Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, by what means her Department is contacting claimants on legacy benefits who are due to move to Universal Credit; what support is in place to assist claimants in this process; and if she will make a statement.

Everyone who is required to move will receive a managed migration notice informing them that they need to make a claim for Universal Credit. Through our testing and learning we will be able to determine the best way to provide this notification to claimants, but all recipients will have a minimum of three months to make their Universal Credit claim.

As part of this learning process, one of the key things we are seeking to better understand, is what additional support is required for people to make their claim to UC. There will be a wide range of support which is available from the outset, consisting of:

• A dedicated DWP phoneline for those receiving a migration notice
• Comprehensive guidance on Gov.uk
• Specially trained staff in JCP’s and service centres who can identify and signpost to local tailored support
• Support through Help to Claim