More than 2.5 million people to be moved onto universal credit from today, leaving 900,000 worse off

andrewmp

poppy12345 said:

andrewmp said:

calcotti said:

Managed migration currently only taking place in Bolton and Medway. (Sorry I can't post a link - the information is from a website not available without register access.)

https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/welfare-rights/news/item/dwp-confirms-managed-migration-of-legacy-benefit-claimants-to-universal-credit-to-begin-in-bolton-and-medway

Yes, i seen that but for the same reason calcotti said, i didn't post it because without members access you can't view it.

Yeah, just thought I would post the link so that people have confirmation (even if they can't access the article).

Here's another article that anyone can read:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/major-benefits-change-affect-bolton-111547485.html

How long are they limiting it to two sites for, do you know?

calcotti

andrewmp said:How long are they limiting it to two sites for, do you know?

I don't think they have said. All we know is that they intend to switch 500 claimants and then review.

sourpuss2021

Is there still a 5-week gap until first UC payment is made? 

In that article it says there is a 2-week "run-on" of housing benefit.   

So would someone transferring from HB to UC be 3 weeks of HB worse off (5 week wait minus two weeks where HB is still paid) or they would actually receive an extra 2 weeks (HB still paid for first two weeks that UC is paid)?

NedS

sourpuss2021 said:

Is there still a 5-week gap until first UC payment is made? 

In that article it says there is a 2-week "run-on" of housing benefit.   

So would someone transferring from HB to UC be 3 weeks of HB worse off (5 week wait minus two weeks where HB is still paid) or they would actually receive an extra 2 weeks (HB still paid for first two weeks that UC is paid)?

Where there is a 2 week run on, during those 2 weeks they are effectively being paid twice - once by HB and once again (albeit in arrears) by UC.

sourpuss2021

Thanks.  Also if your tenancy agreement is 5+ years old and doesn't show the current rent, will UC kick up a stink about getting you to prove your current rent.  Or since it's already been proved satisfactorily for the purposes of the ongoing HB claim they'll just take it as proven and use that amount?

I ask as my LL put up my rent in an offhand way by email without listing the full address of the property etc. I remember it taking a while (including sending proof of making the payment) till it was accepted by HB.

tifo

well, welcome to the nightmare that is universal credit. And, in my opinion, works for employed but totally against self employed and company directors, with it's own set of laws which are, in some instances, the opposite of other laws.

tifo

calcotti said:

jojaca said:

I feel Universal Credit is penalising people who save, 

The rules are no different to all previous DWP benefits. Tax Credits were the exception to benefits in ignoring capital. You can thank Labour for introducing them (Gordon Brown specifically).

 They did something right, it wasn't perfect for all. Tax credits were more for working people and treated employed and self employed roughly the same, unlike UC which penalises self employed and company directors. In my opinion of both.

poppy12345

sourpuss2021 said:

Thanks.  Also if your tenancy agreement is 5+ years old and doesn't show the current rent, will UC kick up a stink about getting you to prove your current rent.  Or since it's already been proved satisfactorily for the purposes of the ongoing HB claim they'll just take it as proven and use that amount?

That doesn't matter. What they want to see is liability to pay your rent. After the first year of a tenancy it usually becomes periodic anyway so you won't have another tenancy agreement.

sourpuss2021

poppy12345 said:

sourpuss2021 said:

Thanks.  Also if your tenancy agreement is 5+ years old and doesn't show the current rent, will UC kick up a stink about getting you to prove your current rent.  Or since it's already been proved satisfactorily for the purposes of the ongoing HB claim they'll just take it as proven and use that amount?

That doesn't matter. What they want to see is liability to pay your rent. After the first year of a tenancy it usually becomes periodic anyway so you won't have another tenancy agreement.

Yes but I was wondering if they might say proving liability to pay rent at the current level was not adequately documented.  Since the last time my rent went up it was just a one line email from LL without giving the address of the property.   However as I say it was accepted by HB once I could also supply proof of making the payment i.e. a receipt for the bank transfer.

OhWow

andrewmp said:

poppy12345 said:

calcotti said:

poppy12345 said:.. when they're invited to apply if their savings remain above £16,000 then it's ignored for 1 year.  

I’m not sure that is correct. Capital in excess of £16,000 is ignored. Logically therefore there will still be tariff income up to £16,000. However I don’t know if this is considered when calculating the transitional amount.

Ah ok, thanks. It would be interesting to know if the tariff income will apply because we'll be having even more threads about the transfer in the coming months.

Capital in excess of £16k is ignored in UC for 12 months, both for the financial conditions and tariff income. It is therefore also ignored when calculating any transitional element.

Capital up to £16k will lead to unearned income being included in the UC award immediately, but can also create (or increase) a transitional element.

Word for word that was said on https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/18241/P15 and they gave some links.

The post under that one has given an example of how this would work..