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Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is being scrapped by the DWP with all claimants warned payments will stop. Affected claimants will have to ensure they apply for Universal Credit (UC) which will be replacing the outgoing benefit. Households should have been sent letters by now, known as migration notices, alerting them to the changes. READ MORE: DWP Christmas Bonus to enter bank accounts on these dates Get our best money saving tips and hacks by signing up to our newsletter Once someone receives their migration notice they have three months to apply for UC. If they don't their benefit payments will stop. ESA, both on its own and alongside Housing Benefit, will no longer be paid beyond March 2026. It is the latest benefit being phased out to be replaced with UC. It is claimed by over one million Brits with disabilities or health conditions affecting how much they can work. The final migration notices were sent out in September, according to the DWP. Some claimants may have already applied and moved over to UC. Benefitsandwork.co.uk explains: "You will know when you have to move to UC, because you will receive a letter through the post called a migration notice. "The most important thing is not to panic when you get the migration notice – don’t ignore it, but don’t rush into things either. "The key here is that doing nothing isn’t an option – this change will affect all income-related ESA claimants at some point." To get breaking news emailed to you, sign up here , it's free.
