diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/qa/multi-node/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/TimeSeriesLifecycleActionsIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/qa/multi-node/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/TimeSeriesLifecycleActionsIT.java
index 9725335685b..3b455a2287d 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/qa/multi-node/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/TimeSeriesLifecycleActionsIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/qa/multi-node/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/TimeSeriesLifecycleActionsIT.java
@@ -77,26 +77,7 @@ public class TimeSeriesLifecycleActionsIT extends ESRestTestCase {
             .put(RolloverAction.LIFECYCLE_ROLLOVER_ALIAS, "alias"));
 
         // create policy
-        Map<String, LifecycleAction> warmActions = new HashMap<>();
-        warmActions.put(ForceMergeAction.NAME, new ForceMergeAction(1));
-        warmActions.put(AllocateAction.NAME, new AllocateAction(1, singletonMap("_name", "node-1,node-2"), null, null));
-        warmActions.put(ShrinkAction.NAME, new ShrinkAction(1));
-        Map<String, Phase> phases = new HashMap<>();
-        phases.put("hot", new Phase("hot", TimeValue.ZERO, singletonMap(RolloverAction.NAME,
-            new RolloverAction(null, null, 1L))));
-        phases.put("warm", new Phase("warm", TimeValue.ZERO, warmActions));
-        phases.put("cold", new Phase("cold", TimeValue.ZERO, singletonMap(AllocateAction.NAME,
-            new AllocateAction(0, singletonMap("_name", "node-3"), null, null))));
-        phases.put("delete", new Phase("delete", TimeValue.ZERO, singletonMap(DeleteAction.NAME, new DeleteAction())));
-        LifecyclePolicy lifecyclePolicy = new LifecyclePolicy(policy, phases);
-        // PUT policy
-        XContentBuilder builder = jsonBuilder();
-        lifecyclePolicy.toXContent(builder, null);
-        final StringEntity entity = new StringEntity(
-            "{ \"policy\":" + Strings.toString(builder) + "}", ContentType.APPLICATION_JSON);
-        Request request = new Request("PUT", "_ilm/" + policy);
-        request.setEntity(entity);
-        assertOK(client().performRequest(request));
+        createFullPolicy(TimeValue.ZERO);
         // update policy on index
         updatePolicy(originalIndex, policy);
         // index document {"foo": "bar"} to trigger rollover
@@ -106,6 +87,74 @@ public class TimeSeriesLifecycleActionsIT extends ESRestTestCase {
         assertBusy(() -> assertFalse(indexExists(originalIndex)));
     }
 
+    public void testMoveToAllocateStep() throws Exception {
+        String originalIndex = index + "-000001";
+        createIndexWithSettings(originalIndex, Settings.builder().put(IndexMetaData.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_SHARDS, 4)
+            .put(IndexMetaData.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_REPLICAS, 0)
+            .put("index.routing.allocation.include._name", "node-0")
+            .put(RolloverAction.LIFECYCLE_ROLLOVER_ALIAS, "alias"));
+
+        // create policy
+        createFullPolicy(TimeValue.timeValueHours(10));
+        // update policy on index
+        updatePolicy(originalIndex, policy);
+
+        // move to a step
+        Request moveToStepRequest = new Request("POST", "_ilm/move/" + originalIndex);
+        assertBusy(() -> assertTrue(getStepKeyForIndex(originalIndex).equals(new StepKey("new", "complete", "complete"))));
+        moveToStepRequest.setJsonEntity("{\n" +
+            "  \"current_step\": {\n" +
+            "    \"phase\": \"new\",\n" +
+            "    \"action\": \"complete\",\n" +
+            "    \"name\": \"complete\"\n" +
+            "  },\n" +
+            "  \"next_step\": {\n" +
+            "    \"phase\": \"cold\",\n" +
+            "    \"action\": \"allocate\",\n" +
+            "    \"name\": \"allocate\"\n" +
+            "  }\n" +
+            "}");
+        client().performRequest(moveToStepRequest);
+        assertBusy(() -> assertFalse(indexExists(originalIndex)));
+    }
+
+
+    public void testMoveToRolloverStep() throws Exception {
+        String originalIndex = index + "-000001";
+        String shrunkenOriginalIndex = ShrinkAction.SHRUNKEN_INDEX_PREFIX + originalIndex;
+        String secondIndex = index + "-000002";
+        createIndexWithSettings(originalIndex, Settings.builder().put(IndexMetaData.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_SHARDS, 4)
+            .put(IndexMetaData.SETTING_NUMBER_OF_REPLICAS, 0)
+            .put("index.routing.allocation.include._name", "node-0")
+            .put(RolloverAction.LIFECYCLE_ROLLOVER_ALIAS, "alias"));
+
+        createFullPolicy(TimeValue.timeValueHours(10));
+        // update policy on index
+        updatePolicy(originalIndex, policy);
+
+        // move to a step
+        Request moveToStepRequest = new Request("POST", "_ilm/move/" + originalIndex);
+        // index document to trigger rollover
+        index(client(), originalIndex, "_id", "foo", "bar");
+        logger.info(getStepKeyForIndex(originalIndex));
+        moveToStepRequest.setJsonEntity("{\n" +
+            "  \"current_step\": {\n" +
+            "    \"phase\": \"new\",\n" +
+            "    \"action\": \"complete\",\n" +
+            "    \"name\": \"complete\"\n" +
+            "  },\n" +
+            "  \"next_step\": {\n" +
+            "    \"phase\": \"hot\",\n" +
+            "    \"action\": \"rollover\",\n" +
+            "    \"name\": \"attempt_rollover\"\n" +
+            "  }\n" +
+            "}");
+        client().performRequest(moveToStepRequest);
+        assertBusy(() -> assertTrue(indexExists(secondIndex)));
+        assertBusy(() -> assertFalse(indexExists(shrunkenOriginalIndex)));
+        assertBusy(() -> assertFalse(indexExists(originalIndex)));
+    }
+
     public void testRolloverAction() throws Exception {
         String originalIndex = index + "-000001";
         String secondIndex = index + "-000002";
@@ -296,6 +345,29 @@ public class TimeSeriesLifecycleActionsIT extends ESRestTestCase {
 
