DWP report admits the move from ESA to Universal Credit is a disaster for many disabled people

An internal Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) report has found that the majority of chronically ill and disabled people are struggling with so-called Managed Migration from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) to Universal Credit. It shows that, far from the process working, claimants do not understand it, struggle to adjust to Universal Credit, and are not properly supported in the move. Moreover, it also explains why huge numbers of ESA and Tax Credit claimants are losing all their benefits and not getting Universal Credit at all at the end of the process.

All this comes amid increasing concern about how the DWP is operating – yet again.

Managed Migration, the DWP, and Universal Credit

The DWP began rolling out managed migration in July 2019, as a pilot scheme. This is where the department forces people who have not yet moved to Universal Credit, either voluntarily or because of a change of circumstance, onto it. This is because the new benefit is replacing old ones like Tax Credits.

Specifically, this forced migration involves the DWP issuing notices, with a three month deadline for claimants to make the move to Universal Credit. It officially began this process in July 2022.

To find out how claimants were getting on, the DWP got research firm Ipsos Mori to conduct interviews with claimants who were going through Managed Migration. This was in 2024 and early 2025. In short, Ipsos Mori wanted to find out:

Legacy benefit customers’ knowledge, awareness and understanding of UC and their attitudes towards it, prior to receiving the Migration Notice.

Customers experiences from receiving a Migration Notice onwards, either through making a claim or deciding not to claim.

Why customers decide to make a claim for UC or why they decide not to.

Any barriers to customers successfully making a claim for UC and how these can be addressed through improvements to the process or support offered.

Early customer experiences of the migration process and what further support they may need from the DWP to successfully make a claim for UC.

The result are now in. And they paint a damning picture of how the DWP has been dealing with Managed Migration.

What a mess

Ipsos Mori found the following with people before they started the move to Universal Credit:

Claimants’ understanding of Universal Credit and its rules was low.
Some people were confused over how contribution-based ESA and Council Tax Reduction schemes were affected.
Disabled peoples’ understanding of how Transitional Protections for Severe Disability Premium worked. Most claimants had not even heard of it.

The confusion over Transitional Protections is really worrying – given that disabled people had to drag the DWP to court to even get these in the first place. One disabled person told Ipsos Mori that:

[Transitional Protection] is another thing which set off the anxiety because clearly in the letter it was saying you are going to get less without that. Which means at some point they are going to put your money down and you are going to struggle more.

Then, Ipsos Mori also found:

The Migration Notice itself “triggered a negative emotional response” in many claimants.
Claimants were worried about how they would cope, changing from fortnightly to monthly payments.
People claiming multiple old-style benefits were particularly worried about how they would cope – notably around paying rent.

“I was petrified” by the DWP letter

One damning line from Ipsos Mori summed this up. It noted that:

participants with physical and mental health conditions had a particularly negative emotional response to the Migration Notice and so they put it aside and said they wanted to forget about it. They were anxious about the move to UC and did not want to go through the process. These participants understood they would have to move but required extra support and hoped to receive a phone call from the DWP to help them with the process.

A claimant said that, of the letter arriving:

I was petrified, and I went into shutdown mode. I’m like, ‘I don’t want to deal with it. I can’t deal with it’. I put the letter to one side, and I kept putting it off, putting it off, putting it off.

The concern around payment changes was particularly pronounced. One claimant said:

If you’re hopeless with finances as I am, it’s very hard. Weekly to monthly [payments] has made it more difficult…I needed them [bills] to come out on the same day. Bills are all over the place. It’s
about getting them to be a few days after UC comes in. I need to look at that.

Also, while it found some claimants “appreciated” the DWP reminder letter about Managed Migration:

participants with mental health conditions or caring responsibilities who found the urgency of the reminder letters distressing.

This is just another example in a long line of the DWP failing to take people’s mental and emotional distress into consideration.

Not claiming

Then, Ipsos Mori looked at why people did not go on to claim DWP Universal Credit – despite (by its own admission) claimants viewing their benefits as “indispensable income”. It found that:

Unpaid carers seemed to disproportionately find Managed Migration hard. Specifically, they found it “overwhelming, especially when managing claims for their household where family members were unable to help due to health conditions or disabilities”.
Some claimants could not even finish making a claim. Ipsos Mori said this was due to problems with the Jobcentre booking system, issues for people getting all the required information, and challenges being able to make the required appointments.

There was also confusion with Housing Benefit claimants. Ipsos Mori found their understanding of Managed Migration was low. It also noted how often council workers told them incorrect information. One claimant said:

I wasn’t expecting to get something like that [Migration Notice]. I’d asked about this and was told [by Housing Officer] it would be done automatically. There’s nothing for me to worry about. So I was surprised when that letter came through to say no, actually, you need to do it.

When people did start a claim to Universal Credit, the research found that:

While many claimants found claiming online fine, some struggled. This was compounded by the DWP telling them to “persevere” – leading to these claimants having to go to places like Citizen’s Advice for help.
Phone lines were often busy and claimants could not get through. When claimants did get through, they were pushed back to the online system again.
Claimants who had to have their ID verified in person at the Jobcentre found this difficult. Ipsos Mori noted that disabled people said said that “they felt unable to cope with the journey, or with being in the Jobcentre Plus environment. For participants with physical disabilities, these barriers included a lack of available nearby parking and a lack of suitable seating in their local Jobcentre Plus”.

The waiting for an outcome was also stressful for disabled people. One claimant told Ipsos Mori:

It was the waiting time that affected me. The uncertainty of not knowing what you were going to get. I couldn’t plan. The potential gap of not getting anything. I stocked up freezer. It was really stressful, waiting for the outcome – I didn’t know what was going to be entitled to.

The DWP is still failing disabled people

Overall, the Ipsos Mori research showed two extremes. It found that some claimants found Managed Migration generally ok. However, there was a large portion of claimants – particularly disabled people and those living with mental health issues – found it really hard. What particularly stood out was that the DWP let down these claimants by failing to factor in mental and emotional distress that the process is causing.

One claimant summed up Managed Migration and the distress it causes many claimants:

My wife is terminally ill, she can need me anytime, 24/7. Stress is very bad for her. Stress could kill her so I cannot let her know about this.

All this ties into the rate that ESA and Tax Credit claimants are losing their benefits because of Managed Migration. As the Canary has documented, the DWP Managed Migration process has now left nearly 400,000 people who previously got benefits without them. That’s 24% of people who started the process.

The Ipsos Mori research highlighted this with the story of one claimant.

Michael (renamed for anonymity) was not currently in paid employment and had been receiving ESA for the last 7 – 8 years. He was currently struggling with health issues including stress and anxiety.
Michael first became aware of the transition to UC after receiving a phone call to tell him that his ESA would be changing. He did not recall receiving a letter in the first instance.

When he did subsequently receive a Migration Notice, Michael reported that he was unclear on why he would need to “reapply” and unsure on why the transition was not automatic. He phoned up to query this but felt that the information he was given over the phone was also unclear and lacked transparency around the specific reasons for needing to ‘reapply’.

Although he called the migration notice helpline and was offered support with his application, he did not take up these offers due to struggling with his health conditions (stress and anxiety) at the time. Michael reported that he received 3 application deadline extensions but, as he missed each of these, he was unable to claim UC and his ESA application closed.

Ipsos Mori did not say what happened to him after this, or how he survived without any benefits.

Yet Michael one of hundreds of thousands of people for whom the DWP Managed Migration process is failing. And unless the department rectifies what are clearly systemic issue with the process, many more are going to fall through the cracks.

Featured image via the Canary

By Steve Topple

This post was originally published on Canary.