UC and tax credits

aidy93

There must be a eligibility difference with regards to UC and tax credits.

We were getting weekly steady payments with tax credits. We were encouraged to move to UC. Now we get nothing

What can we do? 

calcotti

aidy93 said:

There must be a eligibility difference with regards to UC and tax credits.

We were getting weekly steady payments with tax credits. We were encouraged to move to UC. Now we get nothing

What can we do? 

The major difference is that there are no capital limits for Tax Credits whereas you are not eligible for UC if you have capital over £16,000. Is this the reason you are getting nothing?

Applying for UC has ended your entitlement to Tax Credits and you cannot go back. That is why the UC claim process includes a warning and advice to check likely entitlement before applying
https://www.universal-credit.service.gov.uk/register/legacy-to-uc-confirmation

From an old thread of yours I see that your problem goes back to last year when many people were prompted to apply for UC and at that time there was no warning. It was the fact that people like yourself lost benefit entitlement as a result of applying for UC that prompted the government to add the warning message - although they took a long time to do so. They have refused to take any measures to help people in your position - they say it is too complicated (although it's difficult to see why).

poppy12345

Some are worse off and some are better off. Did you use a benefits calculator before applying?

aidy93

No because we were encouraged to apply for UC.
My wife was forced to stop working because of the governments actions on covid.

So much for  "we are all in this together". Biggest load of crap ive heard 

poppy12345

Who encouraged you to claim UC? Is your wife working now? If she isn't has she looked into claiming New style JSA? Whether this is possible depends on her NI contributions in tax years April 2018 to March 2020. It pays £74.70 per week for 26 weeks.

aidy93

Local politicians, citizens advice, when my wife was not allowed to work there was a big push to get those onto universal credit.

My wife is a self employed childminder, i am full time employed

calcotti

poppy12345 said: Who encouraged you to claim UC? 

OP is a victim of very poor government advice at the start of the pandemic when politicians encouraged people to claim UC without warning them about the loss of existing benefits. Lots of people with no prior knowledge of benefits took government advice. OP is not alone in being caught out and I think it is disgraceful, but not surprising, that government refused to take any mitigating action. Although the refused to take responsibility the fact that they added clear warnings to the UC claim process later in 2020 is an implicit admission that the previous process was insufficiently clear. I can understand why OP is bitter about this.
See OP's thread from last year
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6268318/universal-credit-advance#latest

poppy12345

calcotti said:

poppy12345 said: Who encouraged you to claim UC? 

OP is a victim of very poor government advice at the start of the pandemic when politicians encouraged people to claim UC without warning them about the loss of existing benefits. Lots of people with no prior knowledge of benefits took government advice. OP is not alone in being caught out and I think it is disgraceful, but not surprising, that government refused to take any mitigating action. Although the refused to take responsibility the fact that they added clear warnings to the UC claim process later in 2020 is an implicit admission that the previous process was insufficiently clear. I can understand why OP is bitter about this.
See OP's thread from last year
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6268318/universal-credit-advance#latest

Thanks. Yes i know about all of that, i remember quite a few threads regarding it at the start of the first lockdown.  It just wasn't clear who encouraged them when the OP first posted.

calcotti

poppy12345 said:  It just wasn't clear who encouraged them when the OP first posted.

Agreed. I only picked up on OP's situation by looking at previous thread they started (which I don't usually do - you're better at that than me!) and inferred from that they were 'encouraged' by government statements at that time.