Northern Ireland to end legacy benefits from 1 Dec 2025
Northern Ireland has confirmed the final steps to switch from six ‘legacy’ benefits to Universal Credit. A new Commencement Order made by the Department for Communities on 12 November 2025 sets key dates and tidy‑up rules so people know when older benefits will stop and what replaces them. It’s a procedural instrument, but it changes real lives, so we’ve translated the legalese below.
First, the headline dates. From Monday 1 December 2025, certain Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) awards will be converted so they run as ‘new style’ ESA only. Then on Wednesday 1 April 2026, any remaining awards of income support and income‑based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) that haven’t already ended will be abolished. These changes are part of Article 39 of the 2015 Welfare Reform Order, which set abolition in law and left dates to be appointed later.
If you’re on ESA, here’s the practical bit. Where a claimant’s old style ESA is paid only because of the contributory allowance (or the contributory part is the element that actually sets the amount), the Order flips the award to ‘new style’ ESA on 1 December 2025. If you don’t meet that condition on that day but you do later, the change happens on that later date instead. This prevents new entitlement to the income‑related ESA element from arising in future.
You may hear from advisers about a ‘claimant commitment’. The Order lets the Department pause preparing a new claimant commitment when an ESA award is converted, purely to keep administration running smoothly. In short: you can be paid while paperwork catches up, and you’ll be told when you actually need to agree a commitment.
For JSA and income support, the picture is clearer. Any remaining awards of income‑based JSA and income support that haven’t already terminated will end on 1 April 2026. That end date doesn’t cut across the standard two‑week ‘run‑on’ that applies when people move to Universal Credit, so those bridging payments still apply where due.
Housing Benefit is affected in a specific way. If you are of working age and move on or after Friday 14 November 2025 from temporary or specified/supported accommodation into general needs housing, your Housing Benefit award will end and you may need to claim Universal Credit for housing costs instead. The same principle has been set out for local authorities in official guidance, and ‘temporary’ is defined in benefit rules rather than everyday language.
About that ‘two‑week run‑on’. Since 2020, regulations have provided for a two‑week payment of income support, income‑based JSA and income‑related ESA when people move to Universal Credit, or when they are moved and miss the deadline. The new Northern Ireland Order doesn’t remove that safety net; it sits alongside it.
What this means for you if you’re on ESA: check whether your award is ‘old style’ and whether it’s paid purely on the contributory allowance. If it is, you should expect your award to convert to new style ESA on 1 December 2025 with no separate claim needed. New style ESA is based on National Insurance history, paid separately from Universal Credit, and you’ll be contacted if any fresh paperwork is required. If your circumstances later mean only the contributory allowance applies, the conversion will happen then.
What this means if you’re on income‑based JSA or income support: plan for Universal Credit well ahead of 1 April 2026. If you receive a ‘migration notice’, apply within the deadline to keep transitional protection and to avoid any break in payments. If you switch earlier because your circumstances change, you can still get the standard two‑week run‑on that helps bridge the move.
If you receive Housing Benefit in temporary or specified accommodation and you’re moving into general needs housing after 14 November 2025, be ready to claim Universal Credit for housing costs from the date you move. If you later move back into temporary or specified accommodation, Housing Benefit can still be claimed for that type of accommodation under the existing exemptions. The rule change is about what happens at the point of moving, not a blanket ban on future Housing Benefit.
Quick glossary to cut through the jargon. ‘Old style ESA’ and ‘old style JSA’ are the pre‑Universal Credit versions that included income‑related elements; ‘new style ESA’ is the contributory version based on your National Insurance record. ‘Income‑related’ means means‑tested on your household finances; ‘contributory’ means based on your contributions. ‘Temporary’ and ‘specified’ accommodation are defined in benefit regulations and cover homelessness placements and certain supported housing. The ‘two‑week run‑on’ is an automatic payment that covers the last fortnight of a legacy award when you move to Universal Credit, so you aren’t left without money during the first UC assessment period.
One last civic note for the classroom. This is a classic example of how Parliament sets a legal destination years in advance and departments later ‘appoint days’ to switch things on. The 2015 Order created the legal power to abolish benefits; the 2025 Commencement Order picks the dates. It was sealed on 12 November 2025 by a senior DfC official, David Tarr-proof that even small signatures can mark big changes to how the state supports people.