Will my Universal Credit claim be closed?

Johnm2019

Hello

I currently work 35 hours a week and get about 1300 a month. My partner has been on maternity pay the past 9 months and just got her last pay.  We moved into rented accommodation from a private landlord in December, and have been getting an entitlement of about 1400 a month including 698 LHA, and 230 child element.

I started my new job Jan 7th and got my first wage of 280 pounds as I only worked a week before the pay cut off point. So that month we were given 880 universal credit, as my partner got about 570 maternity pay.  This month she got her last pay which was 700, and I have been given 1900 as I got a 510 tax rebate included in my wages.  Now that means we will get 0 this month universal credit  which is fine as we have enough for our rent and Bill's etc.  But I am terrified that we wont be able to claim again, from now it will just be me getting a wage as my partner is a stay at home mum with our 8 month child as she has just let work know she wont be returning.And I will earn 1300 a month. Can I reclaim? Will they close my claim straight away when they see we got about £2600 this month. If anyone could help I'd be very grateful!

Thank you

Mrsn

It’s likely it will close with those figures quoted. However you will be able to do a rapid reclaim through your journal afterwards to get the claim back up and running.... this means you keep the same assessment periods and pay dates as before.

calcotti

As Mrsn says, if your claim is closed you will be able to to a rapid reclaim through your journal. You will both need to do this.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/claiming/reapply-for-universal-credit/
One thing to note is that all details of the closed claim will be deleted from your journal when you do the reclaim so if you want a record of anything make sure you take screen shots or print it out before doing the reclaim.

[Deleted User]

Surely it won’t be 0 if your getting the child element? Or do they not class that? 

poppy12345

MarkN88 said:

Surely it won’t be 0 if your getting the child element? Or do they not class that? 

Yes, it will because earnings affect the amount of UC you're entitled to. The more you earn during an assessment period, then less money you receive.

calcotti

MarkN88 said:

Surely it won’t be 0 if your getting the child element? Or do they not class that? 

If the monthly entitlement is £1400 (which from opening post includes the child element) then earnings of £2600 will be just over the amount that will result in a nil entitlement for that month.

£2600 - £287 (Work Allowance) = £2313
earnings deduction = £2313 x 63% = £1457.

jobseeking_help

If your earnings exceed your entitlement to benefit then expect your UC claim to close each month this happens. This period regarding claim closure has changed over time. At the outset of UC claims generally remained open for up to 3 months or more when earnings exceeded entitlement. This period has gradually shortened. It can depend on how zealous your jobcentre / benefit centre is. 

calcotti

jobseeking_help said:

If your earnings exceed your entitlement to benefit then expect your UC claim to close each month this happens. 

That statement is misleading. It is the earnings deduction that matters and this is less than the actual earnings. If earnings exceed the maximum UC entitlement it is still possible to have some UC entitlement depending on the amounts involved. In this case, based on the figures posted by OP, there will be nil entitlement as indicated in my previous post.

The DWP rules now say that if there is nil entitlement in any assessment period the claim should be closed except when a Work Capability Assessment is in process. It is true, however, that this doesn’t always happen.