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DWP plans for both managed move to UC and voluntary move to UC
DWP has announced managed migration discovery phase expanding to Harrow to ‘test a different type of location’
[ Edited: 15 Aug 2022 at 04:53 pm by shawn mach ]Speaking to a colleague today, interesting scenarios came up that DWP needs to consider when sending Migration Notices and expecting online claims:
Claimant One rips up letters as soon as they come in. Our adviser only learned the PIP claim had stopped a year ago (claimant ripped up renewal form) when looking for proof of benefits for other purposes and called PIP.
Imagine this person getting a Migration Notice….
Claimant Two is currently nonverbal and also can’t use their hands. They can make neither a phone call nor an online application. This person is already on UC - but imagine if they weren’t….
The same colleague reports mild astonishment on the part of DWP staff that not all Care Home residents are elderly.
PLEASE will DWP engage with Adult Care providers to discuss???
Speaking to a colleague today, interesting scenarios came up that DWP needs to consider when sending Migration Notices and expecting online claims:
Claimant One rips up letters as soon as they come in. Our adviser only learned the PIP claim had stopped a year ago (claimant ripped up renewal form) when looking for proof of benefits for other purposes and called PIP.
Imagine this person getting a Migration Notice….
Claimant Two is currently nonverbal and also can’t use their hands. They can make neither a phone call nor an online application. This person is already on UC - but imagine if they weren’t….
The same colleague reports mild astonishment on the part of DWP staff that not all Care Home residents are elderly.
PLEASE will DWP engage with Adult Care providers to discuss???
It does seem like something the DWP haven’t fully grasped is that they’ve got most of the “low hanging fruit” as it were already. A big chunk of the people still out there that haven’t already claimed UC are the people who are vulnerable, who have got the complex needs, who are going to be the ones that find it most difficult to engage and successfully manage this change. The people for whom it would be fairly straight forward have mostly already gone over to UC. Probably the only big clutch of people like that still left are Tax Credits claimants.
It doesn’t seem like there’s any obvious awareness, at least to me, from the DWPs end that this next group of people are going to take a lot more support and work to get migrated safely.
Hello
Sorry if I’ve missed it but have/are the DWP giving the names etc of the 250 or 500 they are writing to in the various pilot roll out areas? E.g. to Local Authorities. And are they choosing certain groups/benefits?
Here’s my reply to Clive’s query from DWP -
Thank you for your email. We will inform local authorities when we are sending migration notices to HB claimants in their area, but are not planning on informing local authorities about the individuals that have been invited to move.
I’ve gone back to them (at Clive’s suggestion) as to who in the local authority they are notifying and how much notice do they give
Also Keith has put a bit about Northumberland here https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/18572/
Here’s my reply to Clive’s query from DWP -
Thank you for your email. We will inform local authorities when we are sending migration notices to HB claimants in their area, but are not planning on informing local authorities about the individuals that have been invited to move.
I’ve gone back to them (at Clive’s suggestion) as to who in the local authority they are notifying and how much notice do they give
Also Keith has put a bit about Northumberland here https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/18572/
We’re not expecting to be notified about the 250 individuals who are being sent migration letters because our HB section isn’t involved. My guess is, in the other areas the HB teams might be notified about who has been sent a migration notice to avoid overlap with any natural migration.
This is, purportedly, the current evaluation strategy for Move to UC: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/evaluation_strategy_discovery_ph#incoming-2112720
I’m wondering what the mystery Phase 4 will entail…
Keith - and anyone else lucky enough to be working in Bolton, Medway, Falmouth and Truro, Harrow, Northumberland, or any other discovery phase area - CPAG is really interested to hear from you about your experiences of managed migration. We’re interested to hear from you about pre-rollout liaison, issuing of migration notices, engagement with different types of claimant, experiences of what helps people meet or miss their deadline, demand on advice services, etc etc etc (notified claimants in Bolton and Medway will be coming up to their final deadline early next month so we’re really interested to hear about cases at that stage as well). You can submit experiences to our Early Warning System: https://cpag.org.uk/policy-campaigns/early-warning-system
On my last post - something similar can be found at slide 14 here: https://data.parliament.uk/DepositedPapers/Files/DEP2022-0377/6-UCPB12-11-19-Paper5-MovetoUC_UpdatePilotEvaluation_R.pdf
Keith - and anyone else lucky enough to be working in Bolton, Medway, Falmouth and Truro, Harrow, Northumberland, or any other discovery phase area - CPAG is really interested to hear from you about your experiences of managed migration.
Just to add - if anyone would prefer to share information with me directly then you’re welcome to direct message me through Rightsnet and I’ll give you my contact details. (ideally submissions will go direct to EWS - otherwise I could end up being overwhelmed - but I understand if there are reasons that might mean you’d want to provide direct feedback)
I haven’t gone through the Medium article properly yet - hopefully I’ll get a chance in the next few days, but it makes a serious error regarding income for tax credit purposes.
In many (most?) cases it is more beneficial for the income details held by tax credits to be higher rather than lower on migration day.
Just to follow up on this and say thank you to Charles for pointing out this error. We’ve removed that bit of tactical advice and are re-sharing it around Citizens Advice with a clear correction. Have to say, we aren’t looking forward to doing all the calculations on the element!
Apologies to anyone who was misadvised by that section, and hopefully with this revision the article is now a helpful resource.
HTC Expert Advice Team
[ Edited: 6 Sep 2022 at 10:27 am by Abi Sheridan ]Hi, does anyone know if there a single short webpage / factsheet anywhere that sets out which UK areas are currently under managed migration, how many people from each area are being contacted and when they are being contacted?
Medway - 250 from early May
Bolton - 250 from early May
Falmouth & Truro - 250 from late July
Harrow - 250 from mid-August
Northumberland - 250 from late September (I think these are going to be TC recipients)
This page is being updated (I think it’s updated as migration notices go out - see the updates section): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tax-credits-and-some-benefits-are-ending-claim-universal-credit
Amazing, thanks Owen!
I believe Bolton and Medway have had a further 250 cases each (para 17 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/la-welfare-direct-bulletins-2022/la-welfare-direct-62022)
and using a differently worded version of the migration notice I seem to recall? Not sure if that’s happened anywhere else yet.