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Moving from Job Seekers to Universal Credit
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Roundhay23
Posts: 24 Forumite
A single friend is claiming Job Seekers Allowance and is also receiving Housing Benefit. He is keen on claiming Universal Credit instead. There doesn't seem to be any financial benefit to him in doing so as it seems he will get the same amount of money each month. If he were to make a claim for Universal Credit is there a better date on which to do this ?. He signs every fortnight for his JSA and is paid 4 days later. It has been suggested by the Job Centre that he make his claim for Universal Credit the day after he signs on next. I assume that this is because he will then get his JSA payment 4 days later. However if he does make a Universal Credit the day after he signs will the JSA paid to him be deducted from his Universal Credit?
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Comments
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Can’t see why he would want to do that but . . .
The JSA will not be deducted. However there are cash flow issues to think about. Housing Benefit will continue for two weeks after the UC claim is made But the first UC payment will not be until 5 weeks after the claim is made. He could request an advance but will have to pay this back over the next 12 months by deduction from future payments so would then be receiving less money than currently. If he has some savings to help bridge the gap this would not be an issue.
He will also have to manage his money on a monthly rather than fortnightly basis.
I’d he waits until after 22 July he would get a two week run on of JSA to overlap the UC claim because the regulations are changing.Information I post is for England unless otherwise stated. Some rules may be different in other parts of UK.0 -
If he's going to be no better off my advice would be to steer clear of UC. At present he gets his JSA every two weeks in arrears. UC is paid monthly in arrears. I fail to see any positive benefit of making a UC claim.0
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On JSA he is expected to show that he has done a minimum of 2 or more things weekly to find work.
On UC he might need to show he has done Jobseeking for 35 hours weekly.0
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