UC and Working Tax Credits

maxrpg123

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can help me with this, hopefully someone who is already on UC and getting Working Tax Credits.

about 18 months ago I was working 37 hours a week earning £17,000 year, my WTC claim was giving us (myself and my unemployed partner) around £60 a week.

Then my hours went down to 20 per week in order to fight off being made redundant and earning £10,000 year, obviously at this point I was no longer entitled to WTC because working under 30 hours. So my partner and I started claiming UC to help cover the bills etc.

NOW, I've just been given an increase in hours back to 37 hours a week and I understand I can no longer claim WTC separately because we're on UC.

My question is will WTC now be added to our existing UC claim, for arguments/example sake lets just say will £60 per week be added to our UC?

Hope that's easy to understand and someone can help me.

Thank you.

tomtom256

No it won't as they do not exist within UC, they will just recalculate your award based on any earnings disregard, if entitled and the usual earnings taper.

maxrpg123

Yeah I tried various benefit calculators online and they all said I'd get nothing. That to me seems a bit wrong and disappointing because how could I be entitled to £60 PW on working tax credits but now entitled to nothing because I'm on universal credit.

Seems like people on UC are getting a bum deal here.

calcotti

maxrpg123 wrote: »

Seems like people on UC are getting a bum deal here.

Some are better off, some are worse off.

In your situation the loss is the result of George Osborne’s decision to cut payments. He introduced measures to cut Tax Credits with similar cuts to UC. MPs rejected the cuts to Tax Credits but overlooked the changes to UC because very few people were on it at the time.

Rubyroobs

Are you sure some of that wasn't child tax credits ? Do you have children?

Robbie64

Rubyroobs wrote: »

Are you sure some of that wasn't child tax credits ? Do you have children?

If WTC was only paid when working 30+ hours it would be to claimants without children.

Rubyroobs

Robbie64 wrote: »

If WTC was only paid when working 30+ hours it would be to claimants without children.

Surely if op was earning 17k and had no children there is no way they would be getting £60 a week WTC ? Doesn't sound correct at all.

pmlindyloo

Rubyroobs wrote: »

Surely if op was earning 17k and had no children there is no way they would be getting £60 a week WTC ? Doesn't sound correct at all.

Agree.

OP has missed out some details about their situation or is confused about the benefits system.

maxrpg123

Nope not left out any information. No children, I was working but my partner wasn't and we weren't claiming any benefits other than WTC. The actual amount we were getting from working tax was £96 per week.

calcotti

maxrpg123 wrote: »

Nope not left out any information. No children, I was working but my partner wasn't and we weren't claiming any benefits other than WTC. The actual amount we were getting from working tax was £96 per week.

Was your income a lot lower the previous year?

Using entitledto.co.uk a couple with gross income of £17,000 would have a Working Tax Credit entitlement of £8.64/week (nothing under UC). Raises the possibility that you were previously being overpaid.

maxrpg123

I was unemployed for 2 years prior to starting new job in March 2017 and we were claiming WTC since then up until September 2018 when my hours were cut from 37 to 20. You are correct because according to HMRC we were overpaid by £500-something for that period which I believe was the delay in them processing my change of hours, takes 4-5 weeks or something.

We were entitled to £384 per month but were receiving it weekly at £96.