Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department provides jobcentre staff on whether, and in which circumstances, to advise clients voluntarily to switch from legacy benefits to universal credit.

There is no guidance for claimants to voluntarily switch from legacy benefits to Universal Credit. Claimants can not choose to migrate to Universal Credit. Currently, they will only move to Universal Credit if they have a change of circumstances. We will start to migrate existing claimants from 2019.