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I received my migration letter in July saying that I must claim UC by 18 October to continue receiving financial support. I believe I’ll be going down £hundreds on UC so I’m in no rush and intend to make the claim on 17 October. I’ve had the date to make the claim in my calendar (with an alarm) since July.

Last year, I was migrated from working tax credits to Universal Credit. I already receive PIP and thanks to this website, was fully aware it was coming.

Hi all I’ve just been moved over back in sep from been in support group esa since 2016 I had the phone call saying u don’t need to look for work ,then 24 hours later I started getting jobs sent in journal I rang them and said I’ve told u all my illnesses and mental health not good self harm etc she told me to ignore everything 

My daughter has been forced onto UC. She had her money stopped for 5 weeks and was told applying for a loan would take as long as her transfer. She was forced to attend the job centre and sign a contract which she has no way of knowing she can keep as she has autism and anorexia with extreme anxiety. Her rent allowance was stopped as they said she had the wrong paperwork(she didn't, it was their mistake). She ended up in such an emotional state her mental health team escorted her to the jobcentre to sort it out. Migration is rubbish, you are being forced to make a new claim and they want you to look for work. The initial bullying by staff on a vulnerable person was heartbreaking.

We were migrated from income support to UC last month. The process seemed smooth and out payment was made up of exactly what out housing benefit, income support would be as the transitional element was added.. relief over…. Or so we thought!! We recently got a letter from council tax saying we now are liable for 75% of our council tax! We were getting a 100% discount and now only 25%! So while we were told we wouldn’t be any worse off, actually we are by about £100 a month! Thats 2 weeks food shopping for us! 

Hi I am an advocacy worker and I am in the process of helping my first person I support migrate from ESA (support Group) to Universal credit.     I am very fortunate that this person is very organised.   She had all her paperwork and ID to hand and we were able to complete the process in two and a have hours.   Then the fun started.  She must have received at least 30 journal messages in two days.   This is coming from receiving nothing from ESA to being bombarded.   This was really stressful for them.   She sent me all the journal messages and they were all bureaucratic rubbish.   She did get one three days later stating she had to go to the job centre for a meeting.  I went with her.   I was surprised that she had to go as she was in the support group for ESA and couldn't possibly work.  The meeting was painless and the job centre staff were lovely.  They told me that they have had not much training for this migration and asked where I got my training.  I gave them this web site.   I asked why she was called into a meeting and they said that everyone who migrates over will be called for a meeting.  This is to establish work commitments.   I explained that she was in the support group and I thought it would be transferred over like for like.  They said it should, however the system is very slow at catching up with the information that the job centre is putting in.    They also asked her to get a fit note.   I explained she hasn't required a fit note for the last three years and she shouldn't require one now.  They agreed with me, however if the system hasn't caught up and recognised that she was in the support group, the system would ask for fit notes, three times.   If you didn't provide them there was a chance your benefit could get stopped. It was better for her to get a fit note for at least 3 months to try and alleviate that problem.   Certainly not ideal and would give the people I support more stress.     They told her she would receive a phone call three weeks later to see how she was.  Again I said is this necessary, they said all applicants who migrate over would have to receive one phone call.   I agreed to be with her when this happened.    The staff at the job centre asked for my card in order that they can call me if they have a problem.     She late got a journal message cancelling the phone call, and stating that she is in the unfit to work category.   She also kept being sent courses on her journal suggesting she should go on these.  I questioned this and was told ignore them all, the only journal entry's to ensure you were following was appointments.   She has not received any money yet, I will let you know if that goes smoothly.   The whole migration is a sham and is causing unnecessary stress and anxiety on a very vulnerable part of our society.    sorry this is so long.  

Surely the order of migration is based on national insurance numbers. 

Re Managed Migration,  for clarity 

I don't know know if this was mentioned anywhere else on here.

Excellent and concise advice Micksville. Thank you

Might be an idea to also include the first letter of surname to gauge if this process is being done in alphabetical order of surnames and also if you were due a normal review of ESA around the time of your migration notice, this to gauge if it's being done roughly around the dates of reviews already proposed

Just to repeat HRH's request, could people please also tell us which area they live in?

Seeing as Starmer's Grifters And Liggers Social Club isn't prepared to release any actual details about the UC roll-out to us, it looks like we're going to have to try and work out for ourselves if this first wave is a geographically-targeted pilot or not.

Can anyone tell us exactly how hard a time you'll have claiming UC if you don't have 'acceptable' photo ID such as a passport or driver's license?

i have just gone from esa to uc and it was very difficult to understand at first, you get offered an advance payment so try to keep some of that and pay some off your rent as two weeks later u get your last payment from esa and then you have to go three more weeks without no money they write to you on the journal but can take days to reply back to u. don’t panic to much they as for a fitnote but that’s while their waiting for your claim to go over from esa the day they shut your claim the next day uc get all your information. then they also offer you another advance payment but that’s got to checked by yourself on your journel so keep an eye on that. you will get into rent arrears and i don’t agree with that and also having to pay back the advance payment. just make sure you make it affordable for yourself to pay it back. if you stress to much over it then seek help 

would it be possible to add the area you live in so we can get a sense of the pattern of ESA migrations?

The application process is pretty straightforward (if you are comfortable doing it online), but I had to wait for more than two weeks to get my first UC payment.