Last years income for Universal Credits

campbeji

Hi all,
My wife and I are self employed but all of our work has gone away due to the Covid-19 situation.  We have applied for Universal Credits and expect our first payment next week.  To get this payment I had to report our earnings over the last month, which is fair enough and what I expected.  It wasn't too much of a chore as there wasn't a lot to do for it, due to the lack of work.  They have now asked me for our income for the previous 12 months, and despite asking why, I don't understand why they need this.  Our book keeping isn't up to date and it will be a lot of work in a short period of time to get it into a state where I can get the info they want.

Does anyone know why I need to report my last years income for a new Universal Credit claim?

Many Thanks
Jim

Mrsn

I can’t remember the exact reasoning I’m afraid but I do recall having to exactly the same thing when I applied for UC. Because it’s on your to do list it will have to be completed I’m afraid.

calcotti

I believe it’s because previous earnings are relevant for determining whether the benefit cap applies. However this could only be an issue if your benefit entitlement is high.
https://www.gov.uk/benefit-cap

campbeji

Thanks for the replies.

So I ended up talking to the guy from UC.  The last 13 months income needs to be submitted, but they said an approximate amount would be OK.  He told me that the income will not affect the amount I will get.  I asked what they needed it for and the response was along the lines of 'We need to check your previous income to make sure that you didn't have a big income that you are depriving yourself of to make a claim', It makes no sense to me and I got the impression that he didn't really know either.  I have submitted my estimates now and will wait and see what happens.

Jim

calcotti

campbeji said:

Thanks for the replies.

So I ended up talking to the guy from UC.  The last 13 months income needs to be submitted, but they said an approximate amount would be OK.  He told me that the income will not affect the amount I will get.  I asked what they needed it for and the response was along the lines of 'We need to check your previous income to make sure that you didn't have a big income that you are depriving yourself of to make a claim', It makes no sense to me and

It does make sense. If you had earned £100.000 in the last year and said you only had £50 in the bank they might ask how you spent the money in order to check that you hadn't simply given it away in order to claim benefit. However I wasn't aware that they usually asked that.