal Credit payment to arrive.
Universal Credit is also replacing Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance and Housing Benefit. Some legacy benefits - including Housing Benefit, Income Support, Income-related ESA and Income-based JSA - will "run on" for two weeks after you put in your claim for Universal Credit.
The DWP claims 55% of people will be better off on Universal Credit, and 35% would be worse off. The rest will see no change. If you want to check whether you'll likely be better or worse off, your first step should be to use a free benefits calculator online, such as:.
Policy in Practice calculator. entitledto calculator. Turn2us calculator. If you think you will be better off, get advice first before switching to Universal Credit - as once you make the move, you can’t go back to your old benefits. You can get free one-on-one benefits check-ups from Citizens Advice or Turn2Us. At the time of the “managed migration” restarting in May 2022, some 2.6million people were still claiming old-style legacy benefits in the UK. The DWP wants everyone moved over by March 2026.
