Confused about claiming benefits

[Juicyfrooty]

I'm in the unfortunate position of trying to navigate the benefits system today, can anyone help

DP is self employed and has no work from today, his construction site has closed. He also has Asthma.

The turn2us calculator has said he should also get ESA if you cant work because you are suffering with coronavirus symptoms OR following NHS guidelines, which he would be by staying at home. Is this right?

I am zero hours and have had approx 4-6 hours work a week the past 2 weeks and this is likely to reduce further. My employer is being useless about deciding whether to furlough staff and claim their wages.

Also we have a current tax credits claim although havent received any payments for a while because we had an overpayment we are paying back, so should I contact tax credits to update them and see what we are entitled to or do I just need to make a new UC claim?

I'm trying to avoid spending hours on hold to multiple different places.

Thanks

Hi, I advise on benefits (among other things).

Do you rent or have a mortgage?

You and your DP should claim Universal Credit. I advise you to do so ASAP because it can't be backdated. You can also claim Council Tax Reduction.

I don't think ESA is relevant in this particular case as your DP is not unwell (assuming that his asthma is currently being managed and not preventing him from working) but if he did become unwell he would be able to claim new-style ESA, provided he paid NI in 2017-2019. The amount of ESA he got would be deducted from his Universal Credit so it would all work out as the same amount anyway.

If there is an outstanding tax credits overpayment they will make some deductions from the UC.

Sorry to barge in on your thread @Juicyfrooty but @AnotherEmma can I just ask, do you claim council tax reduction separate from UC?

Yes

Will they still claw back the overpayment if we are literally living off UC, wont they be able to put that on hold for a bit?

This is going to ruin us

There will be a small deduction.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/problems-with-your-payment/if-your-payment-is-stopped-or-reduced/#h-if-you-ve-had-an-overpayment

Also the standard allowance for UC is going up on 6th April so that should help.

We only pay £10 Week back now, by that calculation they would take more back from us when we have virtually no income

"For example - if your payment is reduced by 15% of your standard allowance and your standard allowance is usually £317.82 a month, your total payment will be reduced by £47.67."

That's only slightly more than £10/week which is £43.33/month.

If you find that the deductions are too high and you don't have enough to live on, you can ask for them to be reduced.

Self employed here - customers cancelling. Tax credit claim running due to too many dc for UC... Not sure what to do..

Do a better off calculation yourself using entitledto and/or Turn2us. Or you could try contacting citizens advice and they'll do the calculation for you, but be warned we're inundated atm and working at reduced capacity.

“Statutory self-employment pay
(1) The Secretary of State must, by regulations made by statutory
instrument, introduce a scheme of statutory self-employment pay for
those whose work has been impacted as a result of the coronavirus.
(2) The scheme must make provision for payments to be made out of
public funds to individuals who are—
(a) self-employed, or
(b) freelancers.
(3) Regulations made under subsection (1) may define the meanings of
“self-employed” and “freelancers” in subsection (2).
(4) The payments to be made under subsection (2) are to be set such that
the gross monthly earnings of an individual specified in subsection (2)
do not fall below—
(a) 80 per cent of their gross monthly earnings, averaged over the
previous 3 years (or if records do not date back 3 years, the
monthly net earnings averaged for the period records are
available), or
(b) £2,500,
whichever is lower.
(5) No payment made under subsection (2) shall exceed £2,500 per month.
(6) Regulations made under subsection (1) may provide that payments
made under subsection (2) must be paid back via self-assessment if the
payments were made in error.
(7) A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section is
subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of
Parliament.”

You are all welcome