Next Steps for Moving Claimants onto Universal Credit

Iain Duncan Smith has announced that over one million people will be claiming Universal Credit (UC) by April 2014 as he set out the Government timetable to move 12 million claimants onto the new benefit by 2017. Development of the UC IT programme is also progressing well with 30 per cent of the new technology required to deliver it now complete on time and on budget. The transition from the old benefit system to UC will take place in three phases over four years. Between October 2013 and April 2014 - 500,000 new claimants will receive UC in place of Jobseekers Allowance, Employment Support Allowance, Housing Benefit, Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. At the same time a further 500,000 existing claimants (and their partners and dependants) will also move on to UC as and when their circumstances change significantly, such as when they find work or when a child is born. From April 2014 the second phase will give priority to households who will benefit most from the transition such as some Working Tax Credit claimants. Overall 3.5 million existing claimants (and their partners and dependents) will be transferred onto UC during this Phase. The final phase, which begins at the end of 2015 and runs through to the end of 2017, will see around 3 million households being transferred to UC by local authority boundary with a focus on safeguarding financial support, such as Housing Benefit payments to claimants as the old benefit system winds down. Read more on the DWP website.