Moving house and going to a universal credit area!

[Family2011]

Evening please help!!!
I receive working tax credits and child tax credits
Carers allowance
And DLA at the middle and low rate for my autistic son
I Work part time
I’m moving from an area that hasn’t changed over yet to the new system to an area that has.
Will I have to change over when I move to universal credits?

*move house

Ps. Forgot to mention I do not want to claim housing benefit

From looking at this link it looks like a move would only force you onto universal credit if you were claiming housing benefit www.entitledto.co.uk/help/changes_that_trigger_Universal_Credit

Yes, if your new post code is in an area with universal credit full service, when you declare a change of circumstances your claim will close and any of the six benefits it’s replaced, will be paid in your monthly UC claim. Please make sure you make your claim for universal credit the date you move, it’s very difficult to have it back dated.

If you are in recipet of CA, that means you will not require fortnightly appointments- more than likely anyway.

DLA, and CB are separate to universal credit. housing benefit, ctc and wtc fall under UC.

Feel free to PM if you need more supporr

In an area when UC has gone live, you cannot claim any legacy benefits so a change of address will mean that yes you will have to claim UC.

Thank you so much for your replies.
That’s not the news I wanted 😥 looks like I will loose out on quite a bit of money (due to the change of circumstances) and due to a separation I have no option but to leave and very desperate to move.
Do I need to notify tax credits and carers the day I move or just universal credits?

Both, you will need to make an online application for universal credit, you can do this once you’ve closed your claim for tax credits just be sure to do both at the same time so you’re not going without or having a cross over.

I live in a full universal credit area and I have found UC far better than TC. I'm a single parent, DD2 receives DLA, and I work part time. I earn over the threshold for CA despite being technically eligible. I do claim housing benefit element.

It's calculated month to month, so no risk of TC claiming you've been overpaid and being made to pay it back. All elements are included in one payment, and they seem to liaise with all different authorities; once I'd had my UC application approved I received council tax reduction, free school meals and free prescription entitlement without any extra applications being made and I didn't need to supply all the different evidence as they already had it from my UC application. They seem to link in to HMRC so if my income varies, so does my UC.

I'm not sure how it works moving from TC to UC, as I had a large gap in between and had moved counties, but I can assure you that I have found UC FAR better than TC. I also like the fact my UC is all managed online, and I can see all the evidence and payments in one place.

Thats really reasuring to know hopefully i will have a similar experience.
Do you have to send off information to them every month online?
Where you asked to go over to universal credit or do you apply yourself?
My only concern is a lot of websites are warning of applying for univeral credits as the goverment wont honour the origional amount on the previous system they will only do that when they request you to love over

*when they request you to change over rather than you having (a change of circumstance and having to apply)

You don’t have to send information each month. They pick up how much you earn from HMRC when your NINO is put through by your employer for PAYE automatically.

How much you’re entitled to depends on your circumstances and how much you earn- much like the benefits it’s replaced, irs also means tested but unlike tax credits it goes off the real time figures each month. No finalising how much you really earnt at the end of the tax year.

I cannot see how they’d ‘honour’ your tax credit amount if you were to eventually transfer over as your wages will vary surely? If you don’t claim, you won’t get anything so don’t delay I found it useful in part time work as if my wages are down my UC went up.

If you give Contact A Family a ring they will be able to do a benefit check for you and give you the correct information. contact.org.uk/our-helpline/

If you are not claiming my housing benefit (and not intending to when you move) then it should not be a change of circumstance that pushes you onto UC. Also if you have more than 2 children you will stay on Tax Credits.

Dazedpenguin - your advice is not correct. If the OP isn't claiming Housing Benefit then moving area will not trigger a UC claim, she will continue on tax credits. Tax credits are only affected if there is a change of circumstances that bring the tax credit claim to an end and changing address is not one of those changes.

If the OP was on HB then it would be different.

Cleo

revisiting this old post - does anyone know how you are meant to make a claim for universal credit when you move house? we're thinking of moving to an area where we will have to claim and i'm trying to work out how on earth we would claim on the day of moving - moving house is a nightmare to begin with - there's no way i'd be able to find time to make a claim in the very same day, and usually when you move you don't have internet for a few days until you get connected. i'm guessing as they don't backdate it we'd have to make the claim as soon as was humanly possible and lose out on the days we didn't claim for?

the whole think looks like a nightmare and it's really putting me off moving house altogether :(

you will not need to move unless you need to make a new claim for housing benefit under a new local authority which is full UC.

that's what we'll need to do if we move.

I think you'd just have to make the application as close to your moving date as possible once you have your new tenancy agreement as they will need to see that before they will pay the housing element.

gosh it's all so complicated. the politicians keep telling us uc is a simpler system but it's far more complicated than the old one :(

It is more complex in some ways but possibly easier than dealing with lots of different benefits as it replaces the six main means tested ones. The worst thing is that all other benefits ( tax credits etc) will stop as soon as the UC claim is opened then there is a 5 week wait for first payment.

I'm currently on the old Tax credit system claiming housing benefit and high rate pip for care and mobility, husband claims income support and carers. We are looking at moving house and it would be to a different Local Authority. Neither old and new area have rolled out the Universal credit completely so my question is ( as I cant find the answer anywhere else)
Would the move trigger a change to Universal Credit or could i continue on the old system?

I would suggest getting advice from CA or similar. It will in almost all circumstances trigger a move to UC as you are effectively putting in a new claim for HB with a new authority, and any new element is a trigger. However if you get a severe disability premium, then you can't claim UC and have to stay on the legacy benefits. However usually if someone claims carers for your then you lose the severe disability element anyway. If you don't get severe disability premium then you transfer to UC. I think thats now the only exception.

@haveuheard thankyou, that's what I seems to have made sense of . I do have a carer so think that takes away my severe disabled element which is a bummer in those circumstance. I'm going to get hubby to call DWP tomorrow to ensure we receive the right benefit. It doesnt make sense that I'll be tied to the same authority if I dont want to lose a substantial amount of money each month 😔