How long to do universal credit application online when transferring from tax credits?

[Icecoldtulip]

Is it quick and simple? Or do you have to collate a load of info? Can you save and come back to it later? Thanks

There is alot to fill in but you once you have created the account you can do it in stages.
We also had to go the the job centre to confirm our ID.
The whole process wasn't user friendly!

Thanks. Have about 30 mins this evening so will get some of it done. Was hoping that as tax credits have all our info we wouldn’t have to provide much more and it would be quick.

It took me about 90 mins. Then I locked myself put of my government gateway account so I had to prove my ID at the job centre a few days later.

Your tax credits will stop the moment you hit submit. It takes about five weeks for you to get your UC payment. They will offer you an "advance" (debt) if you need it.

Don't submit close to your usual payday as due to bank hols / weekend dates you might end up with two paydays in one period and not be awarded any UC that month. Makes things more fiddly.

Is it much more complicated than tax credits? I’ve heard that you need to put your income in every month? Is that true? We are self employed so not going to make things easy. Much better to do annual income.

I don't input my wages manually as hmrc calculate based off earnings declared by employer through your national insurance number

It has to be done monthly as the payment period is between 2 dates every month

You can fill it in in stages.

It asks for how much money you have in all your bank / building society/ isa etc and asks for part of the account number. It took me a lot of time to find all them.

Perhaps I’ll put it off until tomorrow then. Never had to tell tax credits how much I have in my accounts. Not that it’s a lot! Will do it tomorrow when I have more time I think.

I actually found it really simple and easy didn't take long

@NavyTiger what kind of other things do they ask for besides what you have in your accounts? Wondering what documents I’ll need to pull out. Just wondering if it’s even worth it. Will be getting an inheritance in a few months when things are sold and know they will stop anything from then anyway. Wondering if we can muddle through until then.

UC is more difficult than tax credits if you are self employed. You are assumed to earn a minimum income even if you aren't making that much. Income and expenses have to be reported monthly and can't be averaged in the same way, so seasonal fluctuations can be problematic.

Personally I've opted not to migrate to UC and will just end my tax credits claim when I'm told to migrate, it is too much hassle with my self employment. But luckily am still yet to get the migration letter.

So they will want to know children details Wages if you work how much your rent is you will then have to upload ID sometimes they ask you to attend a verification face 2 face meeting

I had to migrate before the end of April so did it a few days ago after my last tax credit payment.
Only took me about 30 mins to fill in the online form, as long as you've got all your details to hand, salary, savings, 2 forms of Id it's actually quite straightforward
Just got to wait 5 weeks from when you submit

I’m going to do it over the weekend. Thanks all. Hope it’s fairly straightforward although being self employed I fear that it will be a headache.

If you are self employed you will need to report your Income and expenses each month at the end of your Assessment period. The information does not come from HMRC. If you are both self employed, you both need to report your individual income and expenses.

Migrating from Tax Credits:

If your business has been running for more than 12 months and you qualify as being gainfully self-employed, you’ll be exempt from the minimum income floor for the first six months of your claim.

If you’ve been self-employed for less than 12 months and you qualify as being gainfully self-employed, you might be classed as being in the start-up period. And the minimum income floor won’t apply for up to 12 months.

www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/benefits/benefits-and-work/universal-credit-for-the-self-employed#Claiming-Universal-Credit-if-you-re-self-employed

Quick warning: wait for your next Tax Credits payment to go in if it’s before your UC deadline - submitting the online application will stop TC straight away. I am £800 down because I did not know this 😡

It's quite easy if you are organised and have all your important documents to hand. Unfortunately I'm not one of those people and we had major work done to the house not long before the migration letter came so it took a while to find everything. Dh is self employed and that side of things can be difficult too but we are 3 months in and getting into the swing of things now.

If you are entitled to nothing on universal credit at all, but have been getting tax credits, do you just immediately go one month getting help and the next getting nothing? Or do you get the same amount for a year before they stop it?

As long as you satisfy the criteria (received a migration notice and claimed within the specified tinescale) you will receive an amount equivalent to your Tax Credits for 12 months.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transitional-protection-if-you-receive-a-migration-notice-letter

You would think wouldn't you,?but it was a bit of a ballache, and we also had to confirm our identity at the job centre .

Self employed.. Is the minimum floor level before or after expenses?

Re the tax credit protection, we haven’t received it

i have placed a complaint and raised the issue several times, just to be told that its with the it department and they will let me know

been two months

next month the account will close as we haven’t had a payment for three months

big waste of time, and we do miss the £20 a week we got from tc

Beware, if anything is different on your universal credit claim from your tax credits claim you are not eligible for the transitional protection. This happened to me as i was part of a couple but now need to claim as a single person. So my payments have stopped.

After.We calculate your self-employed earnings by:

• adding up the total income you report from your business, and


• taking off any allowed expenses