How do I close my Universal Credit claim without burning myself?

SurviveTomorrow

So I recently got a part time job, 16 hours a week, £9 an hour (Which means way too much for UC to pay me any additional money)

I don't claim any other benefits. So right now, UC give me nothing, but they still expect me to do daily job searches for around 19 hours a week to total 35 hours, as I'm technically capable of working full time.

So basically I get nothing from them but they'd like me to still go out of my way to present them with evidence. I may or may not search for additional or different work depending on how comfortable I am with this new job and it's future prospects, and if I do job search I'd prefer to do it in my own time and not have the extra stress of reporting back to them.

This job is only a 3 month contract to start with though. There's a possibility I'll be unemployed in 3 months if things don't go well. So what I'd like to do is cancel UC for 2.5 months, and then if I do need to get back onto UC, I can simply make a new claim after 2.5 months.

I'm just slightly worried if they'll A). Allow me to close the claim? . Impose some sort of sanction for when I return to UC?

I know with JSA I would have no issue simply closing the claim, but I'm not sure how UC differs. (The adviser certainly didn't advertise the fact that it's possible to close the claim when I expressed I wouldn't be comfortable still providing job search information. And quite explicitly stated I must attend or reschedule appointments that are booked for 2 weeks from now, despite me starting work tomorrow)

Thanks in advance for your insight and advice!

NYM

You've got another thread running on exactly the same topic.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/69656932#Comment_69656932

SurviveTomorrow wrote: »

Well I won't receive any payment from UC so as far as I'm aware I might as well close it, but they've told me they like to keep the claim open for 6 months (so it's easier to go back to if the job falls flat) and didn't present me with an option to close my UC claim when I expressed it might be a little inconvenient in my circumstances, I wasn't aware you could close it like that (I've always previously had JSA, which was different.)

They did however tell me it's possible I'll be put on the 'light touch' program or something like that, where I'll not have to go to the job centre but rather they'll just call me every 8 weeks or so, which sounds fine, and probably worth the slight inconvenience if it does mean if the job falls flat I won't have to wait several weeks to get back on UC, which I believe is the case.

Sorry, I talk/type a lot and am rarely concise. :P

Mersey_2

You can't close a UC claim in the way a JSA claim could be closed. In any event JCP staff cannot.


You can 'withdraw' a UC claim via the 0345 600 0723 national UC contact centres, if you no longer satisfy the gateway conditions for UC.


There are around 8 reasons including having capital over the limit, being pregnant and so on. The Rightsnet site forums have more detailed info on avoiding the 'lobster pot.'


The reason for conditionality continuing is that you may be entitled to a small top up of UC once your employer notifies HMRC of your monthly earnings.


However, if you earn circa £1000 pcm I agree that there's little point in practice, as you won't be entitled as it'll be 'nilled out.'


The point of keeping claims open is in case you need to claim again within 6 months it saves you having to claim from afresh and incur a 6 week wait and so on.


But simply failing to attend an appointment with a live UC claim could incur a sanction. Appointments can be 'switched off' for UC claims; but, I think this is only if a UC claimant is a full-time employee or self-employed and reporting earnings each month by 'phone. Clearly you can't attend JCP appointments if you're working full-time as they are only open weekday office hours.


Incidentally, I assume you have no housing costs as otherwise I'd ask UC to check they have the calculation correct, as eg a single person with net earnings of eg £700 pcm would be entitled to around £300 in UC pcm. But with no housing costs you probably just miss out and £700pcm would be around the limit. [The formula is net monthly pay minus £111 pcm (work allowance) and then reduced by 65% for every £1 earned. This take home pay is then taken off the standard allowance of c£300 to give the month's UC payment]

SurviveTomorrow

That's right I have no housing costs and have been through calculations with them that showed I'd not get any extra money from them.

I apologize for creating a 2nd thread on a similar topic but the point is quite different and I was hoping to get some more direct advice or numbers/links to close the claim.

I'll look further into withdrawing the claim and the possible consequences of doing so.