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ESA to UC migration – no sign of postponement

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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.

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  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Anon
    · 2 months ago
    There is going to be a ministerial questions session in Parliament on 7th October re:  proposed welfare reforms. MPs are going to be questioning Liz Kendall.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      wightrider
      · 2 months ago
      @C You can watch Parliament tv on Freeview channel number 232.
      Or you can watch it online:  https://parliamentlive.tv/Commons
      I don't know what time it will be on, you will have to check the schedule nearer the date.  If you miss the live broadcast you can watch it on catch-up on the website.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      C
      · 2 months ago
      @Anon Do you what time and where I can watch it?  Sick of the not knowing.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Jonno
      · 2 months ago
      @Anon Good.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      A
      · 2 months ago
      @mrfibro So true, sadly.

      When she was appointed as shadow secretary for the DWP, she said that she always dreamed of holding this post one day. 

      I believe that sums up her wicked plans for claimants.

      The worst is that she wants to be tougher than the Tories.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Anon
      · 2 months ago
      @mrfibro It will make a difference because we might get a clearer idea about their plans are for us, which is better than being kept in the dark worrying about what they may or may not do.
      I think she'll do her best to sidestep questions but hopefully we will get an idea of what other MPs concerns are and which ones are going to stick up for us.
      There's nothing worse than sitting wondering everyday about what might happen, I for one would rather know. 
      They are holding a party conference as well in November, I'm sure more will come out then as well.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Maggie
    · 2 months ago
    Completely confused now. The papers are saying today that there will be no WCA & a merged assessment for PIP using the same old horrendously wasteful, incompetent & weirdly subjective criteria as before. Even AI might work better than Maximus. Such a waste of 'hard working taxpayers' money. Work coaches full of ideas to help disabled people back to work: BUT they have no disability training or medical knowledge! Such lies.
    I expected a Migration notice to UC in September ESA (CB/IR+HB) but it might not come until December??? So we carry on in limbo dreading the white envelope. IS to ESA was so so much worse than I feared & I have never recovered from DLA to PIP. DWP 'compassionate'! More lies.
    This govt. is worse than the Tories-no idea what they are doing, no new ideas, same old, same old. Plundering the planet & making vulnerable people, who have already been failed by the NHS destitute. For shame children going hungry & homeless. Hardly a socialist ethos.
    Like many on here I am honestly completely unable to engage in the UC or PIP process (& limited access to even a GP now). Only a couple of years off pension age, I so nearly made it to safety.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      rookie
      · 2 months ago
      @Maggie You might yet make it to safety, Maggie. You won't be asked to migrate if you are within six months of state pension age. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Angel
    · 2 months ago
    What’s the point anymore
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Mary
    · 2 months ago
    The disability benefit situation in America is getting bad.
    https://youtu.be/Y2AeoDpShaI
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      lesley
      · 2 months ago
      @mrfibro Well said mrfibro.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      wibblum
      · 2 months ago
      @mrfibro We might not be in the USA, but where else exactly do you think successive UK Governments usually get their 'bright' neoliberal ideas from?
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      mrfibro
      · 2 months ago
      @Mary Were not in the USA. We need to worry about our side of the pond not there's.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Craig (pseudonym)
    · 2 months ago
    Has someone contacted their local MP about this?
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Winlars
    · 2 months ago

    I just read this and it has alleviated some concerns. I'm still stressed but..   

