Transitional protection can top up our money if we end up worse off on UC

If we’re on legacy benefits and expect to be moved to Universal Credit, we’ll need to know about something called ‘transitional protection’.

This is the money we’ll get if our Universal Credit (UC) payments work out less than we were on before.

It tops up our UC to the level we were on before. We’ll keep getting this until increases in benefit payments catch up.

Many of us on older benefits such as Tax Credits will be receiving a Migration Notice letter in the post soon.

This tells us that we’re moving to UC, and it tells us what we have to do.

We have to claim UC by the deadline date on the letter to avoid missing out on transitional protection.

It’s really important to act as soon as we receive our Migration Notice letter. If we don’t we could lose money.

Sometimes we won’t qualify for transitional protection. For example, if our circumstances change before we claim for UC.

This is because changes, for example having a child or becoming a carer, will increase our UC payments. That means we’ll no longer qualify for the top-up.

Some changes in circumstances will end transitional protection. These include a partner moving into our home or our earnings falling below the agreed amount for three months in a row.

If we need help with the move to Universal Credit we can call the Migration Notice helpline free on 0800 169 0328. Or there’s Relay UK (if we can’t hear or speak on the phone) on 18001 then 0800 169 0328.

And we can drop into a Quids in! Centre (if we have one near us) for one-to-one support on UC or any other benefits issues.

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