There are not yet any signs that the DWP intend to postpone the forced migration of income-related employment and support allowance (irESA) claimants to universal credit (UC), due to start this month.
The migration of ESA claimants had been pushed back to 2028 by the Conservatives, but in April of this year the DWP announced that the move would begin in September 2024, with all affected claimants being sent a migration notice by December 2025.
There had been hopes that an incoming Labour government might delay the move again, given the fears raised by organisations such as Citizens Advice that irESA claimants are a “potentially highly vulnerable group” and that it is essential that better safeguards are put in place before migration begins.
Yet all the signs are that Labour is not listening, possibly more interested in the potential £5 billion to be saved by moving claimants sooner rather than later.
The September edition of Touchbase, the DWP’s newsletter, reveals that the department considers that the “correct level of support is in place to safely move customers over to UC”. The article claims that:
“In some instances DWP has either delayed the issue of a Migration Notice, or cancelled the Migration Notice until any needed support was in place. DWP is now ready to notify (and in some cases re-notify) households receiving tax credits that need to safely move to Universal Credit before tax credits close in April 2025.”
Whilst this item refers to tax credit claimants, there seems a strong possibility that the DWP will argue that similar support is now in place for ESA claimants as well.
In addition, the DWP updated its “Move to Universal Credit if you get a Migration Notice letter” page on 30 August to include confirmation that “claimants who are moving to Universal Credit from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) without a break do not need to provide fit notes if they meet the listed criteria.”
The page itself explains that:
If you have been receiving Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), you will not need to provide medical evidence such as fit notes, or have a Work Capability Assessment (WCA) if all of the following apply:
- you move from ESA to Universal Credit without a break
- you have already completed a WCA
- you were in the ‘support group’ or ‘work-related activity’ group in ESA when you made your claim to Universal Credit
You may need to have another assessment if your WCA is due for a review or your condition changes.
If you were providing medical evidence on ESA before you moved, you will still need to provide medical evidence on Universal Credit until you get a WCA decision.
So, at this stage, everything points to the DWP sticking to its schedule for moving ESA claimants onto UC. However, we have not yet heard from any readers in receipt of ESA that they have received a migration notice. Please let us know if you do.
UPDATE 06.09.24
We have now heard from a number of readers receiving irESA who have been sent their migration notice. However, these are likely to be claimants who are in receipt of child tax credit as well as irESA. For these claimants the migration date is from July 2024 onwards, whereas for irESA only (or with housing benefit) claimants, the move date is still "From Autumn 2024 (TBC)" according to the UC Move government website.
