Changing to tax universal credit

[Pantherc86]

Hi there, looking some advice, I'm getting married end of May all being well, I'm currently on the old system receiving tax credits income support and I'm a carer for my yougest son, I get carers allowance, and dla for him, iv two boys aged 9 and 7,iv been a single parent for 7 years and due to get married in May, h2b lives with his dad at present but after we get married he will move in with me and il be applying for universal credit as joint claim, fiance works full time, I know I won't receive housing benefit etc anymore but wondering when I apply for universal credit should I phone tax credits before hand let them know I'm switching and by then il be married, my name change etc, or do I just need to switch online to uc and theyl be automatically updated ? Regarding my carers allowance do I let them know, or does universal credit update them,, I'm the main carer full time for my youngest so what am I able to receive? , I understand will be alot less than what I'm receiving at the moment but as my fiance works full time his wage will support us both, he's under the £16000 threshold so will I still be entitled to something as well as carers and child benefit plus my sons dla? Any advice at all will be appreciated,

You don't need to tell Income Support / Tax Credits in advance, just make the UC claim and they will be notified accordingly and apply any run-on periods etc.

You will need to let Carers Allowance know of a name change / address change etc. You can do this online now.

Ditto, DLA will need to be informed if your Child's name or address is changing.

UC depends on a lot of things, but the benefits calculators can be quite accurate or Citizen's Advice can help with completing a calculation.

Generally speaking you'd get the couple rate of Standard Allowance (£594 if over 25), Child Element (£235), Disabled Child Element (£128 or £400 depending on DLA rate), Carers Element (£162) and Housing Element (if Renting - slightly different rules for Private Rented and Social Housing).

This is all added together to get your max UC award, and it is then reduced by Wages / Other Benefits.

So you'd have £291 taken off for Carers Allowance for a start, then Wages you would have a Work Allowance (£292 if you Rent, £512 if you have no Housing Costs or a Mortgage) which you take off the Net Wage and then for each £1 you have over the Work Allowance you reduce your UC by 63p. Basic calculation is Wage - Work Allowance x 0.63 = the amount to take off your max UC award.

Soooo... you'd need to add all your elements together (max UC award), take off Carers Allowance then take off the reduction for Wages. That will be - roughly - your UC award. Obviously if Wages vary, or your Partner is paid on any other cycle other than Monthly this can also go up and down.