Dwp universal credit

Bostankhan22

Hi I need abit of advice as I reviewed the migration letter yesterday and have til 27th August 2025 as the deadline. Now in July I get three lots of esa payments, now can I wait til.the end of July to migrate over or do it sooner as I don't want to miss out on my esa payments. Than I'm thinking if you delay till July will my housing benefit stop and esa payments...so confused. Also when I do migrate I'm on esa in the support group..Will I need to attend the job centre or can I send my identification via online like a passport. Please someone advise.

Thankyou

Kimi87

When you apply for UC, ESA and Housing Benefit stop apart from one final payment (known as the run on payment).

Usual forum advice is to claim UC the day after an ESA payment, this helps to ensure the run on ESA payment is for the full amount.

Let your landlord know you are migrating, by the time your first UC payment comes through with Housing Element there will be 3 weeks arrears on the rent account and this will keep happening.

Occasionally a landlord is happy with that. Usually your options are to pay those weeks yourself week by week, or set up a payment plan to pay a little extra off each week until the arrears are cleared. Then each UC payment will put your account 4 weeks into credit.

You could also apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment if it would cause you financial hardship. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments

There are online id verification options. If that fails you can ask for a biographical id check, this is a phone call where you are asked questions about your personal details that only you know. If that isn't possible, then you would need to attend the Job Centre in person.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-verify-your-identity-for-universal-credit