working/child Tax Credits, and C/B stopped

heken123

My working and child tax credits and child benefit is due to end on 31st August .
They are changing this to Universal Credits as my son is doing level 4/5 course at college.
I have been told that I will be getting a £110 less a week! How am I meant to support my son and myself on that!
It was hand to mouth before I'm just going to end up in so much debt.
I work 20 hours a week and can't physically do anymore I have arthritis and just had my second total hip replacement in April.
I had my Universal credit meeting and they didn't seem to offer any advice other than to work 30 hours a week. My muscles ache all the time and arthritis is in knees, wrists fingers etc

Lanzarote1938

Have you considered claiming ESA and PIP?

heken123

Lanzarote1938 wrote: »

Have you considered claiming ESA and PIP?

No I haven't As far as I know, arthritis doesn't count as a disability will look into them though thanks

Darksparkle

Could your son get a part time job? Has he looked into any loans/bursaries/grants etc?

Darksparkle

heken123 wrote: »

No I haven't As far as I know, arthritis doesn't count as a disability will look into them though thanks

You wouldn't get esa if you are working 20hrs per week.

You could look into PIP though. It's about how the condition effects you, not the condition itself.

https://www.gov.uk/pip

poppy12345

How old is your son? If he's 20 and under Child benefit/Tax credits will continue as long as he's in full time non advanced education. You just need to ring them and tell them the name of the college etc. If he's over 20 then he should be supporting himself. I can't advice about Universal Credit though, sorry.

Darksparkle

poppy12345 wrote: »

How old is your son? If he's 20 and under Child benefit/Tax credits will continue as long as he's in full time non advanced education. You just need to ring them and tell them the name of the college etc. If he's over 20 then he should be supporting himself. I can't advice about Universal Credit though, sorry.

OP has said he is doing level 4/5 which is advanced education.

pmlindyloo

Darksparkle will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that level 4/5 qualification is not regarded as non advanced education.

When the OP's tax credits end then she will (it seems) be transferred to Universal Credit.

I am not sure why they advised the OP to work 30 hrs a week, Are they saying that if she did so then she could remain just on working tax credit if she met the income criteria rather than transfer to Universal Credit. OP, what are you paid per hr?

If this is correct then claiming PIP (if she was awarded it) would, I believe, allow her to claim working tax credits if she worked 16 hrs a week (Darksparkle?) and not have to claim Universal Credit.

The problem is what to do whilst waiting for the PIP claim to go through.

I suggest that you go to CAB for some help. They could do a pre assessment with you for PIP.

They could also advise you about whether you would have enough NI contributions to claim contribution based ESA (new style ESA) and then drop your hours to meet the conditions for permitted work.

Of course, if your son could work and help out financially then you might manage better. However, you may still be stuck with having to comply with Universal Credit claimant commitment for working more hours.

poppy12345

heken123 wrote: »

No I haven't As far as I know, arthritis doesn't count as a disability will look into them though thanks

This isn't correct. PIP is about how your condition/s affect you daily and not about a diagnosis.

heken123

Darksparkle wrote: »

Could your son get a part time job? Has he looked into any loans/bursaries/grants etc?

thanks he already has one which is helping him with travel costs to college. He is not entitled to the travel costs he got last year as this course is seen as higher education.
Neither of us like owing money so don't want to take out the student loan.
It's not fair on him getting into debt

heken123

poppy12345 wrote: »

How old is your son? If he's 20 and under Child benefit/Tax credits will continue as long as he's in full time non advanced education. You just need to ring them and tell them the name of the college etc. If he's over 20 then he should be supporting himself. I can't advice about Universal Credit though, sorry.

Thanks
He's 18 I have rang tax credits already and they confirmed level 4/5 HNC/HND computer course is higher education and I will no longer be entitled to working/child tax credits and child benefit.