UC/TC/HB

[MeadowHay]

Does anyone know about benefits? Usually I'm on the ball with welfare benefit stuff but I'm really confused rn.

A few weeks ago I checked whether we were in a full UC area or not, and we weren't, so I applied for TCs. Tbh that was probs about 2 months ago now like. We just applied for HB a few weeks ago but never got around to sending the evidences in yet . I just got letters from the Council, the first asking for the evidence, obv, but the second says we are in a UC full-service area, so we can't claim HB at all, only UC! Can it really have changed in the last few weeks?! And if so, idk how what to do know because I have an ongoing claim for TC, and a CTC award (but they did it wrong the first time so I'm waiting for my new award letter, sigh), and I know that TCs + HB is more generous than UC, as I did a benefit checker before DD was born about it. But in the absence of HB, I don't know whether we'd be best moving to UC after all!

Also, a relative is our LL, and we do pay them rent, but that complicates things and may mean a housing element claim is turned down if they're not satisfied it's legit enough.

Idk what to do or who to talk to about it?? No way am I dragging DD to CAB any time and waiting half a day there with her screaming the whole time. DH is a full-time student so online benefit calculators always say they can't calculate our entitlement accurately.

If your area has recently become full service UC and you want to make a claim for HB then yes you will need to claim Uc and your tax credit claim will cease. It can be tricky renting from relatives you would need a proper tenancy and to.prove the tenancy wasn't contrived.

Also UC is not great for students. Any loans your dh receive are coynted as income and divided over the assessment periods they are designed to cover. I think the first £110 a month is disregarded.

Will your DH be able to qualify and get a job soon?

Do CAB only offer drop ins in your area? Where I am there is a choice of webchat or a phone line and then if you need more help you get an appointment so you don't need to wait.

How do I find out if we are a full-service UC area? I'm sure I looked it up online somewhere not that long ago and we weren't, but I can't remember where I found that info. DH called the Council's HB department to query this yesterday and the woman on the phone was beyond useless - she said she didn't know, and didn't have an up-to-date list of the areas (even though the letter saying we are in a full UC area and thus can't claim HB CAME FROM HER OWN DEPARTMENT!), and told us to call the DWP and ask them . What?? I wouldn't even know how at the DWP to contact and ask? Surely the HB department should have a list if they're sending out letters telling people they can no longer claim HB? So confused, DH should have asked to speak to her manager tbh.

Our local CAB was drop-in only last time I went but tbf that was a few years ago now so I will have a look. I used to volunteer at one in a different city that was drop-in only too so I assumed they all were, but thanks for the pointer, will look into this. The relative bought this property years ago to let out and has always rented it out to various other tenants before us and is registered with the Council as a LL (a requirement with our Council).

DH is not eligible for student finance and the only funding he recieves is £5k travel bursary each year on his 2-year course, split into a few installments a year before each placement. I told the TC office this over the phone and they said they wouldn't take that into account as income at all for TC purposes. Not sure about UC?

DH is in the first year of his 2yr course and will not have finished and be able to get a job until spring 2019. When he does we will no longer need to claim anything at all as he will have a good income and I will also be at work. It's just a massive squeeze until then.

I just got my TC award letter through and it looks like until I return to work from mat leave we will be getting around £500 a month in combination of WTC and CTC which is great. It is gutting that I could have started this claim when I went on SMP/when DD was born in the summer months ago but we have had so much on I just didn't get around to it and we have lost so much money as a result. I imagine there are loads of people like me who don't always claim what they are entitled to tbh but yet everyone bangs on about benefit scroungers . I don't know what will happen when I go back to work in March though, I will obv inform the TC office when I go back but I guess I will recieve a lot less then, if anything, and they have already told me I can't claim the Childcare Element to go towards nursery fees because DH has to work at least 16hrs a week which is impossible due to his uni course where he is generally at uni or placement 9-5ish every work day, + extra study time at home.

The HV came yesterday and I told her about our financial situation and she referred us to a service the Council run to help work out what benefits you're entitled to and they should contact me within 10 days apparently so hopefully they can help, but after that utterly pointless exhange with an employee in the HB department I don't have my hopes up!

We do have a written tenancy agreement, we pay rent monthly, and our deposit is in a deposit protection scheme etc.

Oops, that last sentence was supposed to be higher up with the other sentence about our tenancy, I don't know how it ended up there .

I've just tried to use Entitled To for a benefits check and I feel even more confused. I'm going off the TC office income on my TC award letter for this tax year, which gives us an annual income of £7600. Entitled To said we should be getting around an extra £100 a month in TCs than the TC office have awarded us, but then it also said we are not eligible for HB at all . How can that be right? I'm so confused! It also said we would be worse off under UC, but I'm not sure if that's accurate as they said we aren't entitled to any HB...or maybe they've said that on purpose because of us being in a full-service UC area now? If so, it's really scary that we would still be worse off under UC, even without claiming any help for housing costs at all at present! It also said we aren't entitled to any help with Council Tax which I find hard to believe on such a low income?!

DH called the Council's HB department to query this yesterday and the woman on the phone was beyond useless - she said she didn't know, and didn't have an up-to-date list of the areas (even though the letter saying we are in a full UC area and thus can't claim HB CAME FROM HER OWN DEPARTMENT!), and told us to call the DWP and ask them confused. What?? I wouldn't even know how at the DWP to contact and ask? Surely the HB department should have a list if they're sending out letters telling people they can no longer claim HB

It’s a bit like you calling up Tesco and asking what ice cream sainsbury stock- they’ll have a general idea but really you need to call sainsbury if you want the answer

District council employees won’t all know how department of works and pensions are handling things as they are trained in housing benefit not universal credit

But they were the ones who told us we couldn't claim HB because we need to claim UC instead - how can they say on the one hand that we can't claim HB because we need to claim UC, and then another employee in that same department saying they don't know whether we are in a full-service UC area or not and to ask the DWP? Well if they didn't know, why did we get a letter from them telling us that?

Like they said - you need to ask the DWP questions about UC

UC Full service national roll out complete on 12th December.

There's a UC postcode checker but If you leave it until 12th December your question will no longer exist.

I work in HB and for our council the department that sends you the decision letter and the department that answers the phones are completely different departments.

If you’ve received a decision letter that states you need to make a claim for UC it means that you waited to long to make a claim.

Our area went live service early October.

Regarding the childcare situation when you return to work - you can’t claim any help via UC or tax credits for this, however your DH should be able to claim childcare assistance from the college he is studying with. He needs to speak to the finance and welfare team.

Hi, thanks all. I still don't understand the logic of a department sending out letters and then telling you to call X number if you need help, and the people on the end of the line being unable to answer any queries in relation to the letter that their own department sent .

I guess we have just lost out as I didn't get around to it earlier and there's nowt we can do about it really. When I ran a thing on entitledto it said we would be financially better off on TCs than on UC even without anything for housing which is frankly shocking, no wonder UC is pushing people into destitution. So will stick with the TC claim and not claim UC, I'm only glad I got that in early enough!!

DH is not entitled to any assistance for childcare costs. He is not eligible for student finance and he is not in 'approved education', it's a PG university course. Luckily DM is being super kind and having DD two days a week and I've had work agree to dropping me down to 4 days so then it's just 2 days a week of nursery costs which will set me back about £100 a week. It will be a squeeze but I think we will manage especially as it's only short-term because DH should have a job by about Feb 2019 and then we will feel rich in comparison .

Meadow - because UC is new and the people who make decisions on HB have probably some information but the people on the phones haven’t.

Even people working for DWP aren’t that wonderful always with UC and that is there department