Another universal credit one!

[moremelonadeplease]

I'm trying (in vain) to get in touch with CAB but have been worrying myself about it so thought I'd try here. I'm a widowed parent to two children. Dh died just before I had the youngest. I received the bereavement lump sum and am still receiving the monthly allowance. I noticed I haven't been paid my child tax credits since dh died and they have said it's because I'm on income support and I'll only get it of I change to universal credit (no reimbursement despite having to use my bereavement money to top up) I had the opportunity to change to UC but the call handler at the time steered me away from it by saying without saying it'd not be the best idea. I've heard bad things about UC and I'm worried what it will mean for me.

DD1 is 2 and and DD2 is months. I'm currently not working as I was a SAHM when DH was alive. I have £8000 savings but I had earmarked this for Dhs headstone, car costs and was going to set up an ISA for each child. I know you get money knocked off for anything over £6000 and it says if it looks like you've tried to get rid of money to enable yourself to get more benefits then they will still knock the money off your benefits. I'm worried that the nest egg I tried to keep for the kids etc will affect my benefits.

Also I know I'll be going back to work sooner than I had planned as a SAHM but will I be expected to find work as soon as I start UC? I don't even know where to start regarding child care and figuring out how to afford it all. Also I've had mixed advice regarding whether me receiving my bereavement payment will have an effect on my UC payment.

I know I have been lucky to have stayed looking. after my kids for so long without having to work. I'd feel better if someone could give me an idea of what to expect e.g.when I'll need to start looking for work. I'm not used to this feeling of financial insecurity and I'm worried I'll be pushed into work where I'll be struggling financially and the knock on effect it may have. O don't know whether all the UC talk is scaremongering but I'm tying myself in knots thinking about it and my reservations about going on UC mean I'm not receiving my tax credits.

Sorry for the rambling, any advice appreciated

I don't have any advice to offer. I just wanted to say I'm so sorry for your loss and you sound like you're being so strong

Firstly I have no idea why you were told you couldn't get tax credits whilst on Income support and bereavement support payments. That is utter nonsense. So if you are able to open a tax credits claim, do that. If you are in a full service Uc area then it will be UC you need to claim now. On UC , you will have no work commitments until your youngest child is 3, so you can go back to work as soon as you like but there is no pressure or expectation that you will. You will get childcare help on UC of up to 85% of costs up to the maximum limit each week however childcare costs have to be paid up front and then claimed back which can be a bit of a faff.
If you have savings over 6k, then you would get a small amount of your UC deducted but I don't think it would be seen as deprivation of capital to buy a headstone. If you have 8k, then they would look at the 2k which is above 6k as f it was earning you interest and I think it's about £4.30 per £250, so even if you did have 8k it would only take about £32 off your total monthly UC amount. Bereavement support payments I think are not counted on UC for the first year but after that are taken into account ( I may be wrong on this ). Hope you manage to get things sorted.

Just to explain how UC works - you would get a personal element . It would be £317.77 if you are over 25. Then you would get 2 x child elements £277.00 for eldest and £231.67 for youngest. If you are renting then you would also get a housing/ rent element. Those are all added together to get your total UC. If you work you then get a work allowance which is deducted from your wages before your wages start to reduce your Uc amount. if you rent this is £198, if you have a mortgage or no housing costs then it is £409. After this amount is deducted form take home pay, your wages start to reduce your maximum UC by 63p in the pound Sorry it is complex.

That's really helpful thank you, I feel much less worried about it now. I have been batted back and forth between HMRC and Income support. HMRC have said that I can't get tax credits and they will automatically reject any new claim as my area is now UC so I should be on that but when I speak to Income support they say I'm fine to carry on with it and to put a claim in with HMRC. I feel better about going on UC now, you just hear about all these stories of people needing food banks after switching. I'm still coming to terms with my grief and the fact the future I had for my children is completely different to how I had planned it but I suppose that's life! Do you know if you can update them if savings get spent. I don't want to put in a claim with my full savings when I know I'm going to need to spend a good chunk of it as I know it seems small but £30pm extra would be useful.

One thing to bear in mind is that Uc is paid in arrears so as soon as you make that application then your income support would stop straight away and it is a 5 week wait for any money on UC. Your BSP would continue and so would child benefit. Yes I think you can update them as regards savings. Do you pay rent or have a mortgage ? So sorry to hear what you are going through, I can't imagine how hard it is without having to worry about finances .

sorry forgot to mention - it is a 5 week wait but they will offer you an advance payment to help you through until the first payment , it's up to you to choose whether you want to take this.

Great. I think that's why I'm in panic mode about it; I have never run a house alone and always had someone to work through things with (childhood 'sweethearts')

I had heard about money stopping straight away but I figured I'd use some savings if needed.

Yes you are reasonably fortunate in that you have your savings as a bit of a buffer during the wait. With tax credits there was no savings limit, you only had to declare interest over £300 earned on savings . So we now have a very unfair two tier system where people on tax credits could potentially have 50 k in savings and their payments not be affected and those on UC whose payments start to reduce with anything over 6k and worrying about saving a little for their children. Very unfair.

I didn't realise that was the case. It seems so unfair. It has been hard and I have gone without in order to get some savings together and I must admit it doesn't seem right that I'm now worrying about those savings.