Universal Credit Updates

Mixed Age Couples The government has amended regulations, meaning that from 15th May 2019 mixed age couples (couples where one is of working age and the other over pension age) will no longer be able to make new claims for Pension Credit and/or Housing Benefit unless they are already getting them. Here is the link to the eligibility page which outlines the rule changes: https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/eligibility

Changes to Universal Credit Protection, effective February 2019
Families with 3 or more children were previously protected from claiming Universal Credit. This protection has now ceased, and any new claim that would have been for legacy benefits (ESA/JSA/IS/Tax Credits/Housing Benefit) will now need to be Universal Credit.

Universal Credit – Two Child Limit
It was previously advised that new claims for families with more than two children (born before 6th April 2017), would be restricted in the amount of help they would receive. However, the Government have revised this decision,as of February any support for more than two children born before 6th April 2017 will be received.

Regulations recently passed by Parliament, from January 2019, introduced a new 'Gateway Condition' that claimants must pass to be able to claim Universal Credit. It is to prevent anyone who is currently getting a Severe Disability Premium in an award of benefit from losing it if they claim Universal Credit. Universal Credit does not have a Severe Disability Premium.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2019/10/regulation/2/made

‘Managed migration’ is the final phase of the roll out of Universal Credit, when the DWP will contact those who are still claiming legacy benefits and will tell them they must claim Universal Credit instead.
The DWP have announced that no mass migration will now occur in 2019, however, a pilot is expected to start in July 2019, where only 10,000 legacy benefit claims will be transferred onto Universal Credit. The testing period is expected to last 12 months.