UC Managed Migration Protection

atlantis187

When switching from tax credits to UC what different things do they give the 12 months protection for?

Is it given for having a second property?
is It given if u have over 16k in savings?
is it given for having over 6k in savings?

if during the 12 months ur circumstances change such as having under 6k in saving does the protection automatically end or does it run for full 12 months and then they assess you again at that time?

tomtom256

Top two, bottom one incurs tarrif income straight away, until you hit £16k and then stops. If you have £16k and then drop below that you get tarrif income, but if you then go over £16k again, UC will stop.

atlantis187

If any of them circumstances change within the 12 months does the protection stop straight away or does it continue till the 12 months are up?

peteuk

Sorry I was half way through typing this when my tablet lost power. 

If you are transitioning from TC to UC and for a number of reasons do not qualify for UC then your UC credit award will be zero, however you will have a transitional payment for up to 12 months. 

If you have more than £6K then your UC will be reduced by £4.35 for every £250 over the £6K ( this may have changed I cant find a date on the page I’ve taken it from) this continues until £16K where your UC will stop.   

If your circumstances change eg you go below one of the limits (£6K or £16K) then a decision maker will decide on if this is classed as deprivation.   Eg youve paid off debt or mortgage then its not classed as deprivation, if you buy a new car because your old one broke down then it is reasonable youd buy a car.   A second house with a mortgage is counted towards your capital (Current price - 10% - outstanding mortgage = capital.) 

If you havent transitioned to UC eg youve claimed UC before the forced transition then you dont get the 12 months transition period, equally there are other situations that will reduce the transition period.  Worth a google or look at the link below. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/completing-the-move-to-universal-credit/completing-the-move-to-universal-credit--2

atlantis187

So if we got transitions protection in the 12 months "protection period"  and we go over/below the 16k amount then the protection will end.

NedS

atlantis187 said:

So if we got transitions protection in the 12 months "protection period"  and we go over/below the 16k amount then the protection will end.

Correct. If you have over £16k on managed migration, the amount over £16k will be disregarded for up to 12 months.

If the amount falls below £16k within the 12 months, the capital disregard protection ends as there is no longer anything to disregard.

If your capital then increases again and goes over £16k, your entitlement to UC will end.

atlantis187

Is the protection just for saving over 16k or do u get it for over 6k aswell?
Do u get protection for your entitlement being lower on UC then you would have got on TC and if any circumstances change within the 12 month such as e.g no longer being entitled to carers allowance will the protection end in this instance?

Yamor

There are two separate protections, and you could be entitled to either one, or both.

One is for people who have capital over £16k, as was explained earlier in the thread.
This is limited to 12 Assessment Periods of UC.
As has been mentioned, if your capital goes below £16k, the protection will end, and if you subsequently go above £16k again, you will lose your entitlement.
However, if you always stay above £16k, then even if your capital increases much higher, you will still be protected. This leads to some interesting outcomes: if you started off with exactly £16k then an increase of 1p would end your entitlement, whereas if you started off with £16,000.01, then even an increase of £millions would be fine!

This protection does not apply to someone with over £6k, however the second type of protection could help in some cases.

The second protection attempts to ensure that your entitlement at the point of transfer is no lower on UC than it was on legacy benefits.
So, if the capital over £6k causes your UC entitlement to be lower than your legacy entitlement, or increases the deficit, then you will be protected by the addition of an extra transitional element to top up your UC.
This protection is not time-limited, but gets eroded over time if and when you become newly entitled to other UC elements, or the amount of another element increases (with the exception of childcare).

A change of circumstances such as losing entitlement to Carer’s Allowance will not affect either protection, however a sustained drop in earnings to below the AET (where earnings were above the AET in the first AP), or a change from a single claim to a joint claim or vice versa, will end the protections.