Switching from tax credits to UC

[Bemyclementine]

How long did your UC claim take to go into payment?

I've had the letter, but the deadline date us blank so I need to call up about that. UC due tomorrow. So thinking to put in my UC claim Friday.

I get CTC and WTC.

Should I expect to "miss" a payment? When it does go into payment will it backdate so there's no gap from TC to UC?

We had our last TC payment ( also CTC &WTC) over 4 weeks ago. We have been summoned for an appointment next Friday at the job centre, I’ve had to write in my journal that I can’t attend as I will be working. No clue when we will be getting a payment or if it will happen before I am able to attend. It’s terrifying.

We used to get ctc paid weekly. We claimed UC the day after a ctc payment and we got our first UC payment exactly 5 weeks later. We did switch before we were asked to as we knew it was coming and wanted to do it at a time that suited us and we were also worried the backlog would be huge if we waited to be told to do it. This was back in march.

When I haven't been able to meet due to working I have arranged a phone appointment and they have called me instead.

I’ve had the letter to switch too. Really nervous about it. One thing I haven’t worked out is if I’ll still get free prescriptions on UC as they really help us!

@UCBaffled oh god. It's so worrying. I hope you get a payment soon.

@Probablynamechangefail that's encouraging. Mine comes 4 weekly so I'm hoping I won't be too long without a payment.

The online calculators indicate I will get quite a bit more of UC, I'm not convinced though!

@Hermanfromguesswho I don't know about that, i also have a medical exemption. It's a godsend (apart from the actual lifelong medical condition!)

I wished I'd changed to UC earlier. Been a FT student for 4 years. Was getting £280 a month on TC. Get double that on UC. Switchover was easy and staff are really helpful. You can also apply for an advance to tide you over in the switchover.

I read some advice elsewhere on MN about being mindful of your first UC claim date, because TC are paid 4 weekly and UC is paid pcm? So the 'payment periods' are different (i.e. can end up being unfair).

So the advice was don't claim UC at the end of the month, but within the first 28 days of a month.

I'll see if I can find a link that explains it better.

Ring the help to claim service. Make sure you aren’t going to penalise yourself because of a larger payslip for example.