Tax Credits & UC

poppy12345

scousemanmark wrote: »

Hi, I am a bit confused here, won't I need to make a new tax credits claims to get child benefit as I thought CB was part of tax credits?

Child benefit isn't part of tax credits and this is usually paid to the mother. Do the children live with you or not?

calcotti

scousemanmark wrote: »

Hi, I am a bit confused here, won't I need to make a new tax credits claims to get child benefit as I thought CB was part of tax credits?

Child Benefit and Tax Credits are completely separate. When you said earlier that you were on your own I understood that to mean that your children were not living with you in which case you are not entitled to Child Benefit anyway. The advice in my previous post was on the basis that you lived alone.

If you do have a child (or children) living with you this makes comparing your existing benefits with what you might get on UC more complicated. If you have children living with you there would be extra money included in your UC (sort of replaces Child tax Credits), but in the case of one child this would mostly be offset by the loss of the Severe Disability premium you are getting in your ESA.

I infer that your ESA is £191.45/week, your Housing Benefit is the maximum amount permitted by LHA, your DLA amount depends on which components you have been awarded.

As you are getting the SDP I assume your wife has stopped her Carers Allowance claim.

scousemanmark

Sorry for the confusion yes my son lives with me.and my wife has stopped getting carers allowance.

calcotti

scousemanmark wrote: »

Sorry for the confusion yes my son lives with me.and my wife has stopped getting carers allowance.

Do you mind telling us how old your son is? I only ask in order know if he will be an adult soon.

scousemanmark

Yes he is 11. I have made a complaint to HMRC, regarding this situation not that I expect it to make much difference.

calcotti

So your existing situation is
ESA is £191.45/week
Housing Benefit = LHA rate for two bedrooms
DLA
Child Benefit for one child

If you claimed UC the DLA and CB will be unchanged. Your Housing Benefit will end but the housing cost element in UC will match your HB. Ignoring these the UC award for you would, I think, be:
single person allowance £317.82
LCWRA element (equivalent to ESA Support Group) £328.32
Child element (substitute for Child Tax Credit) £277.08
This totals £923.22/month which is equivalent to £213.05/week. If I’ve done this right, compared to the £191.45 of ESA, you would be better of under UC by £21.60/week. However you will have to go through the UC claim process etc.

It would be worth your while to check my calculation using an online benefits calculator such as https://www.entitledto.co.uk

Furthermore there is currently legislation being prepared to provide protection for people in receipt of SDP when migrating to UC. This means that if you wait until that legislation has been passed you could have a higher UC entitlement then than if you claim now. It may be worth waiting (but unfortunately this isn’t definite as the details haven’t been finalised).

I don't think you really have anything to complain to HMRC about, from what you have said they have applied the rules correctly.

scousemanmark

Thanks very much, @calcotti, for your clear breakdown. I think I would be inclined to just sit and wait as opposed to the daunting task of claiming UC which fills me with dread.

I don't suppose HMRC has done anything wrong, it is more to do with receiving incorrect information from DWP and the problems it has caused and considerable stress it is still causing.

Many Thanks