Citizens Advice Charnwood warns that changes to benefits are coming soon to the Charnwood area. If you are receiving one or more 'legacy benefits' you will need to move (migrate) to Universal Credit.

Legacy benefits are:

• Income Support
• Housing Benefits (in most cases)
• Income related ESA
• Income based JSA
• Working Tax Credits/Child Tax Credits

The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) require that all claimants be moved to Universal Credit by the end of 2024. They will be sending out letters to everyone effected.

The letter from DWP serves as a Migration Notice which means that after a certain period of time your legacy benefits will stop and you will need to apply for Universal Credit. The letter will tell you when your deadline is. This should be 3 months in advance, ie. Migration Notice date to Deadline = 3 months.

You will NOT be automatically transferred onto Universal Credit so it is important to make a claim before the deadline. There are 3 ways to move to Universal Credit :-

1. 1. Natural Migration – through a change of circumstances
2. 2. Voluntary Migration – by choice
3. 3. Managed Migration – moved by DWP
   

So, your old 'legacy' benefits will stop after the Deadline date. If you claim Universal Credit before the deadline date the DWP might pay you extra to stop you being worse off. This is called Transitional Protection.

If you do nothing your benefits will stop and you will receive nothing.

There are some differences between legacy benefits and Universal Credit and these are:-

• You will usually get one payment per month on Universal Credit and manage the claim online.
• It will take 5 weeks to get the first payment but can take longer than this.
• If your payment includes your rent you will most probably have to pay your landlord yourself.
• You can work and get Universal Credit although your payment will decrease the more you earn and increase if your earnings go down.

If you are in any doubt about your situation, or have questions regarding Migration, contact the free Citizens Advice Help to Claim line on 0800 144 8 444.

More information can be found on the Citizens Advice website
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/claiming/helptoclaim/

Or you can speak to one of our Advisers. Our Local Enquiry Line is 01509 649605 and is open Mondays, Tuesdays & Thursdays 9.30am-3.00pm.
The National Advice Line is open Mondays-Fridays 9am-5pm on Freephone 0800 144 8848.
Our website is www.charnwoodcab.org.uk & online advice can be found on www.citizensadvice.org.uk