Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she plans to take to ensure that the 10,000 people selected for the universal credit managed migration test phase will not be worse off as a result of participation in that test phase.

On 11 January 2019, Written Statement HCWS1243 confirmed our plans for a pilot phase for the managed migration of 10,000 claimants from legacy benefits onto Universal Credit.

The Department will proceed with care and attention to ensure that every single claimant moved accesses Universal Credit smoothly and receives the support they need during the transition. The draft regulations, which are currently before Parliament, contain provision to provide transitional protection to those who are moved through managed migration onto Universal Credit without a change in circumstances. This will ensure that these claimants receive the same level of entitlement to Universal Credit as they were entitled to on legacy benefits.

The aim of the pilot is to ensure that claimants on all legacy benefits, with a range of differing characteristics are successfully migrated to Universal Credit. The Department is currently working closely with a wide and diverse range of stakeholders to design the managed migration process and we are considering our approach to the pilot, including which groups or individuals we might begin to migrate first.