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Universal Credit claim deadline extended
The deadline for benefit claimants moving onto Universal Credit to submit a new claim will be extended to three months, the government has announced.
People claiming benefits through the existing system currently have only one month to file a new claim for Universal Credit when it is rolled out to their area in order to keep receiving payments.
The move is part of a range of tweaks to the government’s flagship welfare reform policy, laid out in draft regulations for the next phase of managed migration.
It comes in response to a report by the government’s Social Security Advisory Committee, which warned today that under Universal Credit “too much risk is potentially loaded on to individuals”.
The committee said that ministers’ current timetable for the managed migration is “unrealistic” and that it has “significant concerns about the scale of the operational challenge” for the Department for Work and Pensions.
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At the Autumn Budget last week, chancellor Philip Hammond unveiled £1bn over five years to aid the transition to Universal Credit and a £1.7bn-a-year increase to work allowances for families with children and disabled people.
Budget documents also revealed that legacy benefits: Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support and Employment and Support Allowance will be extended for new claimants for another fortnight from July 2020 – following the same measure for housing benefit announced last year.
And the rate at which claimants in debt repay advance loans through deductions from their Universal Credit payments will be reduced from 40% to 30%.
Addressing MPs today, work and pensions secretary Esther McVey said: “We have changed a key part of the regulations which charities have asked me, MPs have asked and the department too, which relates to the minimum statutory notice period for people moving from their legacy award to Universal Credit.
“We have extended this period from a minimum of one month to a minimum of three months to allow claimants maximum time to prepare and make their claim before their legacy award expires.”
She added that there is “unlimited flexibility” to extend claim periods “for people who need it” and that the measure will be backdated to include claimants who have missed the deadline by less than a month.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Margaret Greenwood said it is “wholly unacceptable” that ministers are shifting responsibility for new claims onto claimants.
Inside Housing reported last week that the government’s official Budget watchdog now estimates that Universal Credit will cost billions more than the existing benefits system over the next five years.
