Managed migration opens to income-based Jobseekers Allowance claimants

People claiming Jobseekers Allowance (Income-Based) began receiving Migration Notices from September 2024, under the managed migration timetable set out by Law Centre NI in February 2024¹. A Migration Notice tells a claimant that their legacy benefit is ending and invites a claim for Universal Credit¹.

The timetable runs in stages. Tax Credit claimants with Housing Benefit moved from April 2024, Income Support claimants from May 2024, and from July 2024 people claiming Housing Benefit only and people claiming Employment and Support Allowance (Income-Related) with Child Tax Credits¹. Income-based Jobseekers Allowance followed from September 2024¹. Employment and Support Allowance (Income-Related) only, and with Housing Benefit, is scheduled to move in 2028/29¹.

Claimants have at least three months from the date their Migration Notice was issued to make their Universal Credit claim¹. The Deadline Day can be extended, with good reason, by contacting the Department for Communities or Universal Credit before the deadline, and there is no limit on the number of extensions that can be requested or allowed¹. A Final Deadline Day falls one calendar month after the Deadline Day or extended Deadline Day; to get Transitional Protection a claim must be made before that date¹.

Transitional Protection is delivered through a Transitional Element in the Universal Credit calculation, covering any loss on moving from a legacy benefit¹. It can be eroded or lost: through changes in circumstances such as adding or removing a partner, the addition of elements such as limited capability for work-related activity or carer element, or an increase in the housing costs element; through a nil Universal Credit award for more than three consecutive monthly assessment periods due to earnings; or through natural erosion as benefit rates rise¹.

There is a two-week run-on payment for Income Support, income-based Jobseekers Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance and Housing Benefit, but no run-on for Tax Credits¹. There is approximately a five-week wait before Universal Credit is paid¹. On Migration Day, capital over £16,000 is disregarded for 12 assessment periods under Transitional Protection, while capital between £6,000 and £16,000 is still taken into account¹.

Why it matters for households

For income-based Jobseekers Allowance claimants, the notice starts a clock: the legacy award ends the day before the Deadline Day or extended Deadline Day if no Universal Credit claim is made, and Transitional Protection may be lost¹. Claiming within the one-month Final Deadline Day window means the claim is treated as made on the Deadline Day and Transitional Protection applies¹. Because there is a two-week run-on for income-based Jobseekers Allowance but roughly a five-week wait for a first Universal Credit payment, the timing of a claim affects the gap between payments¹. Couples each receive their own Migration Notice and must each claim, after which the claims are linked as a joint claim¹. Full-time students normally cannot claim Universal Credit unless they have completed a Work Capability Assessment and been found to have Limited Capability for Work, though a student who receives a notice can claim and finish the course they were on¹. Self-employed people migrating from Tax Credits who are considered gainfully self-employed get a 12-month grace period before the Minimum Income Floor applies¹.

The Law Centre NI document describes the position in Northern Ireland only, and states that its managed migration timetable there covered Tax Credit only claimants at the time of publication¹. The same document sets out the staged dates above without specifying how they apply across the rest of the UK, and no separate UK-wide timetable is given in it¹.

What happens next

Employment and Support Allowance (Income-Related) claimants, with or without Housing Benefit, are scheduled to move in 2028/29¹. Anyone who has received a notice can find the steps set out in What to Do If You Get a Migration Notice, and general information on benefits is also available.