Council Tax reduction after moving from Tax Credits to Universal Credit

northboot

Hi, today I migrated from Tax Credits to Universal Credit. I'm self-employed, and I've filled in all the info required so far except for more proof of my rent payments to the landlord. 

It only let me upload 1 document which was the ongoing running Tenancy Agreement which is from 2015. It would not allow me to upload more evidence including proof of rent payments and a letter from the landlord confirming payments are up-to-date, so I've requested the ability in the journal to upload more forms. I'm assuming that's what I need to do. Totally new to this.

Seems strange I can only upload one document and not all the evidence.

My question is actually regarding Council Tax reduction. I already get a discount based on my current situation. Single occupier, low income, I usually supply them with my income info about once a year so they already have all my Tax Credit and income information.

What do I do now that I have been migrated over to Universal Credit? Do I need to tell them about this change myself?

With only applying today however I don't actually have any information from Universal Credit yet regarding the managed migration, so I have no info to give the Council at this point. I understand it takes about 5 weeks when first applying. I'm sure I remember ticking a box saying something like already having a council tax reduction, but I can't remember what it actually said now with not being able to go back and check after submitting the application.

I'm just wondering what I need to do next now.

Thanks

peteuk

Absolutely nothing - council tax deduction is through the council and has nothing to do with UC. 

Not sure why your reapplying mid CT tax year, your single so that would apply until your aren’t single.  Not sure which applies more of a discount single person or low income.  If you class UC as income then would it have not been better to do a change of circumstance once your got the UC claim out the way. 

northboot

Yeah, I'm just making enquiries. I'm not reapplying mid CT-tax year. I'm just unsure what to do next. I've got an appointment now next week with the Universal Credit people, so I'll ask them what the situation is once transferred over from Tax Credits to Universal Credit.

Spoonie_Turtle

northboot said:

Yeah, I'm just making enquiries. I'm not reapplying mid CT-tax year. I'm just unsure what to do next. I've got an appointment now next week with the Universal Credit people, so I'll ask them what the situation is once transferred over from Tax Credits to Universal Credit.

If by 'them' you mean UC, don't bother - they are unlikely to know about Council Tax and you may very well get incorrect advice (unfortunately many DWP workers will make something up instead of saying they don't know).

However if they 'them' you mean the council, great, that's the way to go.

Newcad

As you are a renter then if you were getting Housing Benefit UC will contact the council because your Housing Benefit also migrates to UC.

Even if you weren't claiming HB then the council should be informed by UC that you have now claimed UC, and will do their calculations for CT and any CTS you qualify for based on information that UC will then supply to them regularly.

There's an automatic computer system called ATLAS (Automated Transfer to Local Authority Systems) that shares the information between DWP/HMRC and the councils.

So there is nothing that you need to do at the council until the council contact you, but if do you want to contact the council yourself as a courtesy to let then know of the change then that's fine too.

PS. It's a while since I sent anything electronically to UC. but if I remember correctly I 'attached' all the documents, TA, rent statement, and currrent rent/service charges letter, that I need to send one by one, and then clicked to upload them in one go. (Of course that may have changed).
But not to worry, your note on the journal was the right thing to do. They would have eventually asked for them again anyway but the note on the journal should make it a bit quicker to get a link enabled so you can send the remainder.

northboot

Thanks for the info Newcad. Valuable information as always. I did get a reply from UC providing the upload option again to send through the rest of the rent information. I actually combined everything into a single PDF document to be safe.

Good to hear there is some communication going on between UC and the Council regarding the change of circumstance. There must be many thousands of people now being migrated who are unaware of this.

Thanks again.

Newcad

Its not just during migration, even after you are on UC the DWP, HMRC. and the Local Authority talk to each other over ATLAS, so you council knows just what you earn and what your benefits are to then calculate if you have any CTS due (or not).

Since I moved myself from ESA to UC I have not had to send the council anything, they have all the info they need from ATLAS.