DWP letter arrived today that should not be ignored

The DWP will be sending important letters to hundreds of thousands of people during June. These are migration notification letters and recipients have been warned not to ignore them.

They will inform households about major changes to their benefits and what they need to do to ensure there is no disruption to their payments. During June, migration notices are sent to people on housing benefit only.

These claimants are the latest to move onto Universal Credit (UC) as ‘legacy’ benefits such as Housing Benefit are phased out. The process won’t be automatic, which means people shouldn’t assume they don’t have to do anything.

READ MORE: DWP names six benefits ending and issues three-month warning

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The migration notice will explain how applicants have three months to apply for UC. If they don’t apply on time, their old benefits will stop.

The letter will give full details of what is happening and what households need to do. More information is available online by searching ‘move to universal credit’ for anyone worried or unsure about the changes.

Housing Benefit is one of six legacy benefits coming to an end. Benefits are dealt with in turn as part of the transition to UC.

The DWP said no one would lose out as part of the benefit swap. They said: “To continue receiving financial support, you must claim Universal Credit by the deadline given in your letter. This is three months from the date of sending the letter.

“If you can’t claim Universal Credit by the deadline, you should contact the Universal Credit Migration Notification helpline as soon as possible. You may have more time to make a claim if you have a good reason. You must request this before the deadline on your letter.”