Would I be better off changing to Universal Credit from Tax Credits?

calcotti

Jobfromhome said:

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Jobfromhome said:

poppy12345 said:

Please do not submit the claim until you are 100% sure it’s correct because your tax credits will end as advised. It will not give you an amount when you apply. You will only know how much you’re entitled to when you receive your first statement. £380 per week does sound rather a lot. 

i must of done something wrong

Did you perhaps include all of your children living at home, regardless of age?  Your eldest doesn't count as a dependent so you wouldn't get the child element for them AND you'd have the deduction for them.

Edit: also do you rent privately or socially?

we are housing association

Forgot to ask that earlier - in that case the Local Housing Allowance doesn’t apply. Is your actual rent £560?

yes 140 a week

£140/week is not £560/month because there are more than 4 weeks in a month. If you are charged £140/month then the monthly equivalent is £606.66/month. How many bedrooms do you have?

we have 3 bedrooms

No spare bedrooms then! I used £560 for the housing element in my calculation, if I now use £606 that will increase the UC amount to £1496/month equivalent to £345/week.

Jobfromhome

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Jobfromhome said:

poppy12345 said:

Please do not submit the claim until you are 100% sure it’s correct because your tax credits will end as advised. It will not give you an amount when you apply. You will only know how much you’re entitled to when you receive your first statement. £380 per week does sound rather a lot. 

i must of done something wrong

Did you perhaps include all of your children living at home, regardless of age?  Your eldest doesn't count as a dependent so you wouldn't get the child element for them AND you'd have the deduction for them.

Edit: also do you rent privately or socially?

we are housing association

Forgot to ask that earlier - in that case the Local Housing Allowance doesn’t apply. Is your actual rent £560?

yes 140 a week

£140/week is not £560/month because there are more than 4 weeks in a month. If you are charged £140/month then the monthly equivalent is £606.66/month. How many bedrooms do you have?

we have 3 bedrooms

No spare bedrooms then! I used £560 for the housing element in my calculation, if I now use £606 that will increase the UC amount to £1496/month equivalent to £345/week.

have you used all the information I gave? do you think you have got the figures right im so scared to apply incase im totally wrong.

calcotti

Jobfromhome said:

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

so its not looking like the figure I got was correct at all?

My rough calculation quoted above is broadly similar if your figure was the combined UC and CB and was based on 4 children.

that is a little more than we get now, like I say we get 233 a week at the moment

It’s a lot more then isn’t it. £233 existing (Tax Credits and CB) compared to about £400 (with UC and CB). The difference is the help with rent plus the £20 COVID uplift.

Jobfromhome

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

so its not looking like the figure I got was correct at all?

My rough calculation quoted above is broadly similar if your figure was the combined UC and CB and was based on 4 children.

that is a little more than we get now, like I say we get 233 a week at the moment

It’s a lot more then isn’t it. £233 existing (Tax Credits and CB) compared to about £400 (with UC and CB). The difference is the help with rent plus the £20 COVID uplift.

yes thats what i cant get my head around the difference in award. we could of missed out for years, I didnt apply as people were saying UC you were worse off.

calcotti

Jobfromhome said:

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

so its not looking like the figure I got was correct at all?

My rough calculation quoted above is broadly similar if your figure was the combined UC and CB and was based on 4 children.

that is a little more than we get now, like I say we get 233 a week at the moment

It’s a lot more then isn’t it. £233 existing (Tax Credits and CB) compared to about £400 (with UC and CB). The difference is the help with rent plus the £20 COVID uplift.

yes thats what i cant get my head around the difference in award. we could of missed out for years, I didnt apply as people were saying UC you were worse off.

The reason you’ve missed out is because you never applied for Housing Benefit in years gone by but were possibly entitled. You can no longer do that and have to claim UC to get help with rent.

Jobfromhome

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

so its not looking like the figure I got was correct at all?

My rough calculation quoted above is broadly similar if your figure was the combined UC and CB and was based on 4 children.

that is a little more than we get now, like I say we get 233 a week at the moment

It’s a lot more then isn’t it. £233 existing (Tax Credits and CB) compared to about £400 (with UC and CB). The difference is the help with rent plus the £20 COVID uplift.

yes thats what i cant get my head around the difference in award. we could of missed out for years, I didnt apply as people were saying UC you were worse off.

The reason you’ve missed out is because you never applied for Housing Benefit in years gone by but we’re possibly entitled. You can no longer do that and have to claim UC to get help with rent.

thats another thing how are we entitled to help with rent?

calcotti

Jobfromhome said:

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

calcotti said:

Jobfromhome said:

so its not looking like the figure I got was correct at all?

My rough calculation quoted above is broadly similar if your figure was the combined UC and CB and was based on 4 children.

that is a little more than we get now, like I say we get 233 a week at the moment

It’s a lot more then isn’t it. £233 existing (Tax Credits and CB) compared to about £400 (with UC and CB). The difference is the help with rent plus the £20 COVID uplift.

yes thats what i cant get my head around the difference in award. we could of missed out for years, I didnt apply as people were saying UC you were worse off.

The reason you’ve missed out is because you never applied for Housing Benefit in years gone by but we’re possibly entitled. You can no longer do that and have to claim UC to get help with rent.

thats another thing how are we entitled to help with rent?

It’s part of the UC calculation. Before that HB was a separate benefit which was means tested based on circumstances.

poppy12345

UC is made up of different elements which includes the housing element. Some will be worse off and others better off. Had you used a benefits calculator in the past you would have seen the difference or maybe even entitled to some housing benefit in the past but never applied. 

Jobfromhome

poppy12345 said:

UC is made up of different elements which includes the housing element. Some will be worse off and others better off. Had you used a benefits calculator in the past you would have seen the difference or maybe even entitled to some housing benefit in the past but never applied. 

im sure we have tried through tax credits but it didnt give us any

as my husband is full time on 25k a year, we never thought we could get help with rent.

poppy12345

Jobfromhome said:

poppy12345 said:

UC is made up of different elements which includes the housing element. Some will be worse off and others better off. Had you used a benefits calculator in the past you would have seen the difference or maybe even entitled to some housing benefit in the past but never applied. 

im sure we have tried through tax credits but it didnt give us any

Tax credits do not include help with any rent. It’s completely different to UC. Before UC started any help would have come under housing benefit which was from your local council.