New regulations amending the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014 will come into force on 29 January 2026. Made on 6 January and laid on 8 January, the instrument applies in England, Wales and Scotland. It delivers two targeted changes: allowing migration notice deadlines to be set to the statutory ‘appointed day’ for abolishing legacy benefits, and restoring transitional protection in certain identity‑verification cases involving disability premiums. Regulation 44 remains the mechanism for issuing migration notices and setting deadlines.
The first change modifies regulation 44 so that when a claimant on income‑based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income‑related Employment and Support Allowance or Income Support receives a migration notice and the deadline would otherwise fall after the benefit’s abolition date, the deadline may instead be the appointed day. A parallel rule applies for housing benefit‑only cases; where housing benefit is received alongside another legacy benefit, the deadline is anchored to that other benefit’s appointed day. The aim is to sustain transitional protection during the final switch‑off of legacy entitlements under section 33 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and the latest commencement order.
‘Appointed day’ is set by orders under section 150(3) of the 2012 Act. The text confirms the date is not contingent on making a Universal Credit claim and should be applied even if it falls within a two‑week run‑on period, so the migration deadline can match abolition. The run‑on arrangements remain those created in 2019, which continue awards of Income Support, income‑based JSA or income‑related ESA for two weeks after a Universal Credit start or a missed deadline.
The second change inserts regulation 63A. It addresses cases where a qualifying Universal Credit claim failed solely because the Department could not verify identity, the claimant’s legacy award continued in error, and the claimant then made a subsequent Universal Credit claim within one month of being told to do so. In these circumstances, the Secretary of State may treat the person as having remained entitled to the relevant legacy benefit up to the new claim date, enabling transitional protection that depends on entitlement in the month before Universal Credit begins.
The deeming power covers severe disability premium and the related disability premiums. For severe disability premium cases it allows treatment as if entitled to an award of Income Support, income‑based JSA or income‑related ESA that included the premium within the month immediately before the first day of the Universal Credit award, preserving the transitional SDP element under Schedule 2. For enhanced disability, disability and disabled child premiums it allows equivalent treatment for Schedule 3 amounts introduced from February 2024, preventing loss of those additions where identity checks delayed the move to Universal Credit.
Key dates in the current programme are fixed by the 2025 Commencement Order: for any remaining cases, Income Support and income‑based JSA are abolished on 1 April 2026; for working‑age housing benefit where a claimant moves out of temporary or specified accommodation, abolition applies from the day after the move on or after 14 November 2025; and conversion of contributory‑only ESA began on 1 December 2025. Allowing migration deadlines to be set to these dates reduces the risk that administrative timing disrupts transitional support.
For local authority housing benefit teams, the instrument clarifies that a claimant with housing benefit alone can have a migration deadline set to the appointed day for housing benefit, but if they also receive another legacy benefit the deadline follows that other benefit’s date. The two‑week run‑on rules are unchanged and should still be applied in the usual way when a Universal Credit award starts or a final deadline is missed.
The Department notes that the Social Security Advisory Committee agreed not to take the proposals on formal reference under section 173 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992, and that representative local authority organisations were consulted under section 176(1)(a). No full impact assessment accompanies the instrument. Practitioners should ensure that any claimant affected by a failed identity check receives a clear notification and that the one‑month window for a subsequent claim is tracked and recorded.
This approach mirrors earlier tax‑credit closure arrangements. In January–April 2025 regulation 44 was amended so deadlines for claimants with an award of tax credits could be set to 6 April 2025. The 2026 changes extend that method to the final abolition dates for Income Support, income‑based JSA, income‑related ESA and the specific housing benefit cases, giving DWP a clear legal route to maintain transitional protection at the point legacy awards end.