    Maybe it will help others.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    CarolK
    · 2 months ago
    I've been on irESA since 2008 and had no experience of UC at all or don't know anyone that does. Do they keep messaging you through the journal ie harassment? Or are you left mostly alone? 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Anon
      · 2 months ago
      @Jon She still gets some UC because she is a single parent to a 14 year old. She also gets some help towards her rent and council tax. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Jon
      · 2 months ago
      @Anon If you work 20 hours a week you would hardly get any universal credit surely as my friend gets UC but only works four hours a week as a cleaner and has his rent paid most of council tax plus gets 390 pounds a month universal credit
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      C
      · 2 months ago
      @CarolK You don't get a work coach if you are LCWRA
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      A
      · 2 months ago
      @CarolK It varies from what I've seen based on how compassionate your work coach is. Believe it or not there are actually some good ones
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Anon
      · 2 months ago
      @CarolK My sister is on it and gets the health element for a chronic condition. She was working 15 hours a week but now has to work 20 to keep her UC. She said it's a nightmare, her job coach contacts her a lot to see what steps she is taking to increase her hours or improve her health. 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    AC
    · 2 months ago
    Received migration notice last week with a deadline of mid November for completion. Dreading the whole process, especially the angst of having to wait at least 5 weeks with no payment whilst application being processed. I have 24 hour care in place yet still have to go through this. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Jas
      · 2 months ago
      @AC You can apply for a crisis loan on UC but things like HB will have a two week run after applying for UC that didn't happen before. But the loan has to be paid back in installments from UC
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Frances
      · 2 months ago
      @AC So have dwp not given you three months to complete the application?
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Winlars
      · 2 months ago
      @AC what benefits are you on if you don't mind sharing? it would be helpful.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Aw
    · 2 months ago
    So we know a lot of ESA reviews were suspended and are now overdue (I haven't had one since 2018) and they mention that we might need to have one for UC "if it's due for review" which many of us will be. What will this mean in practical terms? Will we be expected to enter the "health journey" as if we have not got the automatic transfer of LCWRA? I know that submitting a sick note can mess this process up for people (just reading Rightsnet shows how often this happens) but what if we don't provide a sick note and they decide that we have been too long without a WCA and can't be automatically transferred? Are we going to see loads of people losing their TP because it doesn't get backdated? And then shunted back assessment rates because the system is so messed up? I am so scared of all this, and that's before I've even managed to submit a successful claim, which I doubt (see previous post). We live in a digital age, they have all our information, they know we are vulnerable - many of us find the system as difficult or more difficult than employment and we can't do that! Why are they not transferring us automatically? I don't believe it's not possible to do this, surely a trainee software designer could do it in their sleep! I can only conclude that they mean for many of us to fail, or to end up with significant less money because of the complexities that we don't know about and that there totally inadequate systems can't cope with. And that's before you get to JCP staff who don't know what they're doing, and those who will know all too well how to make us fail...
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Jas
      · 2 months ago
      @Anon Moving over doesn't trigger an assessment. Unless you report a change of circumstances.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      mrfibro
      · 2 months ago
      @Anon So in other words does this mean, claimants will have to go through another WCA.

      esa, TO esa wrag group, TO esa support group, to uc WCA ?



    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Michael
      · 2 months ago
      @Anon This is correct.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Michael
      · 2 months ago
      @Aw Excellent questions. I didn't even think about the overdue ESA assessments and whether they will automatically drag you back in if you haven't had one on a while, and don't provide a sick note.

      I don't believe they have the manpower to do this in my opinion. There are just far too many people transferring over from ESA to UC. 
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Anon
      · 2 months ago
      @Aw Alteration to my regulations post-  the LCWRA is to stay the same, with the transitional protection only added if you get less on UC than on the previous legacy benefit.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Butterflychild66
    · 2 months ago
    I know 6 people (and myself) that won't be  claiming UC.

    They all say the same thing it's nothing but trouble and absolutely poisonous.

    It needs abolishing not rolling out.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      CC
      · 29 days ago
      @Butterflychild66 Wish I had the luxury of making that decision, but I have no savings, live alone and my only income is ESA.

      I do wonder if those of us with a long overdue WCA will be called in for one, and also what happens for people the bulk of their ESA paid as NI based, are they going to convert the entire thing to UC, or just treat UC as a top up to the legacy NI ESA?
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Jon
      · 2 months ago
      @mrfibro I think the public are behind the government when it comes to benefit claimants of every type
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Jon
      · 2 months ago
      @mrfibro Surely they can't leave everyone destitute
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      mrfibro
      · 2 months ago
      @Butterflychild66 But how can one survive withou UC ?  I do realize that there are claimants who have deafed out esa / uc due to obvious reasons wc's etc.  But they have PIP, but if you live alone and pip becomes a voucher game.  How could you survive.

