WTC or UC?

Charityworker

Please answer me a question which I cant seem to find the answer to anywhere. I work full time self employed. My husband was full time until 2 days ago when his hours were dropped down to 6 a week. We are already in receipt of a very small amount of WTC and have been on it for 7 years. We are in a Universal Credit area. So do i just contact WTC and say my husbands hours have changed or do we have to come off WTC altogether and move over to UC? Were going to have to have help with paying the rent too.

Alice_Holt

Is it a full or live UC area?

The issue that will potentially move you to UC is help with the rent.
In a full UC area it's likely you won't be able to claim HB and will have to claim UC instead.
Do you have children, and how many?
Do you have savings over £16k?

https://www.welfare-benefits-unit.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/What-triggers-a-claim-for-Universal-Credit-in-a-full-service-area.pdf

https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/changes_that_trigger_Universal_Credit

Before applying for UC you might wish to seek advice, and / or put your changed circumstances in a benefits calculator:
https://www.entitledto.co.uk/benefits-calculator/Intro/Home?cid=39c463bb-87b9-4358-a6da-8c6f6e475b72

https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/AboutYou

Charityworker

Thanks for your reply. Yes it is a full live UC area. Are children are all grown up. One is at uni and the other lives with us and is on esa. I put all my details into entitled to and it still wouldnt give me the answer as to whether we stay on wtc and apply for hb or whether we move over to uc.

poppy12345

Charityworker wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. Yes it is a full live UC area. Are children are all grown up. One is at uni and the other lives with us and is on esa. I put all my details into entitled to and it still wouldnt give me the answer as to whether we stay on wtc and apply for hb or whether we move over to uc.

As Alice stated if your area is a full UC area area and you need to claim HB then you will have to claim UC. Check your area here.
https://ucpostcode.entitledto.co.uk/ucdate

Charityworker

Do i carry on with wtc and have it topped up by uc or come off wtc and onky get uc?

Alice_Holt

If you claim UC, your WTC will stop.

Charityworker

Thanks for your replies. Please forgive the questions. Its been a long time since we had to apply for benefits.

WillowCat

If neither of you are working 30 hours a week or more then you'd have to cease your WTC claim anyway.

Be aware that the self employment rules for UC are pretty harsh. If you have been self employed for over a year they will assume that you will be making an income (after expenses) of approximately £1100 a month, regardless of how much you actually make. This is called the minimum income floor. If, however, your business makes a lot less, and depending on the type of business, you may be able to convince them that it is a hobby type business and not your main job. In that case you can be found to be 'not gainfully self employed' and only have to declare your actual earnings. You would however have to jobsearch unless your hubby is earning more than £541 a month.