The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has warned that the planned expansion of universal credit to millions more people from next year poses a “significant threat of harm” to vulnerable claimants.

Khan is calling for the rollout of the benefit to be paused to enable stronger protections to ensure claimants do not fall into hardship when they are switched from legacy benefits and tax credits to the new system.

Under the three-year “managed migration” process starting in July 2019, over two million claimants nationally will be sent a letter giving them three months to apply for universal credit before their current benefits are cancelled.

The mayor’s office said many vulnerable claimants were likely to fall foul of these requirements, given the complexity of navigating the universal credit system, and risked being left without any benefit income.

Khan said cuts to funding, IT problems, late payments causing rent arrears and possible eviction, together with a lack of support to help claimants navigate the complex process meant universal credit was not yet fit for purpose.

Quick Guide What is universal credit and what are the problems? Show What is universal credit? Universal credit (UC) is the supposed flagship reform of the benefits system, rolling together six benefits into one, online-only system. The theoretical aim, for which there was general support across the political spectrum, was to simplify the system and increase the incentives for people to move off benefits into work. About 2 million people are currently in receipt of UC. More than 6 million will be on the benefit by the time it is fully rolled out. How long has it been around? The project was legislated for in 2011 under the auspices of its most vocal champion, Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith. The plan was to roll it out by 2017. However, a series of management failures, expensive IT blunders and design faults mean it is now seven years behind schedule, and rollout will not be complete until 2024. The government admitted that the delay was caused in part by claimants being too scared to sign up to the new benefit. What is the biggest problem? The original design set out a minimum 42-day wait for a first payment to claimants when they moved to UC (in practice this is often up to 60 days). After sustained pressure, the government announced in the autumn 2017 budget that the wait would be reduced to 35 days from February 2018. This will partially mitigate the impact on many claimants of having no income for six weeks. The wait has led to rent arrears and evictions, hunger (food banks in UC areas report notable increases in referrals), use of expensive credit and mental distress. Ministers have expanded the availability of hardship loans (now repayable over a year) to help new claimants while they wait for payment. Housing benefit will now continue for an extra two weeks after the start of a UC claim. However, critics say the five-week wait is still too long and want it reduced to two or three weeks. Are there other problems? Plenty. Multibillion-pound cuts to work allowances imposed by the former chancellor George Osborne mean UC is far less generous than originally envisaged. According to the Resolution Foundation thinktank, about 2.5m low-income working households will be more than £1,000 a year worse off when they move to UC, reducing work incentives.

Landlords are worried that the level of rent arrears accrued by tenants on UC could lead to a rise in evictions. It's also not very user-friendly: claimants complain the system is complex, unreliable and difficult to manage, particularly if you have no internet access.

And there is concern that UC cannot deliver key promises: a critical study found it does not deliver savings, cannot prove it gets more people into work, and has plunged vulnerable claimants into hardship.

“We all want a simpler, fairer benefits system that improves the incentive for people to work, but universal credit in its current form falls well short of that,” he said.

He added: “If the government does not change tack, the chaotic implementation of this system risks causing considerable disruption to the lives of thousands of Londoners.”

The mayor’s office estimates there are about one million children in the capital in households currently in receipt of tax credits. About 120,000 disabled and chronically ill Londoners claiming employment and support allowance are also due to be moved on to universal credit.



Khan wants ministers to drop plans to force existing benefit claimants to apply for universal credit, arguing they should instead be automatically transferred.



The mayor’s concerns are outlined in a submission to the official consultation on managed migration for universal credit, carried out by the Department for Work and Pensions social security advisory committee (SSAC). The consultation closed just over a week ago.

The submission says universal credit has the potential to deliver improvements to the benefit system, but well-documented problems in its design and implementation have caused “significant hardship” to claimants.

“Until now, these problems have only affected new claimants or those who have undergone a change of circumstance that has resulted in ‘natural migration’ to universal credit. The government’s proposed ‘managed migration’ of all remaining working-age benefit claimants next year poses a significant threat of harm being caused on a much larger scale if these issues are left unresolved.”

It adds: “The most serious consequence of managed migration is that it will be the vulnerable who suffer the most.”

Despite a recent series of critical reports, including a devastating assessment by the National Audit Office in June that concluded universal credit would never deliver on its key aims, the government insists its flagship benefit reform is working and that problems are being ironed out under its “test and learn” approach.

However, managed migration is likely to generate fresh challenges. The former chair of the SSAC, Paul Gray, who launched the consultation in June, told the Guardian this month that this phase would be fraught with risk for ministers, warning “this is where it gets really serious”.



The mental health charity Mind has also raised concerns that ministers have failed to put enough support in place to help vulnerable people move on to the new system, and that hundreds of thousands were at risk of slipping through the net.

A DWP spokesperson said: “Universal credit replaces an out-of-date, complex benefits system that often trapped people in unemployment. Universal credit provides claimants with personal support and is helping to get them into work faster and they are staying in work longer.

“Research also shows that a large majority of people receiving universal credit are satisfied with the service they receive. We continue to make improvements to the delivery of universal credit where needed and will ensure those migrating from legacy benefits get the right support.”