      It's like the government/s all have a licenses to cull, without any backlash from the British public as a whole, nor from MP's.
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Elizabeth Vidler
      · 2 months ago
      @Butterflychild66 I cannot apply anyway, and have no idea what will happen to me at PIP review time, or ESA review time as I am contribution based only, but would not be eligible for ir benefits, frankly I have given up, this govt is probably the worst I have ever known.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    M shirker
    · 2 months ago
    Think the very last chance will be October 30th budget now slim hopes but I said before their is 600,000 people  to get threw and cannot be done all at once I’m thinking about Easter so let’s hope I’m a million by then 
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    A
    · 2 months ago
    https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/dwp-says-change-today-could-33585282.amp

    So sources like above saying that esa to uc migration rollout started this past Sunday is technically not the case

    The touch base newsletter confirms that Labour plan to (unwisely) plow ahead but that remaining tax credit claimants were next on the schedule

    This is backed by the official timetables I’ve posted which show no official rollout date as of yet for esaonly/esa&hb groups and that the jsa group will start sometime in December (though dwp haven’t sent out the ‘starting gun’ official press release for that group like it has the previous as of yet)
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Anon
    · 2 months ago
    Earlier this year, months before the election, Liz Kendall stated in an interview that she had no understanding of UC or how it worked. She said at the time it would take her at least 6 months to get familiar with the UC system and wouldn't make any decisions regarding it until she was confident she understood it.

    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      K
      · 2 months ago
      @mrfibro When an politician is worn in to be an MP they are struck by a bolt of lightening that immediately makes them knowledgeable on every single subject from street cleaning, thrash collections, roads and transportation, and how to run the economy! They get a 3rd eye put into too so they are all seeing and all knowing   
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      K
      · 2 months ago
      @Anon What has Liz Kendall been doing while she was in the opposition ? One thing for sure is the the centre for social (in) justice has influenced all of our politicians views through their seminars and papers which is a very right wing think tank that is accepted by all as the leading think tank on the subject even though its funding can be traced back to right wing American foundations funding them. Why oh why are our politicians so naïve and lazy about doing their own research instead of being spoon fed by other's with hidden agendas!
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      mrfibro
      · 2 months ago
      @Anon Funny how after a few weeks in power she's now an expert on UC, ESA, PIP, etc etc.
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    A
    · 2 months ago
    Just some sources of possible detailed rollout timetable if you don’t have them:




    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Kavin
      · 2 months ago
      @A This is useful to know and thanks for taking the trouble to post these. I am in a strange situation of being on irESA because my first year I was in middle support and in the contribution group and then moved to the irESA thanks to the government regulation when I was put in the support group the second year round as I should have been. 
      Now I live in a sheltered flat for the past two years and just over a year away from my retirement so face with having to be moved into UC next Spring from the looks of things only to be on it for about a year! Brining up the timetable from 2028 to now has had a serious impact for me and others in my situation and I can't see the point of being moved to UC for only a year before I become a pensioner. I am hoping that someone see the needless point of putting a sick older person through this just before their pension year ??
  • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
    Aw
    · 2 months ago
    They still have no system set up to allow people to complete a claim by post or email. Many of us cannot have direct contact with jobcentres and do not have appointees. I can manage all my own affairs but for my safety and that of any DWP staff I cannot meet anyone face to face nor can I manage a telephone call. If they hadn't spent the last 10 years making enemies of themselves by deliberately persecuting us, I might feel differently but I will not open myself up to that level of retraumatisation. There is currently no way I can successfully complete the application process. I won't be alone...
    • Thank you for your comment. Comments are moderated before being published.
      Boogz
      · 2 months ago
      @Aw When I last had direct contact with jobcentre staff they nearly put me in the ground. Lived in the middle of nowhere, was going through a divorce, lost my business, couldn't afford the phone and broadband and got cut off, they then said I hadn't looked for enough jobs and I explained the situation and they sanctioned me, I then couldn't even afford the petrol to get to the jobcentre. Had the local church bringing me food. Went to the doctors with serious mental health issues and actually ended up getting diagnosed with autism at 32 so that was a positive I guess... but for real, I actually said to one of the ladies there "what am i meant to do to get money, sell drugs?". Her reply, and I swear, was "well if it gets you the money you need then yes". I WISH I had it recorded. Absolute demons.

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