Universal Credit

[Itsonlyagame]

I finally caved and applied today. I've never claimed any benefits before, what happens now? What kind of timescale is it for a decision? I'm very anxious about it as have no idea what I'm doing.

It will take 5 weeks for your first payment unless you ask for an advance.

if you are working it will assess your wages reported by hmrc then reduce your uc based on that.
There will be messages in your journal for anything you need to complete

@Itsonlyagame did you verify your identity online? Sometimes you can verify online, in which case everything is done online. You'll have a journal and they'll keep you up to date on there. Sometimes, you have to go to a job centre to verify your identity. With DH and me, my identity was verified online but DH had to go to the job centre. We think it's because some fraudulent claims were made in his name a few years ago, so his details were flagged.

Your assessment period will always be 3rd-2nd of each month. This month, they'll look at income from 3rd March to 2nd April. You'll get your statement around the 5th of April, and payment will be 9th April.

In the next few days, they'll do a rough working out of what you should be entitled to, then you'll have the opportunity to take an advance payment of up to that amount to tide you over until your first payment. You can pay it back interest free over two years. They will just deduct 1/24th from your universal credit amount each month.

If you want to post or PM details, then we can work out how much you should get.

I verified my identity online. I'm thinking I probably won't get anything this month as I got a bonus. Probably should have waited to apply!

It takes 5 weeks as PP have said. You will receive an amount based on your earnings for one month. So if you applied yesterday 03/03, you will get an amount based on your earnings between 03/03 and 02/04. It's usually paid a week later, so you can expect the payment around 09/04.

Depending on your individual circumstances you may need a face to face interview. I receive UC and I was moved over from tax credits so I didn't have one, it was all done online. You may also need to apply for jobs or more hours if you already work, depending on your earnings and the ages of your children if you have any. I am not required to do any of that as I work full time and I earn more than minimum wage.

You have an online journal that you need to check frequently as it will tell you if you need to do anything. If you are employed your employer will send them your pay slips. If you need to claim for childcare costs you will need to input that information yourself every month.

It's straightforward when you get the hang of it. Good luck.

Actually bonus was paid in March wages.

I've done an entitled to calculation so I know roughly what I should get.

Single parent
Severely disabled child
No housing costs
13k savings (soon to be gone as house repairs to be done)
House mortgaged
£1900 gross monthly pay
Pension contributions £201 per month

5 or 6 weeks before first payment can't remember exactly. I also had to pop down the job centre once to verify my identity.
Hope it goes smoothly for you.

Single parent £334.91
Severely disabled child £244.58. +£414.88 +168.81
No housing costs
13k savings (soon to be gone as house repairs to be done)
House mortgaged £573 work allowance
£1900 gross monthly pay £1460.33 net?
Pension contributions £201 per month

£1163.18 UC rate
Earnings: £1460.33-£573=£887.53
Deduction: £887.53×0.55= £488.03

Total: £1163.18-£488.03 =£675.15

If your child was born before April 2017 you'll get £750.27 due to the higher rate for first borns before that time.

Your savings will reduce your UC by £121.80 per month, though.

Thank you for that, much appreciated. I have been procrastinating over applying for months but for some reason I feel very guilty about it.

Have you added the carer’s element too if your DC receives DLA or PIP?

Yes, I've included that £168.81 in the 'severely disabled child' line of the calculation.

Don't feel guilty. You need it, or it wouldn't be awarded. UC isn't particularly generous, so if you qualify, you're not getting what you should.

We get almost as much UC as DH earns. He works full time and we have disabled children so I'm a SAHM.

Sorry @Lougle, I meant the OP to ensure she gets that element added.

It's pretty generous for some people in some situations.

Actually, that's true, @Babyroobs . I don't think OP should be feeling guilty though.

I've had a message to say they can't pay towards my housing costs (which I already knew) but nothing else. No phonecall or anything. Do they call everyone?

It depends if you managed to go through the online verification. If not then you usually need to go into the job centre for an initial ID appointment. have you been offered the option to take an advance ? if so this usually means some elements have been approved.

I did get through the online verification, there is a link to apply for an advance so that's good news. I suffer from bad anxiety and hate official forms. I've never applied for anything like this before and am finding it genuinely terrifying for some reason. I've done a tax return before but this was way more scary.

You won't get the phonecall then. I have to say that UC was the easiest process I've ever been through. DH had to go to the job centre to prove his identity because there was a flag on his name, but otherwise, it's all been done remotely.

If you have any questions, you can add them on your journal and they respond quite quickly. My home page still says 'we will call you' but when I queried why I hadn't had a call, they responded really quickly to say that it was just a system glitch and that I wouldn't be called because I was successfully verified online.

It's all the rules that confuse me. The money in one of my savings accounts is actually my son's. My ex and I split his savings when we split as they were given by both of our families but my bank doesn't have any childrens accounts available at the moment so they are in a separate account in my name till I can sort this out so I have declared them. I would have to put them into an account that I can access anyway due to his disability so I think I would have to declare them anyway but my head is fried with it all.

Yes unless specifically in a childrens ISA or something you can't access they will be classed as your savings and anything over 6k will reduce your monthly amount. If under 6k it won't be a problem. There are a lot of Uc rules if you are self employed or other complex situations, but yours should be fairly straightforward. The main thing is all the correct elements are there. I have had a work client recently where 2 crucial elements were missing and they weren't aware so just kept getting zero payments for 18 months. When I'd sorted it out they got 5k backpay but I do wonder how many miss out because they just don't know their statements are wrong ! I think someone posted earlier in the thread what elements you should see on your statement so just make sure those are correct.

Can anyone give me advice about universal credit Im only on it a month. Does anyone know if you can get any of it weekly I'm struggling with the change from tax credits to it. Thanks in advance

No. I think if you are in Scotland you can request to have it fortnightly but if you are in England it's monthly only.

In England and Wales if you are struggling you can ask for fortnightly payments but it is automatic. I don’t know the rules for Scotland or NI.

Do I have to declare that my ex is still paying my mortgage when claiming universal credit and will it affect the amount I get?

I would declare it, but I don't think it will affect what you get. UC does not cover mortgages so you wouldn't be able to claim any money towards housing costs either way.