Not Eligible for Universal Credit

debtslave2024

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Do you live in the property you own?

Yes, I do.

Northern_Wanderer

debtslave2024 said:

I noted 2 possible issues. The calculator says the “The value of this property will be taken into account when working out your benefits.” I have no idea why the value of your house matters, mine is a small flat, not worth much by today’s standards. 

Did you select that you own propety that you do not currently live in? I think this may be part of your issue.

Spoonie_Turtle

debtslave2024 said:

I asked AI to assess my eligibility based on a document I provided it, with regards to universal credit, given I have been self employed over a year. This was the response:

Since you've been self-employed for over a year, your 12-month grace period has already ended. This means that Universal Credit will apply the Minimum Income Floor (MIF) to your claim.

How the MIF Affects Your Eligibility:

1. Assumed Earnings:

   • Instead of using your actual income (£600/month), Universal Credit assumes you earn at least the MIF amount.

   • For a single adult over 21, the MIF is typically based on 35 hours per week at minimum wage (currently £1735/month in 2024/25).

   • Even if you earn less, they will still count £1735/month as your income.

2. Impact on Universal Credit Calculation:

   • Since UC is means-tested, your benefit amount is reduced based on how much you "earn."

   • Because the MIF assumes you make £1735/month, this is likely too high for you to qualify for UC, even though your real income is much lower.

What Can You Do?

• Check if you qualify for an MIF exemption (e.g., health conditions or caring responsibilities can reduce the hours used to calculate the MIF).

• Request a reconsideration if you believe your business has genuine fluctuations in income.

• Look into other benefits, such as Council Tax Reduction (some councils apply a different MIF or don’t use it at all).

Don't use AI, it scrapes information from all sorts of parts of the internet and regurgitates it based in the input, it doesn't evaluate the veracity of anything nor the reliability of the sources.

It's wrong. 

New claims for UC get a 12month start-up period  (unless they've already had one previously within the last five years). 
And people can't request a reconsideration for a random month of lower earnings, if someone feels the MIF should be removed they need to be reviewed and no longer be deemed to be gainfully self-employed.  That then means they become a jobseeker and will have work search commitments to meet in order to receive their full UC entitlement.

If the benefit calculator is saying you're not entitled to UC because of savings/capital, that is where the problem is.  So, do you live in the property that you declared?

debtslave2024

Yes, I live in the property, and I cannot remember turn 2 us, asking anything about capital. I just asked how much my small property is worth, and then said property value would be included in benefits calculation (I have no idea why - to me it is irrelevant.)

debtslave2024

Northern_Wanderer said:

debtslave2024 said:

I noted 2 possible issues. The calculator says the “The value of this property will be taken into account when working out your benefits.” I have no idea why the value of your house matters, mine is a small flat, not worth much by today’s standards. 

Did you select that you own propety that you do not currently live in? I think this may be part of your issue.

I will try filling it in one more time this evening, and double check that bit. Thanks!

debtslave2024

I have tried yet again, and it looks like I may indeed have selected the wrong answer for do I live in the property. Supposedly I may be eligible for £114 a month, based on employment, which I think is most likely to end within 6 weeks. 

Thanks for all the ideas, I am going to lay off this one for the rest of the evening.

Newcad

Good to hear that you tracked it down.

With it saying - "Based on the information you have given us, you aren’t eligible to get Universal Credit because your savings or capital is too high.” - then it was always likely to be property (or savings/investments) that had been entered wrongly rather than anything to do with income.