Moving to Universal Credit

Last updated: 10/04/2025

Moving from legacy benefits to Universal Credit

Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Housing Benefit and tax credits are now called legacy benefits and are being replaced by Universal Credit. If you are getting a legacy benefit, you will receive a letter from DWP telling you that your benefits will stop and asking you to claim Universal Credit instead.

The process of moving people from legacy benefits to Universal Credit has been in progress for some time and is expected to be complete by March 2026.

You may be getting more money from legacy benefits than you would get from Universal Credit. If you claim Universal Credit when you receive the letter, your benefit income will not be reduced. You will receive the same amount. This is called transitional protection. However, the Universal Credit you get will not be up-rated each year but will stay the same until it is equal to the amount of Universal Credit you should get.

See more information.

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Covering your tracks

You may not want other people to know that you’ve been searching for information or help from OPFS.

When browsing the internet whether on a mobile phone, tablet or computer, you leave a ‘history’ trail of pages and sites you’ve visited.

It’s impossible to completely avoid being tracked online but if you’re worried about someone knowing which sites you’ve been looking at, there are some things you can do to help cover your tracks.

If you’re using a laptop or desktop computer, try keeping another document or website open in a new tab or window while browsing. If someone comes in the room and you don’t want them to see what you’re looking at, you can quickly switch to another window or tab.

Deleting browsing history

You can delete the history of websites you’ve visited, but it’s important to know that if you delete your browsing history, someone else using the same device may notice.

If you share a tablet, mobile phone, laptop or computer with someone, they might notice that passwords or website addresses have disappeared from their history.

Find out how to remove your browsing history and other data from some of the most commonly used browsers:

Browsing in Private mode (incognito)

When browsing ‘incognito’, the internet browser won’t store cookies or record your browsing history on the computer, mobile or tablet.

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Toolbars

If you use a search toolbar in your web browser, remember that your searched items can be saved as part of your history. Find out how to delete your searched items from the following search engines: