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Tax free childcare on high income
Hi, I earn around £75k, if I get tax free childcare will I have to pay loads back in tax in a self assessment? Is there any point me getting it? Thanks!
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Starting rate for savings and income for tax credits purposes
If I am earning below or the same as my personal allowance, I have the full starting rate for savings (£5,000 of savings interest is untaxed) plus the full personal savings allowance (another £1,000 of savings interest is untaxed). As income for tax credits purposes does not include untaxable benefits (e.g. PIP) but does…
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Job Seekers Allowance following a Career break
I was made redundant midway through 2021 and having worked for 30 years got a severance pay that allowed me to take a lengthy career gap. I'm now returning to work but have been denied JSA because I made no NI contribution in 22/23. Apparently the rules changed this year to not look further back, which hasn't sat well with…
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Child benefit payment advice
Good afternoon, My son turns 20 on 26th Jan. I also have a younger daughter who we still get child benefit payment for. Is child benefit paid in advance or arrears? My next payment is due on 28th Jan so not sure how much to expect as my son's entitlement will end on 25th Jan. Any advice gratefully received :)
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Housing Benefit overpayment
I'm helping a friend who caused an overpayment of Housing Benefit by failing to declare when her savings went over £10,000. She is 72 and is not entitled to Pension Credit. This goes back to 2021, and her savings had been gradually increasing. She has a chaotic lifestyle and it seems as though she was genuinely unaware of…
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experience with tax credit migration to universal credit and a MIF question?
Hi all, this could help someone. Below is as far as I understand and my experience. You got the migration notice to move from TC to UC. Move week before the last payment of TC. It could take 2 weeks to complete the application. Meanwhile you can get a loan from DWP equal to one months UC, you pay that back every month from…
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Housing benefit overpayment - help please
Hi.A few years back I was claiming HB as my household's income was not sufficient to cover our basic living expenses. After a year or so the HB office asked for bank statements which I duly provided. It turned out most of the time my capital actually exceeded the qualifying threshold set by the government - not by much, on…
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UC application
Hi Need to help someone regarding UC and need to check something, so if someone could answer, that would be great. Parent, 61, living with adult working child. Private rental, but only parent’s name on tenancy as taken up before child deemed an adult. The child contributes about 1/2 of the rent and nothing else, so parent…
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UC question
Hi. I've had to move onto UNiversal credit via migration letter and receive it 2nd each month I was told then told via letter I'd be on esa still Payment due in bank says Esa but is 20 less every 2 weeks. But no UC, any idea what's going on please. I didn't think esa was still available that why I had to move
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ESA payment
I claimed UC on friday 10 January, I received ESA the following Wednesday (4 days later). It says ESA continues for 2 weeks, will I receive another ESA payment? Will I receive it on my normal ESA payment date? A different date? Will it be the same amount. I'm confused how to work it out. Thanks.
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UC split payments.
Can you confirm that when requesting 2 payments a month that you will have to wait a full month for the payments to start. My neighbour wants to do this but I have warned her that she will have to wait a month and then will only receive half of her usual payment instead of the full amount before the changes start. Her work…
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30 Hours Childcare - 4 days a week confusion
Hi, We recently had our first child and will both be back in full time work next September. We are trying to navigate around the free childcare minefield and have got a bit confused with what happens if we don't plan on doing 5 days a week in the nursery. From Sept 25, we will be entitled to the 30 hours for 9 month olds…
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PIP Mandatory Reconsideration
Hello, I am 20 years old and have been struggling with my mental health and other disabilities such as, ADHD, anxiety, agoraphobia and awaiting an autism test since 2023. I was on DLA standard daily living in 2018, while in high school to college I had less and less help with my problems and got a lot worse where I went…
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Transitional Protection on Universal Credit advice pless
Hi all I’m new to this. Can anybody please advise me on if I’m going to lose the Transitional Protection on my UC claim as Universal Credit advisors (work coaches) are absolutely useless with giving me any info on this. My son comes off my UC claim this August 2025 and I’ve written on my journal to ask the question and…
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Should I be claiming Child Benefit
Hi I was hoping for some advise on claiming Child benefit. I have 2 Children (8 & 2) and earn a basic salary of 60k, and usually get a bonus of 5-7k When my first child was born we started claiming this for a year or so but ended up having to pay it all back, which as I wasn't aware of the benefit tax was a bit of a bummer…
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Benefit increase in April. How much is it.
I always like April for the increase in benefits. Does anybody know how much it is for Enhanced PIP for both and ESA support group?
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Switching from ESA to Universal Credit
Deep question in relation to Universal Credit. My partner recently received her migration notice. She currently gets ESA and is in the support group. What complicates the issue is when she first went on ESA she was advised by Citizens advice to do so as a single, and even though I live with her, we were advised that I…
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Disabled son turning 19, what can I claim for him? Will I lose transitional protection?
Hello, last month I was migrated from tax credits to universal credit so have a transitional protection payment included. I thought I had till he turned 20 to worry about him becoming an adult as that was what is was on tax credits. Today I had a message in my journal saying my claim for my son will end on 31st August as…
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Start new job in a month
I recently ended self employment and am starting a new job on 10th Feb. When changing my circumstances it asked if I would be starting work within a month so said I was and inputted date. Now I’m reading loads of comments saying only do it on your first day. Will I end up not getting any UC before I start?
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Keeping letters
How long do you keep your award letters for? I've just moved house and I have a huge box full of letters from dwp and hmrc going back years. I'm itching to shred them but don't want to do it if I'll need them in the future 🫣
