Universal credit paying significantly less than tax credits - is this right?

seahorseboogie

Hello,

My partner has a job in which he earns around £1200 a month. Before universal credits were rolled in we used to receive around £150 a week child tax credits for my two kids, it was higher rate because my eldest has a disability.

Now nothing at all has changed in our circs except we have been moved to universal credit. However the amount we receive has changed to £296 a month instead of the £600 approx that we used to receive. This is a massive hit to our finances especially at this time of year.

We also receive DLA and Carers allowance. Thankfully these haven't changed.

I thought that while the tax credits scheme was being replaced in name by the universal credit one, the actual amounts would not change. So this is a shock. Our rent alone is £1000 a month. I am pregnant and unable to work.

I rang the helpline, they double checked our details and have confirmed we are receiving the amounts we should be according to their rules. Are they really taking £300 a month off vulnerable families?! Can someone explain this to me please?

In the meantime I'd better get budgeting!

pmlindyloo

seahorseboogie wrote: »

Hello,

My partner has a job in which he earns around £1200 a month. Before universal credits were rolled in we used to receive around £150 a week child tax credits for my two kids, it was higher rate because my eldest has a disability.

Now nothing at all has changed in our circs except we have been moved to universal credit. However the amount we receive has changed to £296 a month instead of the £600 approx that we used to receive. This is a massive hit to our finances especially at this time of year.

We also receive DLA and Carers allowance. Thankfully these haven't changed.

I thought that while the tax credits scheme was being replaced in name by the universal credit one, the actual amounts would not change. So this is a shock. Our rent alone is £1000 a month. I am pregnant and unable to work.

I rang the helpline, they double checked our details and have confirmed we are receiving the amounts we should be according to their rules. Are they really taking £300 a month off vulnerable families?! Can someone explain this to me please?

In the meantime I'd better get budgeting!

Why were you moved to Universal Credit? Did you have a change of circumstances - for example claiming housing costs in a new local authority?

seahorseboogie

Thanks for your reply, I should have made that clearer. My partner was out of work for two months because his contract ended, so we started claiming UC. For those two months we received approx £1000 per month (it only just covered rent. We survived on carers allowance and dla.)

He has now taken up a (similar) job in another warehouse that pays exactly the same and is the same number of hours, with the same monthly income.

If the amounts have been changed, fair enough, it just is a shock as I was led to believe it would be the same under a different name.

pmlindyloo

seahorseboogie wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, I should have made that clearer. My partner was out of work for two months because his contract ended, so we started claiming UC. For those two months we received approx £1000 per month (it only just covered rent. We survived on carers allowance and dla.)

He has now taken up a (similar) job in another warehouse that pays exactly the same and is the same number of hours, with the same monthly income.

If the amounts have been changed, fair enough, it just is a shock as I was led to believe it would be the same under a different name.

So it seems that your OH made a claim for income based JSA as a couple and in your area he had to make a UC claim. So this meant that you were naturally migrated to UC where there is no transitional protection.

I hope this is correct on my part - hopefully others will comment. I am finding UC a nightmare to 'get my head round'.

In the event that your move to UC was correct (by the way, was he not entitled to contribution based JSA?) then it may be a case of tightening your belts.

Your rent seems high. Is it about right for your area? You could try claiming help through a Discretionary Housing Payment particularly if you are in contract and can't move to somewhere cheaper.

Otherwise, post your SOA on the Debtfree Wannabe forum - they are brilliant at helping with reducing expenditure (not just for those with debts)

Mersey_2

Yes, pm is right.


But do check whether you were moved correctly - this is only the case if your OH's UC claim was valid and appropriate. If eg he was wrongly told to claim UC by the JCP or online and he was in fact entitled to JSA, he should claim this [although I concede it is difficult, having assisted two claimants in 'escaping from the UC lobsterpot.' ]

seahorseboogie

Thank you both so much for reading my post and for your advice. I'm pretty sure the claim was valid unfortunately as we were referred to it by both the benefits helpline and local authority, because UC is being rolled out across our area now.

I've worked out our budget - after rent and essential bills are paid (not including transport) we are left, for a family of four, with £880 per month. Including DLA of £310 which is meant to be for my sons disability.
This £880 needs to cover :
Food and household items
Transport - we have no car
Any days out etc, activities with kids and presents.
Everything basically. Holidays, driving lessons, car etc are out of the question now, not that we ever had them.

This would be a very reasonable amount for a family of four I think, around 200 a week for food etc - were it not for my son's disability, which also means he can't share a room as well as needing a special diet and frequent taxis for meltdowns etc. I will head to the other forums though and ask for advice on how people manage!

Yes our rent is extortionate - we live in York and need a four bedroom house!

seahorseboogie

It really seems as if the whole move to universal credit is just a disguised form of taking money from the poor and disabled. I'm disgusted. I was all for it thinking it was just the same benefits in a different format to encourage people to work. You're doing a brilliant job helping people escape it.

seahorseboogie

P. S. We will try for a discretionary housing payment but I doubt we would get one because technically they will consider that £200 a week is plenty and not take into account my son's disability! Do not know how on earth we are going to afford this baby. Am I right in thinking we will receive no extra allowance for a third child now?

OhWow

seahorseboogie wrote: »

Do not know how on earth we are going to afford this baby. Am I right in thinking we will receive no extra allowance for a third child now?

No extra benefits for every baby you have anymore. That was announced years ago to make sure people already on benefits like Tax Credits and Houisng Benefit, reaslised this would be ending from April 2017. I think you will still be able to claim Child Benefit.

Can your husband take a second job? Or when the baby is born, you take a job to fit around your husbands work hours so that he can look after the children while you work? That's what parents used to do before Tax Credits were invented and they wanted more money. You working might affect your Carers Allowance, but your wage could mean you have more money coming in.It might be worth looking into.

Icequeen99

As others have said, if the claim for UC is right then it is possible the amounts are lower than tax credits. Lots of people will be worse off under UC, because the cuts announced in 2015 to tax credits were reversed but they remained in UC. It is worse where there are disabilities as the amounts in UC are generally lower.

You are also correct that you will not be paid for your new baby because you already claim for two children.

IQ

seahorseboogie

If I had knob about these changes we would never have claimed UC in the first place and just somehow scraped by on tax credits etc until my partner got a job. Ah well it might be for the best!

I will look into working when I'm done breastfeeding - I breastfed my other kids til they were nearly two but will not have the luxury with this baby. My partner already works full time and it's an hours walk to and from work. So I will have to take an evening job that starts at 8pm or a weekend job. It will help. However I've calculated that for every pound extra I earn we will only see 37p of it under the new scheme. It would be a tad demoralising to work say three hours at a pub each night knowing I was not technically being paid less than ten pounds for the shift! It's pocket money though and there are always tips.

Many thanks for all info and suggestions. It has been invaluable and at least reassuring to know they haven't got it wrong!