I dont understand Universal Credit

[Munchiesareyum]

Hi all

Im hoping someone might have knowledge. I currently earn roughly £300 p/w after tax and am paid weekly. Zero hours and recently I have been having some health issues which is stopping me working alot at times and I have to live off savings/tax credits which is 130 p/w (child tax and working).

Would I be able to get any UC? Or do I earn too much? Their example online I cant fathom! I dont want to be worse off but paying all my rent and bills is becoming a nightmare.

Thanks x

If you go to www.entitledto.co.uk and fill it in, you will get a pretty accurate answer to your question, down to how much you'll get if you're due anything. Hope this helps OP!

No not with tax credits , and you are best not to switch. Yes some people may be a few pounds better off but it’s not worth the downsides.

@Munchiesareyum

Hi all

Im hoping someone might have knowledge. I currently earn roughly £300 p/w after tax and am paid weekly. Zero hours and recently I have been having some health issues which is stopping me working alot at times and I have to live off savings/tax credits which is 130 p/w (child tax and working).

Would I be able to get any UC? Or do I earn too much? Their example online I cant fathom! I dont want to be worse off but paying all my rent and bills is becoming a nightmare.

Thanks x

If you have rent to pay and don't currently get any housing benefit then you may well be better off on UC. If you claim UC then your tax credits would stop straight away. If you have savings over 16k you cannot claim UC. Any savings over 6k will reduce the amount you get each month from UC. If your earnings re reducing due to illness and you regulalry earn less than 16 x nmw per week then you can hand in sick notes to UC and wait to be assessed for work capability if your health problems are likely to be longer term. Universal credit is calculated based on your earnings in a monthly assessment period so as you are paid weekly there will be some months where you have four pay days fall in your monthly assessment period and some five so your UC would vary slightly each month. You can ask CAB or their help to claim team to do you a better off calculation to check whether you would be better off on UC.

@MyDcAreMarvel

No not with tax credits , and you are best not to switch. Yes some people may be a few pounds better off but it’s not worth the downsides.

Not sure how you can say this ? If op has rent to pay and she does not currently claim housing benefit she could be significantly better off on UC ! I would always advise getting a proper check from CAB or similar but you cannot possibly know she would only be a few pound better off ? Some people end up being significantly better off on UC.

I earn a similar amount to you but get less TC. For me, switching would see a significant decrease in my UC award to what I get now on TC. This is because I do not qualify for any housing element as I am mortgaged.
There is a good guide on Universal Credit essentials (hopefully someone will come along and confirm if this is actually the name of the website). Anyway they guide you through how to calculate it yourself however the online calculators are close enough.
For me (on a similar wage) a switch to UC would see a significant decrease. But it all depends on your circumstances