DWP confirms that ESA claimants who fail to migrate to universal credit by final deadline should have the LCWRA element included from start of any subsequent claim
At the DWP’s November 2025 universal credit stakeholder engagement forum, advisers highlighted that ESA claimants who fail to migrate to universal credit, but then subsequently claim the benefit, are incorrectly being expected to start the work capability assessment (WCA) afresh and are not getting awarded the LCWRA element and therefore having conditionality applied. However, the Department responded stating that, where a universal credit claim is not made by the final deadline, then transitional protection and the WCA decision cannot be applied.
As a result, rightsnet and Housing Systems emailed the DWP on 16 December 2025, highlighting that –
Regulation 21 of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014 (specifically regulation 21(1)(a)(i)) provides that LCWRA credits enable the LCWRA element to be in place from the start of the claim, as confirmed in paragraph 7.15 of the explanatory memorandum; and
this approach is confirmed in JW v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (UC) [2022] UKUT 117 (AAC).
While the DWP legal department initially refused to accept the argument, officials conceded today in a meeting with rightsnet that it has been applying the law incorrectly and that former ESA claimants should have the LCWRA element included from the start of their universal credit claim.
However, the DWP also advised that a change to the IT ‘design process’ will be needed to address the situation, which ‘will take some time’.
In the meantime, advisers should submit a mandatory reconsideration for any clients that have not had the LCWRA element included in the above circumstances