When is the soonest I can claim Universal Credit?

bkmla

On 14 August my friend's employer, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, terminated his contract of employment on the grounds of lack of competence due to ill health. This was by mutual agreement.

He is, at present, in receipt of New Style Employment Support Allowance. He has completed Form ESA 50 and waiting to be assessed.

He now wishes to, at the earliest opportunity, claim Universal Credit for assistance with housing costs and Council Tax Reduction to help with payment of Council Tax.

He has been advised that pay due from 26 July to 14 August (plus holiday pay owed) will be paid into his bank account on 29 August.

From doing a Google on Universal Credit, I note that you are not allowed to claim until after your last payment of salary.

However, if he makes a claim on 30 August, this means that there's a gap between the end of his employment and when he is paid his wages. This means that for the period 15 August to 29 August, he will have no earnings, but be unable to claim Universal Credit.

In light of this, does he have to wait until 30 August to make a claim for Universal Credit, or can he do so sooner?

And when is the soonest he can claim Council Tax Reduction?

For your information, this is an excerpt from a letter from his employer, dated 26 April:

'You are entitled to payment for your notice period of 12 weeks' notice, which will be. paid on full pay. Your period of notice will commence from the day after the hearing i.e. 23rd April 2024. Having declined a lieu of notice payment you will receive your notice period payment over a period up to a maximum of 3 months with your last payment being made during the month of August 2024. You are also entitled to receive payment for any outstanding annual leave. Your entitlement is based on the number of days leave taken in the current leave year and the statutory maximum entitlement where appropriate. This amounts to 173.75 hours. Please note that your date of termination will therefore be 14th August 2024 to facilitate payment of annual leave however your P45 will reflect your last working day of 16th July 2024.'

Rubyroobs

If he is confident that hos last wages will wipe out any UC entitlement then he should wait until a couple of days after his last wages are paid. he should also make sure he is not later paid any owed holiday pay etc. 
New stye ESA is deducted in full from UC. 

Spoonie_Turtle

It's not that he's not allowed to claim before his last wages, it's that they'll result in a deduction and quite often that leaves someone with very little or no money for a longer time than if they waited to claim.

He should do a couple of benefits calculations, one with his likely wages and holiday pay, and one without, to see the difference and work out whether it is worth waiting.

https://www.entitledto.co.uk/
https://benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk/

(Not much help now but if he'd taken the PILON - assuming it would have been the same total amount just in a lump sum - he could have claimed UC sooner without deductions being made for wages.  He maybe doesn't need to know that as there's nothing he can do about it now, but I'm writing it for anyone else reading who might find it helpful to know.)

peteuk

He can claim the following day, this would become the start of his assessment period, which will finish the day before this day in the next month.

So paid 29 Aug, then claim 30 Aug.  Claim period will be 30 Aug - 29 Sept and payment betweeen 5-7 days later.  If he claims before his pay date on 29 Aug, his UC will be reduced by 55p for every £1 wage recieved.

bkmla

When is the soonest my friend can claim Council Tax Reduction?

poppy12345

Due to expecting earnings at the end of the month, they may want to wait until after then to claim CTR because the earnings will affect entitlement. 

8dayweek

Have you done a calculator to check UC entitlement? 

What a faff to drag out your notice period so far. Is New Style ESA actually in payment at this point?