Migration to Universal Credit from Child Tax Credit - confused!

BargainJunky

We currently get a small amount of Child Tax Credit and have received the letter to migrate over the Universal Credit.  We get child benefit, husband works and we have savings over the £16K limit.

Is it actually worth moving over as although I keep reading about transitional protection for 12 months does husband working affect this.

We have started to fill in the forms and have linked our details but have still not come to a part where NI numbers or even the reference off the migration letter is added.  Have we done something wrong?

Rubyroobs

A UC application does not ask for NI numbers as far as I can remember. Earnings will reduce the total UC award so even if you ahve TP it could still mean you get nothing on UC.
If you still have in excess of 16k savings when your 12 month TP period is up then any UC would cease.

poppy12345

You have nothing to lose by claiming it because your Tax credits will end anyway. If there's entitlement they you will receive it. Capital of over £16,000 is ignored for 12 months for those migrating from TC. If during those 12 months your capital reduces to less than £16,000 and then increases back above it, entitlement will then end. 

michaels

You will get a deduction for the savings between 6000 and 16000 but they won't count any actual interest as income

BargainJunky

michaels said:

You will get a deduction for the savings between 6000 and 16000 but they won't count any actual interest as income

I was under the impression that savings were disregarded under transitional protection for the first 12 months - that was the only bit that made sense.  

michaels

BargainJunky said:

michaels said:

You will get a deduction for the savings between 6000 and 16000 but they won't count any actual interest as income

I was under the impression that savings were disregarded under transitional protection for the first 12 months - that was the only bit that made sense.  

Sadly not, ,savings over 16k are disregarded but the 6k - 16k is still taken into account and the UC reduced in proportion.  10k / 250 x £4.35 = £174 per month deduction.  Unlike WTC any actual  interest earned is not considered as income so swings and roundabouts.

Yamor

As noted above, only the capital over £16k is disregarded for 12 months. This is known as the "transitional capital disregard".

However, the £174 deduction from your benefit entitlement due to the savings between £6k and £16k will be taken into account when the other type of transitional protection is calculated. This is known as the "transitional element", and aims to top up your entitlement to ensure it is at least as much as you were entitled to on tax credits.

BargainJunky

I am still very confused and are now getting stressed out by it all.  Too much other stuff going on at the moment and to put it bluntly my bucket is full to the brim.  

Is there a scenario where someone could possibly transfer across and despite the transitional protection end up with nothing.  Child tax credits were around the £290 mark.

Husband works and although I would like to work current situation with teenage child and other close family members mean it would be difficult to say the least.  I do not claim carers allowance.  We have savings slightly over £16K (windows need replacing) and I now understand the savings over the limit is disregarded but some under it is not.  Is there a figure where husbands salary plus deductions for the savings could potentially mean nothing.

Sorry for all the questions just trying to pre-empt the possible loss and tighten the purse strings a bit more.

Newcad

BargainJunky said:

Is there a scenario where someone could possibly transfer across and despite the transitional protection end up with nothing.  Child tax credits were around the £290 mark.

... Is there a figure where husbands salary plus deductions for the savings could potentially mean nothing.

Yes, and No. (sorry but there are two questions there, and these things are never that clear cut).

No - There is no set 'Figure' as such, it depends on each claimant's (claimant couple's) circumstances.

Yes - It is possible that the deductions for income and for capital between £6K and £16K could be more than the UC entitlement, thus giving a zero UC payment due.

It's fairly simple to calculate what your 'normal' UC entitlement would be, what your deductions would be, and so what your payments would be.
It's less easy for anyone but the DWP to say with any certainty just what Transitional Protection you could/would get. (apart from the Savings Disregard for capital over £16K which is a fixed disregard) and having enough TP could then make the difference in getting some UC or not.

The only way to be actually sure of that is to make the UC claim (claims, both of you claim and then link them as a couple) and see just what your UC award/payment will calculate out at with any Transitional Protection.

If you then find that you have zero UC payment due, (or consider that what you get isn't worth it*), then you can simply close the UC.

*You should also note that unless you have young children, or a health condition that limits your capability to work, or are caring over 35 hours a week for someone (you don't have to be claiming Carers Allowance), or you earn above £1,189 per month between you, then you will almost certainly be expected to look for work while claiming UC.

That work search requirement in itself is putting many couples where one partner is 'stay-at-home' and doesn't work off migrating to UC if they believe that they would only be paid a small amount of UC.

Mama3

We are currently going through the TaxC to UC transition. There are some benefit checkers online that can help you find out if you will receive anything, Eg turn2us 
I’m a part time student so we couldn’t use the calculator so we decided to just try and see what happens.

Be prepared to go for id checks at the local job centre and to regularly check your online UC account. We now need to just check it monthly and enter our income for that month. 

We found the job centre staff helpful and understanding of our circs. 

It has felt a bit frustrating at times and we still don’t actually know if we’ll receive any financial support.
Whilst there have been numerous times where I have wondered if it’s all worth it… if we do get some financial help that will be great and if we don’t at least we’ve tried!