Self employed scheme and UC

beeeb525

I followed the chancellor's advice on self employment and applied for universal credit. Now i am eligible for the self employed grant. I've been told it will affect my UC payment. I receive £409 universal credit a month, £93.00 housing benefit a week although my rent is £128.00 per week.  Does anyone know the cap threshold for earnings on universal credit. Is it worth applying for the grant. Financially I am struggling 

poppy12345

When you receive your grant it will reduce your UC to zero for that month.

beeeb525

Thank you. Not sure if you can answer this. The grant covers 3 months but paid in one payment. Do you think it will be 0 payment forgone month or 3 months. 

poppy12345

Earnings affect UC in the month they are received, so for 1 month, unless your grant is more than £2500 and then the following months UC will also be affected.

calcotti

beeeb525 said:

I followed the chancellor's advice on self employment and applied for universal credit. Now i am eligible for the self employed grant. I've been told it will affect my UC payment. I receive £409 universal credit a month, £93.00 housing benefit a week although my rent is £128.00 per week.  Does anyone know the cap threshold for earnings on universal credit. Is it worth applying for the grant. Financially I am struggling 

You say Housing Benefit. Are you referring to the housing element of UC making your UC about £812/month or are you in supported accommodation meaning that you are getting Housing Benefit separately to UC?

For UC, as poppy says, the SEISS is taken account of in the month it is received. Depending on the size of the grant atet may result in no UC for that month. If the grant is more than £2500 plus the amount that would nil your UC there will be surplus earnings which would impact the following month also.

There is no fixed cap for UC it depends on how your UC award is made up.

If you only get UC I cannot think of a situation where you are worse off overall as a result of applying for the grant. If you are getting HB separately I'm not sure how the grant will be treated for calculating HB.

Jeremy535897

calcotti said:

beeeb525 said:

I followed the chancellor's advice on self employment and applied for universal credit. Now i am eligible for the self employed grant. I've been told it will affect my UC payment. I receive £409 universal credit a month, £93.00 housing benefit a week although my rent is £128.00 per week.  Does anyone know the cap threshold for earnings on universal credit. Is it worth applying for the grant. Financially I am struggling 

You say Housing Benefit. Are you referring to the housing element of UC making your UC about £812/month or are you in supported accommodation meaning that you are getting Housing Benefit separately to UC?

For UC, as poppy says, the SEISS is taken account of in the month it is received. Depending on the size of the grant atet may result in no UC for that month. If the grant is more than £2500 plus the amount that would nil your UC there will be surplus earnings which would impact the following month also.

There is no fixed cap for UC it depends on how your UC award is made up.

If you only get UC I cannot think of a situation where you are worse off overall as a result of applying for the grant. If you are getting HB separately I'm not sure how the grant will be treated for calculating HB.

Make sure you pay as many legitimate business expenses as you can in the UC assessment period in which you receive the grant.

martin0200

Sorry if this has already been covered but I'm still a little confused.
I'm self-employed but my work is provided by a company that closed due to Covid19 on the 27th March. Therefore I have had no income since that date. I recently applied for Universal Credit as things were getting really difficult. I was eligible for this and was told I would receive my first payment in early June. I've also, today, claimed my Self Employed grant and been told I should receive it in as little as 6 days. My question is, will I still get the UC payment or will that now be quashed due to the grant payment? Obviously I will inform the UC dept that I've received the claim. Any help would be great. Thank you for your time. Martin
By the way, I have already received an advance payment of £100. Will I have to pay that back? The company is hoping to resume trading on or around 1st to the 8th June

Jeremy535897

SEISS is income and should be declared as part of your overall income and expenses in the assessment period you receive it. Depending on the figures, it might reduce that month's UC to zero (and possibly the following month), but if that happens, make sure you do a rapid reclaim to keep your UC open (if they close it, which they are not normally doing at the moment).

martin0200

Thank you for your reply. So basically what you are saying is that if I am receiving SEISS then that will take me over the threshold for UC and I won't receive it or I may receive it but will then have to repay it.

poppy12345

martin0200 said:

Thank you for your reply. So basically what you are saying is that if I am receiving SEISS then that will take me over the threshold for UC and I won't receive it or I may receive it but will then have to repay it.

Depending on how much grant you receive and what expenses you report on your journal then yes it may reduce your UC to zero.

martin0200

Sorry, but is that for the period from 27th March until now or from now on?