Universal credit - any knowledgeable people around?

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It looks as though my husband is going to be made redundant this week. Got his final meeting on Thursday.

Apart from the worry about him finding a new job, I'm also concerned that this will trigger us into being switched onto universal credit. We currently get child tax credits which have always worked well for us. Does anyone know if the redundancy is definitely going to trigger us to be switched over?

The reason I'm so concerned is that I'm self-employed and from everything I've read, universal credit looks like a nightmare for self-employed people. I earn about £13,000 a year but that's within a partnership so it's already quite complicated. Plus we take a lot of money every 4 months but that has to last and pay our expenses over the following few months so it's mostly not profit. Has anyone got any experience of negotiating universal credit while self-employed? Is it going to be as awful as I fear?

Hi OP,

Firstly when your DH leaves his job, he will be able to claim new-style JSA, which is £73.10/week, while he looks for another job. Eligibility is based on National Insurance contributions, and it's not means-texted, so your earnings won't be relevant.
See www.gov.uk/how-to-claim-new-style-jsa

You can continue to claim tax credits after he stops working but you obviously need to inform the tax credits office about a change in circumstances.

You are right in that claiming UC when you are self-employed is slightly complicated and you will need to report your earnings from self employment. Cash flow within the business account is not a big concern, it's more the money you pay yourself (as salary and/or dividends?) as ideally this would be a monthly payment, any large one off payments would be likely to create issues for a UC claim.

What you could is visit or contact your local
Citizens Advice and ask for a benefit check, they can do a "better off calculation" to see whether you should claim UC, and can give more advice about claiming when self employed.

There's info on the website too
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/on-universal-credit/how-the-minimum-income-floor-works-if-youre-self-employed/
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/on-universal-credit/reporting-self-employed-earnings/

Thank you for answering so quickly. I will check out those links. I pay myself a salary that's roughly the same each month so if I only need to report that then that would be much easier. I've read quite a bit and it looked as though I'd need to report my entire takings and expenses which is obviously really complicated and doesn't give the correct picture overall.

Losing a job won’t necessarily trigger UC. Your DH may be able to claim JSA based on NI contributions. it depends on your other circumstances whether you want to try to stay on current benefits or move to Uc. It is correct that uc is more difficult for self employed people and they don’t seem to allow for the fact it may not be steady income.

There are rule changes - see para 7.37 that mean from Sept 2020 you will get a year of self employment on UC before minimum income floor applied. However it still doesn’t get round the problem of irregular payments.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/on-universal-credit/how-the-minimum-income-floor-works-if-youre-self-employed/

www.turn2us.org.uk/Benefit-guides/Benefit-Changes/Benefit-Changes-Timetable-2020

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2019/9780111178317/pdfs/ukdsiem_9780111178317_en.pdf

Should clarify the rule change will be for new claims after September.

Irrelevant then!

As AnotherEmma said. DH can apply for new style JSA and you can continue on Tax Credits. Just report the change of circumstances to tax credits.