Move to UC – Common problems

We know from working with those affected that one of the biggest fears about moving to UC is that it will leave people worse off than they were on their legacy benefits. The main advantage of moving as part of the managed migration process is that you will be entitled to transitional protection, which should ensure that the amount of UC you receive is broadly the same as the amount of your legacy benefits.

When you make your claim to UC the Department will check all claims made under managed migration to see if you will be worse off under the basic UC rules than you were on legacy benefits. If so, then an additional transitional element will be included in your UC award to make up the difference.

Calculation of the transitional element is complex and will be specific to the individual claim. It relies on accurate information about entitlement to legacy benefits, so it is worthwhile making sure that your current awards are up to date before you make a claim for UC – once you have submitted a claim for UC it may not be possible to correct your legacy award.

Transitional protection should be applied automatically to your UC award by the Department. However, it will not be included if there is a gap between the end of your legacy benefit and the start of your UC claim. If for any reason you think you will be unable to make a claim for UC by the deadline day given in your Migration Notice get in touch with our helpline on 0800 915 4604 urgently for advice.

Despite the complexity of the calculation required the Department does not provide a detailed breakdown of the transitional element unless you specifically ask for it. This can make it hard for claimants to figure out whether the decision is correct. Nevertheless, decisions about transitional protection can be disputed in the normal way by asking the Department to look again at their assessment, so ask for help from your local advice centre if you have any reason to think that you are not receiving your full entitlement.

Unfortunately, transitional protection is not a permanent feature of UC. The transitional element will reduce according to later increases in other elements of your award, including the annual increases to benefit rates due to inflation. In addition, certain changes, like a partner moving into or out of the household, will result in transitional protection stopping altogether. Send an email to [email protected] if you want to check the impact a change might have on your entitlement to UC.

Entitlement to housing costs through UC is based on broadly similar rules to those that applied to Housing Benefit. As a result, if you rent your home from the Housing Executive, a housing association or a private landlord you should not expect any significant disruption to your rent payments.

However, because housing costs in Northern Ireland are usually paid direct to the landlord you may not be aware of any discrepancy immediately. As a result, it is a good idea to check your claimant statement through the UC online account following your first payment to make sure the amount of housing costs paid is as expected. If you made your claim by telephone and are not using the UC online account you will need to contact the UC Service Centre on 0800 012 1331.

Just like on Housing Benefit, your entitlement to housing costs from UC might be affected by the Bedroom Tax and/or the Benefit Cap. If this is the case, you will still be entitled to a Welfare Supplementary Payment to cover the shortfall in your housing costs award. However, there will certainly be a delay to your payments as your entitlement to any Welfare Supplementary Payment will need to be linked to your UC award. The Housing Executive and housing associations should be aware of this delay, but if you live in private rented accommodation and are affected by the Benefit Cap you may be advised to let your landlord know.

We have also been contacted by some clients living in Housing Executive or housing association properties whose entitlement to support with housing costs has been impacted by questions UC have asked about extra bedrooms in their property. If UC contact you about anything to do with your need for an extra bedroom, for example if you have someone who stays overnight to provide care, please get in touch with us urgently on 0800 915 4604 for independent advice.

It is also important to be aware that if you live in supported or temporary accommodation, which is usually provided by a housing association, your housing costs will continue to be paid by Housing Benefit rather than UC. This can be confusing for tenants, but the Department have assured us that cases are monitored closely by both Housing Benefit and UC staff and claims will be dealt with by the appropriate benefit. Nevertheless, if you are unsure about how you will receive support with your housing costs gives us a call on 0800 915 4604 or send an email to [email protected]. Housing associations are well aware of this issue, and many have welfare advice services that are part of the independent advice network, so you should also consider raising this with your landlord as well.

Whilst support for rent and certain service charges will carry over from Housing Benefit to UC, rate relief will not. Therefore, if either you or your landlord are liable for payment of rates you will need to make a separate application for Rate Rebate to Land & Property Services (LPS). The quickest way to apply for Rate Rebate is online, although you will need an email address to do so, as well as the usual personal details and information about your ownership or tenancy.

You can apply for Rate Rebate at any time within 3 months after you submit your claim for UC, although the general advice would be to do so at the earliest opportunity. However, because LPS rely on information about your UC award to decide your entitlement to Rate Rebate there are circumstances in which delaying your application to LPS might be the better option. Therefore, we would encourage anyone applying for Rate Rebate to contact our helpline first on 0800 915 4604 for further information.

In certain circumstances you may only be entitled to a reduced amount of rate relief through Rate Rebate, or not entitled at all, even though you have been awarded UC. If so, it can be worth asking your local advice service to review your case to check if the decision LPS have made could be challenged. Alternatively, if you have income, such as earnings or pensions, and these fluctuate, it may also be possible to submit a further application for Rate Rebate from a later date.

More information about housing costs in UC and through Rate Rebate is available at nidirect:

Universal Credit payments for housing

Rate Rebate Scheme for people on Universal Credit

This final phase of Move to UC involves migrating people from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). If you have been receiving ESA until now this is because you have a health condition or disability which restricts your ability to work, and which has been confirmed by the Department through a Work Capability Assessment.

When you migrate to UC, you will not need to go through a further assessment, as UC will accept the outcome of the assessment carried out by ESA. As a result, your status as someone with limited capability for work will be carried over and you should not have to carry out any additional work-related activities. However, you will be required to agree a Claimant Commitment, which sets out your circumstances and any responsibilities you may have, although these are usually quite limited for people with a health condition that restricts their ability to work. See our main Move to UC page for more information on agreeing your Claimant Commitment.

Similarly, if you were entitled to either the work-related activity or support components of ESA you should be automatically entitled to either the limited capability for work (LCW) or limited capability for work-related activity (LCWRA) element of UC. Whilst there have been delays getting these elements added to some UC awards the Department has confirmed that these have now been resolved and claims should be up to date. If you think your UC award is missing one of these elements give us a call on 0800 915 4604 or send us an email to [email protected] and we will help you to raise this with UC.

By contrast to ESA and the other legacy benefits, UC does not include any extra elements solely payable due to a disability – for example, because the claimant receives a disability benefit like Personal Independence Payment (PIP). Ordinarily, this would mean people with disabilities receiving less from UC than their legacy benefits. However, if you were entitled to a disability premium when you migrated from your legacy benefits this should be reflected in the transitional protection included in your UC award.

As we explained in the section on transitional protection above, the amount of your transitional element will reduce over time as other elements increase or are added, which means your overall UC award will remain static.

You may have heard that the UK government has introduced further changes to the UC health elements, which will apply from April 2026. These changes include a reduction in the LCWRA element and a freezing of both the LCW and the LCWRA element throughout the next 4 tax years (until 2029/30). Thankfully, existing UC claimants already entitled to the LCWRA element will be protected from these immediate changes and should not suffer any reduction in their overall entitlement.

In the longer term, the government is also planning to reform the assessment process for people on UC with health conditions and disabilities, as well as making changes to work-related activity. Whilst the detail is still to be confirmed by the government, we would expect that current claimants who have already been assessed will be protected. In the meantime, if you have any concerns about these issues, send us an email to [email protected] and we will let you know what to expect.

More information about claiming UC with a health condition or disability is available at nidirect:

Universal Credit if you have a health condition or disability