     }
 
+    private void createFullPolicy(TimeValue hotTime) throws IOException {
+        Map<String, LifecycleAction> warmActions = new HashMap<>();
+        warmActions.put(ForceMergeAction.NAME, new ForceMergeAction(1));
+        warmActions.put(AllocateAction.NAME, new AllocateAction(1, singletonMap("_name", "node-1,node-2"), null, null));
+        warmActions.put(ShrinkAction.NAME, new ShrinkAction(1));
+        Map<String, Phase> phases = new HashMap<>();
+        phases.put("hot", new Phase("hot", hotTime, singletonMap(RolloverAction.NAME,
+            new RolloverAction(null, null, 1L))));
+        phases.put("warm", new Phase("warm", TimeValue.ZERO, warmActions));
+        phases.put("cold", new Phase("cold", TimeValue.ZERO, singletonMap(AllocateAction.NAME,
+            new AllocateAction(0, singletonMap("_name", "node-3"), null, null))));
+        phases.put("delete", new Phase("delete", TimeValue.ZERO, singletonMap(DeleteAction.NAME, new DeleteAction())));
+        LifecyclePolicy lifecyclePolicy = new LifecyclePolicy(policy, phases);
+        // PUT policy
+        XContentBuilder builder = jsonBuilder();
+        lifecyclePolicy.toXContent(builder, null);
+        final StringEntity entity = new StringEntity(
+            "{ \"policy\":" + Strings.toString(builder) + "}", ContentType.APPLICATION_JSON);
+        Request request = new Request("PUT", "_ilm/" + policy);
+        request.setEntity(entity);
+        assertOK(client().performRequest(request));
+    }
+
     private void createNewSingletonPolicy(String phaseName, LifecycleAction action) throws IOException {
         createNewSingletonPolicy(phaseName, action, TimeValue.ZERO);
     }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleService.java b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleService.java
index 026d1c7aeef..d86d6df0f97 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleService.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/IndexLifecycleService.java
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.NamedXContentRegistry;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.XPackField;
-import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.LifecycleExecutionState;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.IndexLifecycleMetadata;
+import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.LifecycleExecutionState;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.LifecyclePolicy;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.LifecycleSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.indexlifecycle.OperationMode;
@@ -76,6 +76,11 @@ public class IndexLifecycleService extends AbstractComponent
             this::updatePollInterval);
     }
 
+    public void maybeRunAsyncAction(ClusterState clusterState, IndexMetaData indexMetaData, StepKey nextStepKey) {
+        String policyName = LifecycleSettings.LIFECYCLE_NAME_SETTING.get(indexMetaData.getSettings());
+        lifecycleRunner.maybeRunAsyncAction(clusterState, indexMetaData, policyName, nextStepKey);
+    }
+
     public ClusterState moveClusterStateToStep(ClusterState currentState, String indexName, StepKey currentStepKey, StepKey nextStepKey) {
         return IndexLifecycleRunner.moveClusterStateToStep(indexName, currentState, currentStepKey, nextStepKey,
             nowSupplier, policyRegistry);
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/action/TransportMoveToStepAction.java b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/action/TransportMoveToStepAction.java
index 1c9a05dbfc7..a2744569e21 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/action/TransportMoveToStepAction.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ilm/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/indexlifecycle/action/TransportMoveToStepAction.java
@@ -62,6 +62,18 @@ public class TransportMoveToStepAction extends TransportMasterNodeAction<Request
                         request.getNextStepKey());
                 }
 
+                @Override
+                public void clusterStateProcessed(String source, ClusterState oldState, ClusterState newState) {
+                    IndexMetaData newIndexMetaData = newState.metaData().index(indexMetaData.getIndex());
+                    if (newIndexMetaData == null) {
+                        // The index has somehow been deleted - there shouldn't be any opportunity for this to happen, but just in case.
+                        logger.debug("index [" + indexMetaData.getIndex() + "] has been deleted after moving to step [" +
+                            request.getNextStepKey() + "], skipping async action check");
+                        return;
+                    }
+                    indexLifecycleService.maybeRunAsyncAction(newState, newIndexMetaData, request.getNextStepKey());
+                }
+
                 @Override
                 protected Response newResponse(boolean acknowledged) {
                     return new Response(acknowledged);