Since 2022, six legacy benefits have been gradually absorbed into Universal Credit and the DWP assured this is making up the vast majority of the staggering increases in claims. The department wrote on X: “Nearly 80% of the increase is people being moved from old benefits onto Universal Credit. Not new claims. A transition we inherited.

“And it’s the same story for those with no work requirements – at least 72% of that increase is legacy benefit claimants moving across.”

In December 2025, the total number of people claiming Universal Credit in Britain stood at 8.34 million, up almost a full million since December 2024. However, data published on Tuesday showed that over 775,000 of these people had been moved from legacy benefits.

In essence, the staggering increase in people receiving Universal Credit since 2022 is due to a circumstantial lump case shift rather than a trend indicating how many more people could continue to make new claims for the benefit in the future.

The move from legacy benefits to Universal Credit has been going through a managed migration process. People that were affected were issued migration notices and offered an opportunity to transfer their claim to Universal Credit with Transitional Protection before their current benefits stopped.

Legacy benefits being moved to Universal Credit:

Some of these benefits, like Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits, have already officially ended. The Government anticipates that the final stages of the migration will be complete by the end of March.

The managed migration process begins when a person receives their migration notice. This will contain their own personal deadline they need to apply for Universal Credit by in order to receive Transitional Protection, which ensures they won’t be left worse off on the new system.

For example, if someone received £600 a month from Tax Credits but only qualifies for £400 from Universal Credit under the normal eligibility rules, the Transitional Protection will add an extra £200. However, if you miss the deadline in your migration notice, you will not be able to get any Transitional Protection.

People who aren’t able to make the deadline in their migration notice may also be able to get reasonable adjustments from the DWP. This may include extended deadlines or the use of appointees for people that are unable to manage their own affairs.

Earlier this month, Sir Stephen Timms revealed that over 150 Complex Case Coaches have been deployed to provide personalised assistance who are working with local safeguarding teams for particularly vulnerable people.