[user104658]

This story seems to be more about overall entitlement to benefits rather than the 5 week wait? However, I agree that the wait is ridiculous... one of the worst parts is that the official gov.uk says (or at least did, last time I looked) simply "you will have to think about how you will support yourself during this time". The clear implication is that they think people on benefits who know they are going to be moved over to UC should "have saving set aside" for those 5 weeks. It just show a ridiculous lack of understanding of the income levels of people on benefits... having savings of any kind is near impossible. Most common scenario is that people end up in £1000 - £2000 debt over those 5 weeks and then it follows them forever.