How far has the roll out of Universal Credit come? What's the difference between 'managed' and 'natural' migration? Are there likely to be further delays? And what are the implications of recent High Court judgments?

Talking us through key policy areas this week is Commons Library Social Security Policy Specialist, Steven Kennedy, who spoke to us on 12 March 2019.

To go straight to the answers that interest you the most skip to:

  • How far has roll-out got to? (0:48)
  • How does ‘natural migration’ work? What has the experience with natural migration been? (2:35)
  • Could you give us an example of how ‘natural migration’ would work? (3:20)
  • Do we know when the Work and Pensions Committee report on ‘managed migration’ is due to be published? (4:37)
  • Press reports have suggested there may be further delays to the roll-out. Is that the case? (4:55)
  • Is December 2023 still the final date for full roll-out to be completed? (6:40)
  • How does Universal Credit affect disabled people and how has the Government responded to concerns? (7:10)
  • If you claimed the Severe Disability Premium prior to being migrated onto Universal Credit you will receive transitional protection. However, if you claim Universal Credit and then find yourself in a position in which you would have been eligible for SDP, you will not receive anything on top of your UC payments – is that correct? (8:35)
  • There was a High Court ruling in January regarding people whose Universal Credit payment is stopped because they receive two pay packets in one month. How has this problem arisen and what does the judgment mean? (9:20)
  • Is this judgment final? And What are the implications of the High Court’s judgment for the DWP? (11:54)

Further reading

To dig deeper into the issues discussed in this episode, you might find the following Commons Library briefings useful:

More in this series