Migrating to UC problems

poppy12345

kaMelo said:

If deemed as spousal maintenance then it is classed as unearned income which would reduce your UC by 55 pence for every pound you receive.

Unearned income reduces UC £1 for £1. Only earned income reduces it by 55%, outside of the work allowance, if entitled to it.

I don't know if it would be disregarded for 12 months as part of TP but others may know.

Newcad

DressingDown said:

I applied a week ago and am currently being bombarded with messages and don’t feel well enough to comply 

That explains what is going on.

In the first month of migrating to UC there are all kinds of 'automatic' actions and messages generated by the computer, many/most of them are aimed at workers or jobseekers and do not apply to someone in a situation such as yours.

Unfortunately even though they don't apply to you they still get actioned, and messages sent to you automatically, including that phone call - the computer automatically said someone had to make it so they did, they would know nothing about the rest of your claim only asking what the computer was telling them to ask.

So despite your now getting a message saying that you have to look for work, once they have confirmation that you were/are on ESA then, in a few days or a week or two, you will get another message saying that you don't have to look for work.

All of this malarkey in the first month can be very confusing when you don't know why it's happening, and can be pretty distressing in some cases, but it does (usually) all get sorted out by the end of the first month and your first UC payment.

PS. I had exactly the same myself when claiming UC - firstly a journal note saying that I would have to look for work; then a week and a half later after they had confirmed things with ESA another saying that I didn't have to.
The problem is that it takes time for ESA to make that confirmation, and until they do then UC treats you as just another jobseeker.

DressingDown

poppy12345 said:

kaMelo said:

If deemed as spousal maintenance then it is classed as unearned income which would reduce your UC by 55 pence for every pound you receive.

Unearned income reduces UC £1 for £1. Only earned income reduces it by 55%, outside of the work allowance, if entitled to it.

I don't know if it would be disregarded for 12 months as part of TP but others may know.

Thank you for this. I really need to know if the “unearned income” / “spousal maintenance” will be taken off the UC during the first 12 months of transitional protection. Does anyone know please? 

If so, I will just stop the UC claim as I can’t deal with all the demands from them when I’m feeling this rubbish from chemo. 

Spoonie_Turtle

Transitional protection has two parts:
1. disregarding savings/capital over £16,000 that would ordinarily make someone ineligible for UC
2. A transitional protection element topping up the award if the notional UC award calculated is lower than your TC monthly amount. 

Now, I don't know if HMRC will have had the info about the potential spousal maintenance for the notional UC calculation as it wasn't relevant for TC.  I'm still not 100% sure how that transitional element works anyway - members have explained it, but it's just not sticking in my brain and it also depends on HMRC having the income figures to do it accurately in the first place.  So hopefully one of the more knowledgeable members will be able to explain, and maybe speculate what is likely to happen with your UC award.  But the above is why we can't just say yes or no to your question, because it's a separate type of protection from ignoring savings/capital.

TimeLord1

It's cases like this that leave people little faith in the system it needs a tick box if you are currently on ESA that stops the computer from generating the same process for each and every claim and a unqualified phone jockey ticking boxes to get a bonus for wrecking someone's life in a few clicks I would be livid and be fighting a system that was essentially attacking people. 

Yamor

HMRC won't have the information about the spousal maintenance, but UC should take it into account when calculating transitional protection, so you should be entitled to at least as much as you were getting on tax credits.

As it is an informal agreement, you could look to change the agreement with your ex so that it is child maintenance rather than spousal maintenance. If you only do this after your UC claim is up and running, then you could do significantly better than you are currently doing, as the transitional element will still be paid (it is based on circumstances at the point of transfer).

DressingDown

TimeLord1 said:

It's cases like this that leave people little faith in the system it needs a tick box if you are currently on ESA that stops the computer from generating the same process for each and every claim and a unqualified phone jockey ticking boxes to get a bonus for wrecking someone's life in a few clicks I would be livid and be fighting a system that was essentially attacking people. 

So will my ESA (cont) continue whether I claim
for UC or not? Or if I stop my UC claim, will the ESA (cont) finish? 

DressingDown

Yamor said:

HMRC won't have the information about the spousal maintenance, but UC should take it into account when calculating transitional protection, so you should be entitled to at least as much as you were getting on tax credits.

As it is an informal agreement, you could look to change the agreement with your ex so that it is child maintenance rather than spousal maintenance. If you only do this after your UC claim is up and running, then you could do significantly better than you are currently doing, as the transitional element will still be paid (it is based on circumstances at the point of transfer).

Thanks for your comment. I’m not sure I understand though. You mention that UC transitional is based on the circumstances “at the point of transfer”. So at the point of transfer (this moment) my ex pays me an amount for that I think will be viewed as “spousal maintenance” as the amount matches the mortgage amount that I have to then pay for the flat me and the kids live in. 

So won’t that go AGAINST me rather than FOR me?  “Spousal maintenance” is taken off the amount of UC I would otherwise receive. (Child maintenance is not) 

Yamor

DressingDown said:

Yamor said:

HMRC won't have the information about the spousal maintenance, but UC should take it into account when calculating transitional protection, so you should be entitled to at least as much as you were getting on tax credits.

As it is an informal agreement, you could look to change the agreement with your ex so that it is child maintenance rather than spousal maintenance. If you only do this after your UC claim is up and running, then you could do significantly better than you are currently doing, as the transitional element will still be paid (it is based on circumstances at the point of transfer).

Thanks for your comment. I’m not sure I understand though. You mention that UC transitional is based on the circumstances “at the point of transfer”. So at the point of transfer (this moment) my ex pays me an amount for that I think will be viewed as “spousal maintenance” as the amount matches the mortgage amount that I have to then pay for the flat me and the kids live in. 

So won’t that go AGAINST me rather than FOR me?  “Spousal maintenance” is taken off the amount of UC I would otherwise receive. (Child maintenance is not) 

Correct, it does go against you in your UC entitlement, but transitional protection is designed to protect you from that, and ensure you still get at least as much as you were getting on tax credits, despite having the spousal maintenance.

Say you were getting £500/month on tax credits, and on UC due to the spousal maintenance (and the deemed income from your capital), you are only entitled to £100.
Transitional protection will give you an extra element of £400/month to ensure you still get £500/month.

If your spousal maintenance then stops and is replaced with child maintenance, your UC entitlement before the extra element may go up to say £400/month. But you will them still get the extra £400 element, meaning your total entitlement would now be £800/month.

Spoonie_Turtle

DressingDown said:

TimeLord1 said:

It's cases like this that leave people little faith in the system it needs a tick box if you are currently on ESA that stops the computer from generating the same process for each and every claim and a unqualified phone jockey ticking boxes to get a bonus for wrecking someone's life in a few clicks I would be livid and be fighting a system that was essentially attacking people. 

So will my ESA (cont) continue whether I claim
for UC or not? Or if I stop my UC claim, will the ESA (cont) finish? 

Your ESA will continue regardless.